Defending the Darkroom
While film has pretty much seen the end of days, the art-form is still being kept alive by a high school in Washington State. Battle Ground High School has refused to let go of their darkroom.
The high school offers both digital photography and film photography courses, keeping alive an aspect of photography that is disappearing very quickly.
Becky White, a senior and president of Battle Ground’s photo club, acknowledged that the appeal of black-and-white film is difficult to explain to those diving into the digital world. Yet, she argued, film is intrinsically special and shouldn’t be left behind.
“Working in the darkroom is almost spiritual,” White said. “You have to have a different mindset.”
Functioning with film means dealing with a limited number of images that are costly and laborious to process. It can take days to discover what the camera has captured, and even after the negatives are finished, making prints is a complicated, costly and time-intensive next step.
“Every frame counts” has become a mantra for film photographers. Manipulation of the equipment also becomes an act of faith. There is no screen to quickly see if everything involved with the exposure worked just right.
Despite the form’s drawbacks, WSU Vancouver’s summer course on the topic is extremely popular, said Harrison Higgs, the assistant professor of fine arts who administers the program. He helped bring Battle Ground’s black-and-white photos to the college campus.
As a teacher, Higgs likes the quick feedback that digital cameras offer students. It makes learning efficient and puts the focus on the image rather than the production process, he said.
But Higgs also thinks it’s important for students to experience film and how it alters the approach to photography.
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