All high-school students these days are digital natives. Many can’t imagine what life was like before cell phones, iPods, and tools such as streaming TV services and online shopping. The MICDS Upper School curriculum allows students to sample one element of the former analog world: Darkroom Photography.
In Upper School Photo 1, darkroom students began the academic year learning how film cameras work to expose the film and standard camera settings such as light metering, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO for proper exposure. Students roamed around campus, capturing images of areas of interest. The activity tested both their critical eye for framing and scale and learning manual camera settings for balanced exposure and sharpness.
Students then ventured into the darkroom, where they practiced the delicate art of unloading the film from the camera without exposing it and loading it onto developing reels. Next, they ran the film through a chemical wash and rinsed it with liquid at precise temperatures to ensure the proper development of the film. Finally, students used enlargers and their final developed negatives to make prints. They also learned about darkroom resources to enhance their exposure or sharpness. Producing the printed images involved another round of chemicals to develop, stop developing, “fix” and wash the final image before it is set out to dry.
Upper School Fine Arts Teacher Denise Douglas shares, “We start the year with students having the full experience before they begin their normal assignments. It takes time, but it’s an important, and fun, step in understanding the art of photography.”
We look forward to seeing our darkroom students’ artwork hanging in the halls sometime soon!
