Darkroom Dream

I have a surprising number of photography-related dreams, which are amusing as well as sometimes alarming. The lost-camera dream is popular with my dopey subconscious, for example. Last night I had a new one. I got a good night's sleep for the first time in several nights, which was welcome, but I dreamed I was shopping for a Durst enlarger...outdoors, in South Carolina, in the snow. All the enlargers were flimsy metal contraptions on stands and looked very similar to Durst's main product which were children's swingsets and porch swings, also all flimsy metal contraptions. Neither the swingsets nor the enlargers looked like either swingsets or enlargers. All of these products were set out in a field, with aisles between them, and I kept having to ask which ones were the enlargers—most of the many people wandering the aisles with their rugrats were shopping for the playground equipment or the porch swings. Later, I was trying to do aerial photography of the field with the enlargers in it from a small plane, but with my iPhone, and it was hard to see the screen.

When I was younger I had a friend who disliked it when his girlfriend recounted her dreams to him in excruciating detail, which she did often. He asked her not to but she wouldn't stop. So, to discourage her, every time she told him a long boring story about one of her dreams, he would comment blithely that the dream represented something terrible deep in her mind. "That clearly means you're actually a disturbed psychopath." "Obviously, you suffer from a subconscious urge to stab puppies." "Hmm, are you sure you're not into S&M?" "I'm afraid that means God doesn't love you and you're not going get into heaven." And so forth. That friend may or may not have been me. It didn't work; she kept on telling him turgid lugubrious dream stories until he wanted to jump off a bridge or beat his head against a fencepost. They eventually had to break up.

Anyway, right when I woke up, I felt an urge to go online and shop for enlargers. Which is stupid, because I no longer have a darkroom or do darkroom work. So of course, as I immediately realized, it would be a total waste of time to do that.

I chose this one.

Mike
(Thanks to my dopey subconscious)

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Earl Dunbar: "I saw a Kodak 4x5 enlarger advertised on Craigslist for $20. The seller said it had belonged to his son, was now sitting in his house and if no one bought it he would take it to the dump. A Kodak 4x5 enlarger. In Rochester. How could I let it go to the dump? I called, drove over and bought it. As described, the bellows are shot, but they can be replaced. A company here makes custom bellows. In Rochester. Of course. It's still in my garage."

Yin Fang: "I just purchased a Salthill 4x5 enlarger on eBay, after going through a Durst 606, Leitz Focomat Ic, Valoy, V35, Saunders 4500II, 670XL, and a Durst Laborator 1200. Looks like I was inspired by something I read years ago on Luminous-Landscape with the title 'Confessions of a Cameraholic.'"

Tom: "My recurring photography dream is I arrive for an assignment to find I have an inadequate quantity of black and white film and cannot get the camera to load. I haven't shot film on an assignment since 2004 and black and white film for ten years before that."

John Holland: "Yes, yes, fine, an enchanting dream I'm sure, but what about the enlarging lens?!? (P.S. I used a Durst 606 in my high school camera club for 4 years. Gawd, what a bugger to get and keep in focus. We eventually replaced it with a $79 Russian Zenith enlarger, which was a step up.)"

Mike replies: Best enlarging lens I ever had was a Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon-N 80mm ƒ/4.

Ed Hawco: "I understand your friend's problem with impatience with the recounting of dreams because so many people around me seem to suffer the same thing. As a result, I generally keep my dreams to myself, which is difficult because I tend to have the most insane dreams imaginable, which cry out for analysis, or at least recounting. A notable (and short) one: I had a dream in which I was being threatened by a group of komodo dragons, each of which were wearing a cheap plastic alligator mask. Whaaaaaa???"

George Feucht: "Stop it. Stop it right now. (I will NOT build a darkroom I will NOT build a darkroom I will NOT....)"

Mike replies: You know you want to. Oops, I didn't stop....

Ken Tanaka: "Re 'I dreamed I was shopping for a Durst enlarger...outdoors, in South Carolina, in the snow.' That’s about where I’d expect to find one."

Dave in NM: "I'd have chosen this one."

Comments

[Richard Newman]

Ah, nostalgia! In my darkroom days, I used an Omega, with neg carriers from half frame 35 to 4x5. Really don't miss the mess of liquid processing at all. I wonder who (perhaps except an opthalmologist} even remembers the Scheimpflug principle? I can't even do the math any more...its been too long. No loss...

[Stephen Gilbert]

Not that anyone should ever buy an enlarger, but there's something magical about an image appearing on paper. Maybe there's some kind of treatment center where you could go to develop and print some pix.

[John Krumm]

I'm not sure why so many of us find the dreams of others annoying, except that they are largely meaningless, and highly personal, while at the same time a "real" and vivid experience for the dreamer, so the dreamer is enthusiastic and hasn't taken the time to edit. There's probably an art to dream telling, like any kind of story telling. Most of us are bad at it.

I used to have cooking dreams when I was a cook, and teaching dreams when I was a teacher. Then there were nuclear holocaust dreams as a kid in the seventies, but also good dreams where I could fly if I just concentrated on it.

Speaking of film, I just ordered a fixed up Pentax ZX5 for very little that I'm looking forward to. Not sure why, just a sudden urge that popped up when I saw a good deal. I bet there is some kind of logarithmic function that could accurately correlate time on the internet with irrational purchases.

[PhotoDes]

I have an old Bogen enlarger I will sell you -- a flimsy metal contraption. It will help to realize your dream nicely.

