A darkroom that worked

Text: an original contemporary personal account-style practice extract.

I enrolled for a photography course at the arts centre, but avoided its shared darkroom after my first visit. The shelf holding the developing trays was fixed above the sink, where I could not reach it comfortably. A gap beside the window curtain also allowed light into the room. I described these difficulties on the course feedback form.

When I returned, the trays had been placed on a low unit beside the sink. A wider curtain now covered the whole window. I completed my first print that afternoon. The tutor’s enthusiastic introduction had interested me, but these alterations made the room practical for me to use.

Identify the two practical changes that enabled the writer to use the darkroom. Use the paragraph beginning “When I returned”.