Recently, we invited the photographer Mick Williamson to deliver the first of what we hope will become regular artist’s talks at darkroom. During the evening, Mick took a deep dive into his decades of image making to coincide with the recent release of his book ‘The Photo Diaries of Mick Williamson’ published by The Silverhill Press, and upcoming documentary ‘The Wordless Diary’, directed by Rod Morris.   Part of Mick's ongoing photographic practice since the mid 1970’s has involved the daily use of a small half-frame camera, to create his ever-evolving body of work. His photographs ..read more

A small group of its members, along with darkroom co-founder Phil Grey, recently had their portrait taken by the photographic artist Grace Lau. ‘Through this project, I am making a comment on imperialist visions of the ‘exotic’ Chinese. I want participants to think about how different people have been represented in portraits over time, and today. Placing people in this constructed historic setting and taking their portrait is a great way to start that conversation.’ Started in Hastings in 2005 and revived earlier this year in Southampton during the Chinese New Year, the project has now moved ..read more

The fifth Lightworks event was a wonderfully packed evening: a wide range of people, photographs, ideas, techniques and conversations (not to mention comestibles, both in print and on plates). Eight people presented their work, including both long-standing and recent members, as well as hopefully some new members. There was a fantastic mix of ages, nationalities, professional backgrounds, and genders. Photo: Dennis Yandoli The evening opened with Elizabeth Pimentel’s stunning black and white prints on the theme of protest and gender. These were powerful in themselves, but all the more so once ..read more

darkroom can help create that magical darkroom scene for your drama, documentary or music promo, and provide the perfect location to conduct an interview with that renowned photographer. For more details and information about availability and fees contact us at info@darkroomlondon.org darkroom has been used by the BBC’s One Show, DEFJAM recording artist Tendai and restaurant chain Wagamama; and has provided location services for the acclaimed BBC documentary Murder in the Pacific. Photographer Michael Putland interviewed for BBC’s One Show If you are looking to recreate a vintage or more con ..read more

Our latest Lightworks evening on June 8th was an other enjoyable opportunity for darkroom members to gather to show and discuss their work. Once again we were greatly impressed by the quality and diversity of their photography and printing. Kicking off the event was Andrew Baranowski, who showed some of the cyanotype prints he has been making using inkjet negatives created from digital image files. Following a recent workshop on representation he attended at the The Photographers’ Gallery, Andrew has become interested in exploring the possibilities of photographing people in public places whi ..read more

What do you do when music photography royalty contacts you to ask if they can come and make some prints? Jill Furmanovsky has been photographing musicians for over 50 years, during which she has created innumerable iconic images; Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Amy Winehouse and Oasis are just some of the greats captured by her lens. When darkroom was crowdfunding to finance its start-up Jill generously agreed to be filmed for our campaign video. So, when she contacted us recently saying “my darkroom is full of stuff, I have no chemicals and I need to get a couple of prints out quickly”, we had no h ..read more

Darkroom member Elisabeth Scheder-Bieschin has built a reputation with her cyanotype prints and was recently commissioned by the designer Paul Smith to create a collection to exhibit in the designer’s shops. You can read more about this here. Elisabeth Scheder-Bieschin Artischoke, Artischoke, 2023 Now she is working on a series of photographs of vegetable still lifes evoking the work of the German photographer Karl Blossfeldt. Capturing their exquisite delicacy on 5 x 4 and medium format, Elisabeth cooks each vegetable and uses the water to produce a developer in which she processes the film ..read more

Milena Michalski is a long-standing member of darkroom. She has just been awarded Arts Council England funding to push her photographic practice further, and is combining traditional darkroom and alternative photographic processes in her project ‘In a Sphere Suspended’. Milena’s cyanotype series ‘Enmeshed’ has just been published in a new book ‘Less a Building: Interactions with the London Zoo Aviary’. The publication is part of a research project by artist Michaela Nettell, published by Passengers. This marks a point of transition for the landmark structure, which is being turned from an avia ..read more

Movies are not square. Cartoons are not square. Magazines are not square. Postcards are not square. Since childhood (I’m 33) I had resisted the photographic coffee-coaster ratio. It didn’t make sense to me. However, over the last few years of my photographic life I have discovered and fallen for Robert Adams, Larry Fink, Gerry Johansson…among others…who all found total harmony in the square. One night, when I couldn’t sleep, I went through a load of my own favourite photos and cropped them into squares, just to see what effect it would have on them. It was a sobering experience. I would genuin ..read more

March 9th saw our latest Lightworks soiree, when darkroom members gather to show and discuss their photography. Despite a few last-minute drop-outs, it was a lively and inspiring evening, that highlighted the quality and diversity of work being produced here. Andrew Baranowski kicked the event off with his delicate selenium-toned print of an infra-red shot he took last year on one of the islands in the River Thames near Taplow. The group felt that it had the aesthetic qualities of a Japanese landscape. Andrew mentioned that he has recently purchased a Linhof 5x4 field camera and described the ..read more