Darkrooms





We have a variety of darkrooms for analog photography practices.  Our group B&W darkroom features enlargers for silver gelatin printing negatives from 35mm - 4x5in as well as film development and print finishing.  We also have individual darkrooms with similar capabilities, and a non-silver darkroom with UV exposure units ranging from 11x14in - 20x24in.  Our MFA darkroom is suitable for a variety of analog processes and has a drop table enlarger for mural printing.  Please click the links to the labs below to see a detailed list of what they feature and to make an appointment.

In order to use the Photography Department’s darkrooms you must first agree to and submit the Equipment and Facilities Use Agreement.  This form can be found at the link below.

Pratt Photography Department Equipment and Facilities Use Agreement 

Appointments
An appointment is required in order to access any of the darkrooms within the Photography Department.  In order to make an appointment in a lab, visit the links to each lab below which describe what is in each lab and the prerequisites for making an appointment.  It also contains a link to a booking form which will allow you to choose the date and time period you would like to come in as well as choose which type of activity you will be doing in the lab.  The amount of time available for each appointment in the darkrooms varies from lab to lab and can be made between 2 weeks to 1 hour prior to your planned visit. Please see below for appointment times for each darkroom.

Please keep in mind, that in order to ensure all students have the opportunity to sign up, only one darkroom appointment can be made at a time for a particular appointment type (i.e. processing film or printing).  After this session is complete you may make another appointment up to 3 appointments/week. 

**Film Processing stops 1 hour before labs close**
**Printing stops is 30 minutes before labs close**

Group B&W Darkroom
Non Silver Darkroom
Graduate Darkroom

Group B&W Darkroom - Film Processing: 1 - 2 hours
Group B&W Darkroom - Enlarger Station: 1 - 3 hours
Non-Silver Darkroom: 1 - 4 hours
Graduate Darkroom: 2 - 6 hours

Individual Darkrooms are available by request. If you are interested in using an individual darkroom, please email the Tech Office.

Appointments are not needed to utilize the film loading rooms.

Darkroom Equipment
Students will receive darkroom equipment kits for their specific appointment types such as processing film or printing.  These will be available for pick-up at the Tech Office at the start of your appointment. 

Friend/Food and Drink Policy
At present, in order to continue to reduce density indoors, there are no friends allowed in any Photography Department lab. There is also no food or drink allowed at any time in any Photography Department lab.

Cleaning
All common touch points at the station at which you worked must be wiped before and after your work session. This includes, but isn’t limited to, easels, grain focusers, enlarger knobs, table top. Gloves should be worn while working within any darkroom space. Hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes will be provided in each lab. Anyone using the labs will need to utilize hand sanitizer before and after your time in the lab. Darkroom equipment that has been checked out from the Tech Office window should be cleaned with disinfectant wipes after each use.