My First Time in the Darkroom

Taking a color darkroom printing course

Contact sheet. I had an issue with winding on one frame, hence the weird spacing.

I recently had the pleasure of taking two 1-day courses on color darkroom printing at Full Circle Fine Art, taught by Bill Wierzalis. I had unfortunately missed the last class offered in June, so I quickly jumped on the November classes when I saw the announcement. Prior to this, I had never stepped foot in a darkroom. I don’t print my digital photos often, and I didn’t have any plans in mind for printed projects going in. Regardless, I wanted to learn the process and loved the idea of creating a printed photo with the image never being digitized in the process.

I shot a roll of Kodak Portra 160 I had on hand in anticipation of the first class; development of one roll was included in the course registration. I had scanned all my previous colors rolls already, and was curious to see what it was like to choose a photo based on contact sheets with no prior influence from digital scans. For the second class, I brought Portra 160 negatives from a trip to Venice this past summer. Bill is known for his photography of Italy, so I thought he’d get a kick out of it. We spoke about our experiences there and I got to learn about the history of some of the places I’d visited.

The class went through printing contact sheets, testing exposure, balancing colors, and dodging/burning. We also had the chance to play with some less orthodox methods, like using textured overlays and printing B&W on color paper.

Print using a “gravel” overlay on the negative, giving an almost stippled look. It was interesting to see the difference in colors and contrast between this and the final print below, which were done using the same light color settings.

To me, printing in the darkroom is special in the same way shooting a film camera is special. Neither are as easy, repeatable, fast, or flexible as digital, which is exactly what makes them so fun. The process of trying something out, messing up, taking notes, and trying again was rewarding on a level that I don’t get from digital. There’s less room for error, and all the edits were grounded in a physical cause: more magenta light, a shifted easel, an overlay on the negative. Dodging by hand makes each print unique and accentuates the relationship between you, the light, and the final print. Altering pixels isn’t quite the same.

My haphazard notes from test prints. I transferred these after the class to more structured notes on my computer.

On top of the learning experience, I loved meeting the people in the class. Everyone was incredibly kind and encouraging, and it was cool to share feedback and watch everyone’s prints evolve as they worked their way to their final versions. There was variety in film, formats, and subject matter; I now have a few new of films I’d like to try printing with, especially Gold and Ektar. We exchanged contact information and I hope to keep in touch with them in the future.

Class photos (from Bill's instagram @wierzaliswilliam).

Leaving the class, I have a few ideas for printed projects that I’m very excited about, and I can’t wait to get back in the darkroom. Full Circle offers darkroom rentals which include all but the paper, so it’s quite convenient. I also would really like to learn black and white printing, which is usually an option at Full Circle, but currently their black and white room is undergoing some renovations.

Final print. Taking a photo of the print obviously fails to capture how it looks in person, so I’ve included a scan of the negative below if you just care to see the photo itself.

Scanned negative.

If you’re in the Baltimore area and would like to start printing, I recommend taking a class from Bill if you get the chance. If you’d like to rent a darkroom, need film developed, or are looking for any number of other fine art services, check out Full Circle Fine Art.