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Thread: Defending the Darkroom in Education

  1. #101

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    Dec 2014
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    Re: Defending the Darkroom in Education

    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew O'Neill View Post
    I am high school photography teacher. All 9 high schools in my district taught darkroom photography. Now only 3 do. Teachers retired and were replaced by young teachers who knew/know only digital. Even some of the teachers have no formal training in photography... My program is alive and well. I do 90% analogue, 5% digital, 5% hybrid alt (film scan to digital output, film scan to cyanotype or gum)... my seniors who have taken photo 11 with me, get more digital training. I know that when I retire (about 6 years from now), my colleague (young female and former student of mine) will slide in and shut down the darkroom. She's already told me that.
    That's a shame to limit the students to digital. I think given the opportunity, digital, analog and hybrid would be the best approach. I know young folks that are using every tool there is, and earning a living and growing. It's not just digital. Photoshop is great. Being a really good typist, used to prepare you to be a secretary. Same can be said for doing graphics grunt work.
    I see people making large inkjet negatives and producing beautiful salt prints, gum etc.
    I have a really nice DSLR, it's amazing for action, people, my cats etc. There's more to love about photography now, than ever before.

  2. #102
    Mark Sawyer's Avatar
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    Jul 2004
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    Stuck inside of Tucson with the Neverland Blues again...
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    6,268

    Re: Defending the Darkroom in Education

    Quote Originally Posted by Duolab123 View Post
    There's more to love about photography now, than ever before.
    That's the secret no one knows: it's all good.
    "I love my Verito lens, but I always have to sharpen everything in Photoshop..."

  3. #103

    Re: Defending the Darkroom in Education

    It's interesting that when I was in graduate school (not that long ago, graduated in May of 17 with an MFA in Photography) advisor after advisor, classmate after classmate gave me such a hard time about shooting film. I shot 8x10 and printed wet for 2 years through my thesis show and was told countless times that I wasn't "with the times" and that it would affect my prospects moving forward as I sought employment. It's interesting that while I wanted to teach, at no point did I ever aspire to teach in higher education. I knew the landscape of that world and did not want to get trapped as an adjunct having to rely on my wife to carry the load in terms of income and benefits. After those two years of hearing that I'd never find a job I relish in the fact that of the number of people I knew not only in my own program but also at RISD, Lesley, and the SMFA (all local programs) that I'm only person who is teaching full time. I knew from day one that if I wanted to secure that employment that there was more security in secondary schools than in higher education.

    I'm proud to continue a strong tradition of analog / wet darkroom practice where I teach. We have a fully stocked digital lab and darkroom where we as a program provide the students with all the materials. I love this element because even though we are fairly exclusive prep school in New England, there are still students on financial aid who may or may not be able to swing a semester of film, paper, and providing their own cameras. Every day I pinch myself, really... I do. I love what I do, I love working with students, I love seeing them discover things about themselves that they never knew existed, seeing them challenge how they define themselves and expanding that box of being exclusively an athlete or a scholar headed to the Ivies.

    I also find it interesting that after Photo 1 I have a number of students that elect to take advanced photo where they chose their medium. If I have say 8-10 students, it's wonderful to see 8 or 9 stick with film despite their hyper scheduled lives and the appeal of a faster workflow that exists in digital. Over the last two years I have been ramping up our offerings and took a crippled supply closet and slowly brought in some Chamonix 4x5's, Rolleiflexes, Pentax 67 etc. I find it important to introduce students to tools and resources that are on a professional level, given that their attention span is so short that a camera that doesn't quite work or some off brand film is enough to dissuade them and provide more frustration than pleasure.

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