Darkroom Workshops

   Duration:      Two days from 0800 until ca. 17:00 (contact us for next available dates)

   Where:           Studio8Social, Seestrasse 96, 9807 Uetikon am See

Two-day workshop in Studio8Social in Uetikon am See covering the principles of Black & White film photography and how to expose and develop negatives and prints.
The workshop will cover the complete workflow of exposing a film, developing and storage of the negatives, and finally the preparation of a contact sheet and two Resin Coated prints. The structure of the course is divided into three main parts: Theory & Shooting, Negative and Print, which will be covered in this order.

The theory part – Day 1 AM - goes through the principles of exposure, different film stocks and their specific characteristics and how to use a manual focus 35mm analog camera. Once done, we then take our theory into practice and expose a roll of film with an “assignment” in the CU Areal (Uetikon am See) or in the vicinity.

Part two –Day 1 PM - Negative, will begin by explaining the development process and necessary tools to it, followed by a practice session in how to transfer a film from a camera into a development tank. The exposed films from the “assignment” will be then individually developed and prepared for printing.

The third and final part, The Print, will cover all of Day 2. In this part we explain the “dry” enlarger printing process (exposure timing, contrast and negative quality) as well as the “wet” process of developer, fixing and the washing of the prints. We will then prepare individual contact sheets of the films exposed and developed the day before and from these each photographer can select two images to make final 8x10 inch prints of. We will conclude the day with a Q&A.

Included in the price is film stock, all darkroom chemicals, negative storage sheets, darkroom paper, protective gear (apron, protective glasses, masks and gloves) and of course a vast amount of knowledge and information.

Not included: analog camera (Ricardo.ch has plenty available if the household doesn’t have one around)

Level: beginner to intermediate - basic understanding of photography is useful (pre-reading material is available).