Originally posted by normhead The darkroom was definitely part of the deal. My father had one set up in the basement. I started helping him down there when I was 6 years old.
I might have been a bit older, but I credit my Dad as well, with our basement darkroom, for getting me hooked on photography. He shot a lot of (underexposed!) Tri-X at my school concerts and we spent a lot of time trying to get decent prints from the negatives! We bulk loaded, so film was almost free.
Once I went to school, though, I switched to slides, since I didn't have ready access to darkroom facilities. That made you think a lot more before you pushed the shutter button, at perhaps 30-50 cents a pop for film and processing. Nowadays, the next shot is free - that does help with experimenting with, and learning about, composition and exposure.