First Darkroom Experience
Before I moved to London, I started to gain an interest in film photography. I attended a photography festival in Singapore last year and went to see one of my favourite photographer's exhibition, Nguan. I have known his work for a while now but never really got into film photography until I went to his exhibition last year. Seeing the pictures in real life felt different and I suddenly was intrigued by the medium.
Nguan's exhibition at the Singapore International Photography Festival (Nguan Singapore, 2018).
Nguan's film camera on display (Nguan Singapore, 2018)
His photos had this dream-like effect which was so mesmerizing which eventually sparked my interest in film photography. I bought a point-and-shoot film camera in Singapore in hopes to work on my photography skills and learn more about film when I moved to London.
Before the start of the workshop, introduction to the different chemicals for developing our image
When I found out there was a darkroom here at LCC I was excited because I have never been to one let alone used one and since using a darkroom is one of the very basis of film development, I had to go to the workshop and try it out myself.
My first ever darkroom experience was such a thrill. I got to learn how to use the facilities and develop my own film in the future.
I wanted to develop my own film when I came to the workshop but I realised I have not processed it and I needed the negatives, therefore, I used one of the negatives that were available for us.
Figure 1. First test strip
Initially, I wanted to develop an image of the sea but the negative was kind of dark so I could not find the grain. I then chose an image of leaves but I still not could see any grain in my negative when I put it in the enlarger. Turns out the light bulb of the enlarger was really weak, therefore I had to switch enlargers. (see Figure 1)
Figure 2. Second test strip
This was after I changed enlargers and used cardboard to cover up different parts of the negative (see Figure 2) so that the paper is exposed to different amounts of light. Eventually, I decided to expose my photo paper to 20 seconds of light (which is the extreme right section of the test strip) as it had the best amount of brightness and contrast. I set my contrast at 2.5 which I think was the perfect setting.
Figure 3. Final image
This was the final outcome of the image. (see Figure 3) I was pretty satisfied with how the image came out. The image gave off a very dreamy vibe and I liked that. I would definitely come back in the future to develop and print my prints in the darkroom.
Overall, my experience with the darkroom was pretty intriguing. It wasn't a smooth start as I chose the wrong negative and my enlarger wasn't really working, however, after switching, everything turned out fine and I actually enjoyed the process. The workshop helped me realised that there is more to an image. More than just taking photos, the materials that we use, the amount of light we let in and the development of the process to create a photograph does come into place. I have more appreciation for the physicality of photography.
Bibliography
Nguan Singapore (2018) [Exhibition]. Singapore. 8 September - 28 October 2018.
Nguan's exhibition at the Singapore International Photography Festival (Nguan Singapore, 2018).
Nguan's film camera on display (Nguan Singapore, 2018)
His photos had this dream-like effect which was so mesmerizing which eventually sparked my interest in film photography. I bought a point-and-shoot film camera in Singapore in hopes to work on my photography skills and learn more about film when I moved to London.
Before the start of the workshop, introduction to the different chemicals for developing our image
When I found out there was a darkroom here at LCC I was excited because I have never been to one let alone used one and since using a darkroom is one of the very basis of film development, I had to go to the workshop and try it out myself.
My first ever darkroom experience was such a thrill. I got to learn how to use the facilities and develop my own film in the future.
I wanted to develop my own film when I came to the workshop but I realised I have not processed it and I needed the negatives, therefore, I used one of the negatives that were available for us.
Figure 1. First test strip
Initially, I wanted to develop an image of the sea but the negative was kind of dark so I could not find the grain. I then chose an image of leaves but I still not could see any grain in my negative when I put it in the enlarger. Turns out the light bulb of the enlarger was really weak, therefore I had to switch enlargers. (see Figure 1)
Figure 2. Second test strip
This was after I changed enlargers and used cardboard to cover up different parts of the negative (see Figure 2) so that the paper is exposed to different amounts of light. Eventually, I decided to expose my photo paper to 20 seconds of light (which is the extreme right section of the test strip) as it had the best amount of brightness and contrast. I set my contrast at 2.5 which I think was the perfect setting.
Figure 3. Final image
This was the final outcome of the image. (see Figure 3) I was pretty satisfied with how the image came out. The image gave off a very dreamy vibe and I liked that. I would definitely come back in the future to develop and print my prints in the darkroom.
Overall, my experience with the darkroom was pretty intriguing. It wasn't a smooth start as I chose the wrong negative and my enlarger wasn't really working, however, after switching, everything turned out fine and I actually enjoyed the process. The workshop helped me realised that there is more to an image. More than just taking photos, the materials that we use, the amount of light we let in and the development of the process to create a photograph does come into place. I have more appreciation for the physicality of photography.
Bibliography
Nguan Singapore (2018) [Exhibition]. Singapore. 8 September - 28 October 2018.
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