Ever since I started developing my own film in early 2006 (and really, for years before that) I've wanted to buy an enlarger and learn to make my own prints. Developing film is fine, and you do have a degree of control in that process, but it's really in the printing process that the fun really starts. Or so I'd always heard.

Finally I get to find out for myself; for the last few months I've been working on setting up a darkroom, and two days ago I made my first black and white print. And it's just as fun as I'd always heard.

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Today I finally developed my first roll of film. It took much longer than I expected; based on what I'd read, I was expecting to spend about 30-45 minutes. Actually, I started around noon and finished at 6:30pm. Of course, about four of those hours were spent mixing the chemicals from their initial powder form, which only has to be done once every few months. Also, I took my time with every step, carefully washing every container and funnel between each use to avoid contamination, and rereading instructions repeatedly to avoid mistakes. I guess it's similar to the way my first engine swap took me three weeks to complete, but the second one was done in a weekend. I imagine the next roll of film I develop will go much faster.

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Ever since high school I've always wanted to learn to develop my own film, but the interest was always relegated to the back of my consciousness. But a few months ago, on a trip to Charleston to visit Jessie, I spent some time talking with her friend Kevin who's got a darkroom in his house, and he really revived my enthusiasm about processing my own film. Now that the construction at home is nearing the end, and the use of my bedroom (and, more importantly, bathroom) are restored to me, I'm revisiting the idea.

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• A Holga (a $15 toy camera that shoots medium format film and takes wonderfully imprecise pictures)
• A simple home darkroom (which will be especially useful once I start shooting medium format film and have to figure out how to get it processed)
• A large format view camera (don't tell me a 4x5" viewfinder isn't awesome)