'The Dark Room' at the Truman Brewery

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As an amateur photographer, I was recently taken back by the fact there are still people who shoot using film and other Analogue processes. I remember my dad in the dark room exposing paper to chemicals to print the image he exposed on it.

Over the August Bank holiday in the Truman Brewery, Hush Puppies is allowing you to brew up your own images as they want to expose you to a pop-up dark room and camera hire.

You hire a camera, shoot then use the dark room to develop and print them. Sounds simple, but why do something that's obsolete? One photographer explained to me that "Digital has no depth, it's just flat." Looking at each shot, I could see the graduations of each colour. "You're not going to call a plumber to fix an electrical problem." Inferring that both are needed and serve different purposes. I saw the richness of the colours in a shot of some mods on Brighton Beach, one of whom looked like Bradley Wiggins. It looked like a technicolor film, at odds with my washed our digital works.

He even likened it to vinyl, which is richer in tone than an MP3's coldness. In my own experience, I can feel the richness and primal nature of vinyl when I listened to an artist friend's Velvet Underground album, which I have on CD. No contest.

One favourite was the action shot of a gorgeous early 50's Plymouth throwing up dirt in a skid. Liking the car aside, I saw the graduations in colour as the car skidded towards me. I had to jump out of the way.

Being taken back to my childhood, I wonder whether the desire for the instant result has taken away the craft. The skill in developing the negatives, the need for patience. If you want to re- learn these virtues, you can do no worse than rent a camera develop the results at The Old Truman Brewery between 23 & 26 of August 2013. Happy snaps, but not in the happy sacks.

#near_london
#photography
#quirky
#workshops
#august
#learn_something
%wnlondon