Hi Guys,

I have a question for you. This place where my new office is wants to build a darkroom and let me teach the classes through our local community college.

Do you think that anyone in the general public would be interested in taking darkroom classes?

I mean, I know I love the darkroom and I actually miss the smell of those chemicals! But I need to know what you guys think.



Please let me know. Thanks a bunch!

I don't think there is anything quite like seeing your print emerge out of a white piece of paper in the developer for the first time. I don't think darkroom is dead, and I hope it never dies, so we defiantly need people out there keeping it alive!

I think you will get students both those nostalgic for their own darkroom days or curious digital shooters of today. Go for it.

darkroom is alive! at my local commuity college here in northern califoria we have the best and largest equipped lab north of san francisco (this is what i have been told). i live in chico about 80 miles north of sacramento. our little butte college happens to have the amazing geoff fricker!!! google him and you'll see what i am talking about. every semester the photo department is full of new and returning photo students.

i say yes! go for it. begining b&w is where you learn the basics...i will never forget that first roll of film that i shot, developed, then cut the film strip and then finally developed an image. it's exciting! i have an image from my very 1st assignment framed on my kitchen wall.

so i say go for it...build it and they will come.

Any student even 1/2 A**ed serious should take at least two semesters in the darkroom.
This way they really learn the fun-de-mentals of photography before learning digital, so they will understand the value of proper in-camera exposure and the importance of light and good contrast.
Then, they will likely never enter a darkroom again. ;-)
I miss the darkroom myself and loved seeing the image appear in the developer..I even miss the smell, but will likely never do this again.

Not at all dead! I am soooo thankful that I had to take the film photography class at my school and not the digital 101. The darkroom taught me everything about what a bnw image IS and I sooo agree with Kadie, there is nothing like that it's magical. When I get a real studio space the first thing I'm doing is putting in a dark room and working with film again. Even just for myself, totally worth it.

What's a darkroom?

~ Charles

Long dead - except for the odd fine artist.

I started weddings shooting film - but scanning and doing all the post-production work digitally.

Thanks for all the responses guys, I think I'm going to go for it!

I don't think it will ever truly die but isn't profitable to own or operate. There will always be a place for it with fine arts photography and I think it's a must for beginning photographers to learn from. The slow process and little room for error make one a much better photographer IMHO. But as far as owning and operating one? I wouldn't even attempt it.

I sleep in a dark room. But I've never been in a darkroom.

Well, I won't actually have to invest any money in it. They are going to try and get a grant to start and run the whole thing. I will be over it though, and I'll have to teach the classes. It's going to take a lot of time away from my personal life and I just don't know whether it's worth it. I'd really like to have a darkroom again, just to do fine art stuff with a 4x5...

If the pen dead? They said that typewriters would replace the pen. Then they said wordprocessors would replace the typewriter yet there are still plenty typewriters used and sold.

I don't think the darkroom will die completely. There will always be demand - particularly from plate camera users. I think the domestic darkroom is as dead as a doornail. With a pocket digital compact and a computer most hobbyists can do everything they ever could with film but to a higher standard.

I don't see film as going away anytime soon though as it's possible still to get higher quality from film than from digital (compare Agfa Pan X against the latest 1D Mk 3).

"Plate camera users"

That about sums it up.

Darkrooms have moved into the "fine" or "historical" art category. They are no longer practical for anything else.

I have to admit you're spot on. I was never an avid darkroom user anyway. I was so happy when film scanners came out because I never had to do colour matching ever again. It was a case of scan then print. I rarely printed to more than 10x8 so printing to 8.5x11 was a new experience. The biggest print I ever did was several sheets of 10x8 held together and printed to 4' square. Even that could have been done with an inkjet.

Photo manipulation took hours. With photoshop it now takes minutes. I no longer have to print in a badly-ventilated, cramped darkroom wasting materials on test prints. I'd say my work flow is easier and faster. Best of all, it's lower cost. My printer ink costs money as does the computer gear but life is so much nicer now. I don't stink of chemicals like I used to. My clothing lasts longer because those chemicals were mildly corrosive.

Long live the digital darkroom!