Digital vs. Darkroom
One of the reasons I love my job is that I am asked to consult with the Division of Construction for my school system on new school buildings. Three years ago we were in the very beginning stages of planning to build a new high school. The Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instructional Programs asked my supervisor and me if we still needed photography darkrooms built in high schools with the move toward digital photography. Since my background is not in photography, I set out to gather information to answer this question. I knew we wanted to keep darkrooms, but I needed to answer this with research.
I called several major universities (like RIT and Yale) and asked them if they are teaching darkroom, digital, or a combination of the two? All of them said that they were teaching both but that it was getting harder and more expensive to find the supplies for the darkroom. They all said they plan to keep their darkrooms as long as they possibly can and that they believe that the foundation of photography belongs in the darkroom. I figure if a student is only going to have one photography experience in high school, then is should be digital. If a student then becomes more interested in the fine art of photography, they can take darkroom as an advanced class. So I ask you, what are your thoughts and opinions around digital vs. darkroom? If you were asked to build a new school and had to give input on adding/removing a darkroom (that will be there for the next 50 years) do you keep it in? Why or why not?
Here are some websites you may want to read that discuss this issue:
* Freestyle Photographic Supplies
* Shutterbug
-Lisa Stuart
Hi!
I am a current art student at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
You have quite the interesting decision to make. On the one hand cost can be high, and chemicals around high school students is a risk. However, I think that a darkroom should be included. Every one with a cell phone camera has the potential to be a photographer. I think that only a black and white photo class is going to make the photographer in training slow down and be purposeful about their photos. A roll of film is gone in a few clicks, and then the editing begins. From my first film class I learned more about depth, and the importance of lights and darks to produce a quality image. With digital, the memory capacity allows for dozens of photos, and the option to delete the unwanted ones. Color also becomes a distraction from understanding photography as an art form.
I am not a photography major, I have taken one black and white photography class, an experience you cannot just read about on a blog like you can with digital, therefore I support high school level traditional photography.
Posted by: Kerye Hartzell | February 09, 2013 at 11:16 AM
It also depends on the district funding style. I taught darkroom in a school with good parent funding and poor district funding, digital on a complete shoestring (wrote a grant to get 8 cameras for 32 students to share, ran CS2 on 90's PCs, used free sites to make digital porfolios.) I now teach in a distict with a strong CTE program with federal funding, upper middle class suburban parents, and a building built in 1998 as a '21st century school' with NO darkroom or ceramics lab but 4 Mac labs for commercial arts.
Yearly budget: Does the art department get a stipend for supplies at the beginning of the year? Or does is vary by taxes, parent input, whim of an admin? Darkroom has a set annual cost, while digital has a huge initial cost (expensive cameras, group license for adobe, etc) and then a lower annual cost.
Lab fees: Does the district support lab fees for classes? Can the teacher charge students for the photo paper, film, etc? Can the average student pay to replace a dropped $1,500 digital camera?
District tech support: Is there someone who will come install all the drivers for a fancy color printer for digital work? Are common photo-sharing sites like Flickr (for a digital paper-free portfolio) blocked? Will they pay for and support Adobe apps? Do you have access to modern computer lab?
I personally support the first teaching environment - all beginners use darkroom and fully manual cameras so they learn the art. science, and patience of true photography. Advanced students use advanced darkroom techniques and dabble with digital. AP students choose their strength and create a portfolio of either medium.
Posted by: Allie | February 09, 2013 at 03:36 PM
Thanks Kerye and Allie,
We ultimately decided to leave in the darkroom in the new school. We have 25 high schools in my county and at least 5 of them have taken out their darkrooms and only offer digital. We can ask for lab fees but it is a max of $25 and can only be charged for something that becomes the student’s property (i.e. film, photo paper). The school or county has to supply everything else. We do a central inventory every year and "if" there is money we replace items that are reported as “poor” on the inventory. Kerye, I agree with your statement that “everyone with a cell phone camera has the potential to be a photographer” and that there are things you learn in the darkroom that you just don’t learn on a computer.
Posted by: Lisa Stuart | February 11, 2013 at 11:46 AM