“darkness is the absence of light, but when light enters into that dark room, it becomes our source of knowledge, safety, direction, and truth, light exposes things for what they truly are…”
Source -www.thrive121.com
The metaphor, artistic expression and mechanical reality of this statement is for me everything that is beautiful about ‘real photography’. The necessity for both dark and light with which to create the contrasts that make the photographs I see, record and print is indisputable, imperative and inescapable.
There is a marvellous and one could even argue near magical experience of being in a photographic darkroom, in many ways it is perhaps a symbolic return to the original source, the camera obscura.
A camera obscura (pl. camerae obscurae or camera obscuras; from Latin camera obscūra 'dark chamber’) is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) projection of the view outside.
Source Wikipedia
My experiences and professional life as a photographer began in the darkroom and so it’s fitting that this final and glorious chapter of mine should return to source, that which inspired me in the first place. It is I have to admit completely self indulgent and quite possible based on a my own wonderfully romantic and dreamlike adventure in photography. Of late I discovered that there was definitely something missing in my work process and without too much thought and deliberation the bright and shining answer and resolution presented itself to me, or perhaps was there all along.
In my own wonderfully imagined reality I have the thought of an etherial Kevin Costner ‘Field of Dreams’ voice speaking to me saying, “Giles, build it and magic will come.” Who am I to deny such a command, be it real or imagined and so for the third and very last time I’m in the process of building my latest photographic darkroom.
I had rather grand ideas of extending my current studio/shed to have a large gallery space and separate darkroom however reality and the crazy cost of materials dictates that a more modest plan be in put into operation. Working on the notion of ‘just got for it’ I’ve set out a plan to reconfigure the former 9mx3m studio into a full darkroom with only a small section at one end to accommodate the necessities of digitisation, you know for all that wonderful online communication and of course book production.
It has to be said that my technical woodworking, electrical and plumbing skills are somewhat functional and basic at best, requiring anything that potentially can flood, electrocute of burn down the structure to be handed over to a grown up professional tradesman. I’m happy to get to work on the flat pack shelves, cabinets and quite possible the worktops too.
I’m in no desire to rush this build, preferring instead to ponder over and think carefully about each step in the process. Indeed it took me three days of drinking coffee and wondering about the almost empty space to come up with plan of what I really wanted to do. It all came down to the decision to only make 20x24 inch and 10x11.5 inch prints, it really was remarkable how the decision on what paper size I wanted to use made such a difference to the entire layout of the proposed darkroom.
As I sit here and write this blog, behind me is a near empty space awaiting the arrival of a sink and drying cabinet from The Second Hand Darkroom Supplies, and a substantial order of kitchen carcasses etc from B&Q all expected to be here and ready for action before the approaching weekend. I can’t tell you how excited, thrilled and eager I am to be getting my hands into the next construction phase of this darkroom project.
As exciting as the build phase is it pales in comparison to the thought of actually once again being in the dark, processing the film and making proper B&W silver gelatin photographic prints.
Until then…. Wishing you fair light and full frames
Giles
