Basics of Film Development – From the Latent Image to the Contact Print

Working with analogue photography in the darkroom is a different way of creating images and requires a more unhurried approach to the image. Anyone working with film must engage with the material – its sensitivity, its peculiarities, its unpredictability. Not everything can be determined, not everything can be controlled. A fingerprint on the negative, a watermark on the print, a slight overexposure. The material leaves its own mark on the image. Unpredictability is not a fault, but part of the process.

Working with analogue film takes time and patience. It forces you to slow down, thereby forming a conscious counterpoint to fast-paced digital image production, where capture, editing and distribution happen in seconds.

In the workshop ‘Basics of Film Development – From the Latent Image to the Contact Print’, we will learn together the basics of analogue black-and-white development. We will develop the films we have brought with us and make visible what is inscribed on the film but not yet visible – the latent image. After developing the negatives, we will produce contact prints. In doing so, we will experiment with exposure times and different light intensities.

The course is aimed at anyone with little or no experience of the analogue darkroom. No prior knowledge is required. Participants must be aged 18 or over.

To take part, please bring a roll of black-and-white negative film that has been exposed but not yet developed (for example, film from a black-and-white disposable camera).