WHY MILLENIALS ARE HEADING TO THE DARKROOM?

Sudany Ausby, a 16-year-old high school student, squinted as she emerged from the darkroom holding a freshly printed 8-by-10 photograph. She had used a decades-old Pentax film camera with a 35-millimeter lens to shoot the photograph. But the borders on the glossy black-and-white print were out of proportion, again. "It rarely comes out the way you want it to", said Ausby, as she peered at the photograph, still wet from the chemicals used to make the print. "But when it does, it's satisfying". As younger generations embrace vintage things - like vinyl records and early gaming consoles - more students have become interested in old-school photography, increasing the demand for analog photography classes in high schools across Manhattan.
Schools with rigorous art programs and darkrooms have become the stewards of the dying practice that dominated the world for over a hundred years. "Digital is too easy, in that you can take a lot of pictures at a time", said Ben Russell, photography teacher at the High School of Fashion Industries in Chelsea "Film slows you down because the amount of film limits you. It really makes you think about the photograph you are creating". Using film, teachers said, helps students learn the fundamental elements of photography, and patience. The step-by-step, hands-on tinkering with chemicals and light exposure required to produce just a single photograph can take students several days.
"The other thing it teaches you is problem-solving skills because everything is computerised today. People don't do things with their hands anymore", Russell said. Many say the comeback of analog photograph workshops to about 450 students a year, the waiting list continues to grow. "It shows young people's need for meditative spaces where they can practice patience", Lacy Austin, the director of community programs at the center, said. "They are so used to everything being so instantaneous that the idea of waiting for a photograph to emerge is something they are really drawn to".
Teachers at schools with darkrooms said that analog photography is one of the most popular courses. "Film photography is seen as this vintage, cool thing to do, like buying records", said Lisa DiFilipo, the photography teacher at Millenium High School in the Financial District.
-Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy-
e-mail: chakkurss1968@gmail.com
cell: 9398823314.
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