Pictures From a Wet, Dark Room:
Silver-based photographs by Berkeley City College students
Photography, like Aphrodite, arose fully formed and wonderous beautiful from the foam of backroom laboratories, podded and attended to by its 1839 inventors. Its earliest successes were so precisely transcribed from life they were seen as nothing short of miraculous. Daguerre's silver mirrors which fixed not only the sitter's likeness but details down to his watch stem and Talbot's softer renderings which could be perfectly reproduced without limit, changed radically and often shockingly the way the world was seen and represented.
To say "ubiquitous" somehow understates photography's place in contemporary culture. It is, in many ways, the way we see reality. Cameras bring us our Facebook friends and the Horsehead Nebula but more, our memory and imagination are imbued with photographic images (just think of Yosemite and see if it is not in black and white).
A procession of technological changes has made photography faster, lighter, easier, cheaper and readily transferable but never really better. Spending time lost in contemplation of a well made and preserved albumen print should make this clear. The depth and clarity in these mid-nineteenth century creations is still captivating.
While many artists continue to bind silver to paper with egg whites or spread emulsion onto japanned tin or fume mercury to bring out the exposed Daguerreotype image, modern gelatin-silver film and paper offer the same sort of hands-on, real material, care for craft experiences and rewards without the mess and danger. Shooting with film trains the eye to look before rather than after pushing the shutter. The nuances of time, temperature, light, exposure, formula and handwork engage the darkroom worker in a sensually rich and, yet, somewhat removed environment. The techniques of traditional, wet photography are relatively simple and can be quickly learned but each artist's path of refinement is varied and never ending.
Berkeley City College and Vista Community College before, have offered darkroom photography for over 20 years. We have shared, moved, built, moved, built and shared and moved and built and shared a number of darkroom and classroom facilities (presently sharing at the Associated Students of University of California, Berkeley's Art Studio) and have always been a gathering place for enthusiastic beginning and advanced photographers.
This small representation of work done over the past 14 years shows the broad range of interests and styles students have brought to and developed in these classes. My intention is to encourage work which is honest, engaging and effective and which increases the humanity of the artist and viewer alike. Students come to these classes to add something special to their lives busy with work, family or required curriculum. They go on to other colleges and universities to study art or engineering or to discover their next interest. I admit to an extra charge of pride when one opens a studio or has a solo exhibition or takes off for Tahiti with a camera and a sailboat.
It has been a privilege and an honor to show some ropes, give a push, share the joy and even to examine the wreckage of some glorious failures. I have found a camera the perfect lens for enlarging my world and a mirror for exploring myself. The darkroom is my own special place where vision becomes form. I am glad that it has been the same for others here.
Dana Davis
