Raise your hands all of you that had a (photographic darkroom) in your home. I had 2 home versions over the years; in the 70’s and 80’s mine was located in the basement of our home on Sandringham Road in Brighton, a suburb of Rochester, NY, our home town. It was necessary for me to load the 35 mm and 120 mm film canisters sitting in complete darkness (testing to make sure there were no light leaks) sitting under the shirts, skirts and suits in the closet off the master bedroom. The darkroom was in a long, narrow small space in the basement. I had running water in a sturdy sink that Paul and our then brother-in-law coated with special (smelly) waterproof materials and installed. In the 90’s we moved to a townhouse where my glorious darkroom/studio was located in the basement with a lighting studio on the top floor of our townhouse. I could safely load the canisters in the complete darkness in that space and engage in alternative photo processes. My studio had a workbench full of the chemistry I needed to make my own developing solutions. It was a happy space with a radio to listen to NPR news, classical radio, Karl Haas, (go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Haas to learn about this genius. It is a fact that cross country truck drivers were faithful to his programs,) the St. Paul Chamber orchestra (https://www.thespco.org/), the Cleveland City Club Forum https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/26 , to name a few as well as 8mm tapes/later DVD’s of my favorite artists and pieces. I taught several friends and youngsters the basics of photography and printing in that space.
Having been raised as an “orchestra Brat” my dad Herman Rudin played viola in the Rochester Philharmonic orchestra. (he told me that he had a darkroom in the 1940’s and 50’s in our house at 31 Edgerton street in Rochester).
So it happened that in September, 2008, the year an economic pandemic plunged our country and indeed the world into economic turmoil, I closed my darkroom and made the video of my goodbye. I had moved on to the digital world that had captured the world of image-making. It is in the year 2021, year 2 of the unforeseen Covid pandemic, that I rediscovered my Swansong piece. It is low key, spontaneous and heartfelt. The original sound track “featured” the furnace sounds located next to the entrance to the darkroom. Thanks to my talented and skilled grandson Josh Goldberg and a new soundtrack, you hear a viola piece in memory of my father’s chosen instrument. The sounds reflect the nuances of sadness and change that was the purpose of the video. (credit; The Dvorak Slavonic Dance in E minor from the DVD The London Viola sound featuring the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Conducted by Jeffrey Simon, Recorded 1995, Gala Records Ltd).
I am finally back to blogging after a long hiatus. More about that in another post. I still welcome your feedback and comments. The link to the video is below;