[Craig A. Lee]

I live in the upstate of South Carolina. We get snow and ice events once or twice a year. It is certainly nothing like other areas of the country, but enough to surprise most anyone with how much we have to account for it at work. We basically have 50 acres of concrete that have to stay open 24/7 for transportation logistics purposes. Even just an inch of snow will result in piles of cleared snow taller than cars that hang around for a week or two. Try buying snow plows in South Carolina. It is guaranteed that you will get some incredulous replies.

[Rob Griffin]

Mike,

I am sure I won't be the first to say, I have an enlarger with three different heads and lenses that I would love to donate to the TOP Darkroom project. If it was not such a long drive (from Phoenix), I would even deliver it to you.

[Ken Tanaka]

“I dreamed I was shopping for a Durst enlarger...outdoors, in South Carolina, in the snow.” That’s about where I’d expect to find one.

[Larry Gebhardt]

You don't want that one. You want the spare Durst 138S I have in my garage. Which I have because after restoring it I found an even better one that came with coated condensers, a huge amount of other darkroom stuff I also wanted, all for a very low price. So now I have two 138S enlargers, neither of which will wear out in my lifetime. And they're too hard to ship to make it worth my time.

[Peter Gilbert]

Wake up and smell the Hypo LOL

[Matt]

Psychopath 😊😊

[Herman]

What would Freud say about dreaming of enlargers?

[Mike King]

I always thought the Durst and Kaiser enlargers were close cousins. Never played with a Kaiser so I don't know how close but the superficial resemblance is uncanny. Sen me one and i'll run it through it's paces and then donate it to our school.

[Jim Henry]

I'm too late, I guess. I have a Durst enlarger I bought in Singapore in 1969 that I really liked but will never use again... don't know the model without climbing up on a ladder to get to it.

I was going to offer it to you ,Mike, but it sounds like you can get a lot of enlargers already.

Anyone else? I will ship!

[jim woodard]

Thanks! I was cleaning up ( well at least I started to) my computer work area- couldn't find the scanner anymore and came across an old Freestyle catalog. Saved it of course ( actually saved everything I found, of course)- I thought they were out of business! Glad to know they are still there!
My Omega DIIV is still set up in my darkroom. You may come use it, fitted with a Zone VI variable contrast head! However you will have to "clean" you way to it!

[Brian Taylor]

A lovely dream, well told. I've had a fairly vivid dream life, but can't remember any involving photography. Odd that.

[Bourquek]

Well I live in SC and I have a DeVere 45. So there.

Some of my dreams feature a "Greek chorus" that comments on the dream while its in progress. One I had a while back didn't get good reviews. "Who writes this stuff?" is one I remember.

[Nigel]

What would Freud say about dreaming of enlargers?

Something about projection...

[Anthony Shaughnessy]

If it arrives and it's all bendy, or covered in mushrooms, you're still asleep and dreaming.

[Clayton]

What would Freud say about dreaming of enlargers?
How did this miss featured comments?

[Rod Thompson]

Weird I should read this today. I had a dream last night that while travelling to Japan to try to discover the true reason for my (ficticious) brother's disappearance, I finished a roll of film in his camera and dicovered a little place that did all sorts of film processing and supplies really cheaply. This allowed me to rekindle my film love. No further mention of the brother, just another casualty of a fragmented dreamscape.

[John Robison]

Still have a Durst F30 gifted to me 6 years ago. About ready to lay a slab of plywood across the washer and dryer, hang up a safelight and drag out the expired Ilford MGIV.
It's getting to be winter, that must be the reason.

[Steve Higgins]

Fortunately for everyone, I rarely remember my dreams, unless I wake up during one. The last time I remember that happening, I was in the middle of losing a hand-to-hand fight with a zombie Margaret Thatcher. Go on, analyse that!

As for enlargers, had I the money and space for a darkroom, I would probably go for the best (worst?) of both worlds...

[Ken N]

Condos and darkrooms don't mix well. Everything is packed in boxes in the garage. Remind me, again, why I hauled everything to Alaska?

[Alan Carmody]

My darkroom dream (recurrent) is that I find a used 8x10 enlarger for pennies, set it up and use it to make 2x enlarged 16x20 proof sheets.

An actual dream, which I've had a few times, well into the digital age and 20 years after I last used a darkroom. It's a dream from which I wake, quite happy.

[Andrew]

Mike, I'm afraid your dream means God doesn't love you and you're not going get into heaven.

[Richard Alan Fox]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[Pak Ming Wan]

Dreaming is cheaper than buying.

Which is of course, why we buy camera magazines focusing on gear and why dpreview exists ...

Cheers, Pak

[Mark Sampson]

Langston Hughes: "In dreams begin responsibilities"
David Vestal: "Do your work".

[Jim A]

Great post. It made me smile.

Behold the power of a search engine and a slow day at work.

Freud as Philosopher: Metapsychology After Lacan - By Richard Boothby - Section - The Dream's Solution

...Oneiric consciousness fuses a massive quantity of psychical material into the body. The term chosen by Freud to name this fusional process--Verdichtung, or condensation--is an interesting one as it connotes not only the process by which something is thickened and gathered, as water droplets coalesce from vapor, but also the process by which light is focused into a concentrated beam, as the condenser of a photographic enlarger. Freud compares the process to the production of an image in a telescope. Somewhere in the arrangement of lenses, a new and unique entity--an image--is brought into being...

I personally think your dream may just be a cross between a farm equipment auction and a habanero Chimichanga.

[GJM Geradts]

Next time when I want to describe how much I like something I'll use the word 'lugubrious'