David Starr: Photographer
www.destarr.com
First, a Note Of Thanks
Judy, you are the most wonderful wife on the planet.  You've always been supportive of me in everything I've done.  You're the strongest person I know, always calm and upbeat, never discouraged, never negative.  It's an honor to be your husband.  I'll always love you.
Dave
I also want to thank Paul Butzi for his articles on web design and his graciousness in allowing me to use some of his design ideas.
                                             www.butzi.net
Digital
I don't "do" digital.  All the photographs on this site were scanned from prints.  I'd much rather spend time in the darkroom than in front of a monitor.  For me, it's a magical place where wonderful things can happen.  I have nothing against digital or those who use it.  I simply prefer film and the wet darkroom. 

7-12-05 Update: I bought a 35mm film scanner, a Minolta Scan Dual
IV.  We came back from a trip with 11 rolls of 35mm.  I developed it, and wasn't looking forward to making that many small prints - our son wants one of each, & I don't know yet what Judy wants - so, I got the scanner.  So far, I've scanned & printed 5 rolls, and I'd MUCH rather be in the darkroom!  It's mind numbing; 1 1/2 hours to scan & save 36 shots.  Then into Photoshop to crop, resize & print.  Add another 1 1/2 hours for that.  So, 3 hours per roll, or about 33 hours total to scan & print.  It took about an hour to develop all 11 rolls, and I'd estimate 1 1/2 hours to print a roll of 3 1/2X5's, with 4 prints on a sheet.  That makes it 18 hours in the darkroom, or 33 at the computer.  Cost-wise, I think printing off the computer is more expensive; ink cartridges aren't cheap.  Anyway, a scanner does have some uses.  I've got a bunch of slides from the 60's to date that I can scan.  The colors are starting to fade on the older ones, & maybe I can restore some of that in Photoshop.  Other than that, though, it's still wet for me.



Adventures with an old Dry Mounting Press

I recently got a Seal Commercial 200 dry mounting press for a great price.  I don't know how old it is, but I'm guessing around 20.  When the press arrived, it looked like new, except for the power cord, which had been cut off.  I replaced the cord, and plugged it in.  The press heated evenly, and the thermostat worked, but wasn't very accurate.  That's not a problem, as I can set it with a meat thermometer.  The pad was in decent shape, but I ordered a replacement anyway.  The platen was another story; all bad.  It looked like someone had melted a few sheets of mounting tissue to the platen, along with the usual age-related discoloration.  So, I removed the platen and proceeded to "renew" it.  I'd read that some people wet sand the platen, & it seemed like the way to proceed.  It was so bad, I started with 240 paper.  Four hours and 4 sheets of 240 later, it was clean and smooth, with marks from the 240 paper.  So, I wet sanded with 320, then 400, then 600 paper.  Another 4 hours, and it looked good; very smooth, with only very fine lines from the 600 paper still visible.  Photographic Solutions General Purpose Darkroom Cleaner is a mild abrasive cleaner I bought to clean print trays, etc.  With a dampened old T-shirt I used it on the platen, just like rubbing compound.  It worked great;  the platen's now very smooth, with no visible marks.  I reassembled the press and made sure everything worked.  While reassembling, I looked at how the thermostat worked, and found that by bending the bi-metal strip, I could get it to open the contacts sooner.  Using a meat thermometer, and with some gentle bending, I was able to get it to operate correctly, and hold the temperatures I wanted, within a few degrees.  This press is older than the current 210 series.  It has a mechanical thermostat and no thermometer.  I know the 210's have a thermometer, and wouldn't be surprised if their temperature control is more sophisticated, but this works well.  So, for $150.00, including shipping, a few hours time, and some elbow grease, I've got a very good mounting press that works perfectly. 

Links to items further down
Inexpensive Tacking Iron

Now that I have a press, I needed a tacking iron.  Rather than pay over $50.00 for one, I went to a hobby shop and got one for $ 27.99.  Hobby shops sell them for tacking covering film in place on radio controlled aircraft.  The one I got has a temperature control dial and is Teflon coated.  The first time I used it, I accidentally got some tissue adhesive on the iron, and was able to simply wipe it off the Teflon surface.

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Inexpensive tacking iron
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