04 Jan Stepping into the dark

I’ve always been drawn towards black and white images, and have wanted to have access to a darkroom to experiment in for a very long time, and to explore yet another element of the art of photography. So before the festive season began, I finally went on a course to learn how to print black & white images in the darkroom. The course I went on was run by Nick Jones at Photofusion, Brixton, London, and I have to say Nick was fantastic – a real master of the darkroom, with over 20 years professional experience, and extremely passionate about printing. It was held over two evenings, and was very hands-on, ensuring that by the end of the course I was confident I had taken a good first step in the art of black and white printing. The image below was one of two I printed during the course, and is on is on Ilford Resin-Coated Multigrade IV photographic paper. This was one of the first images I took in Egypt – in the Great Sand Sea near Siwa Oasis – one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. Now that Santa kindly supplied me with 100 sheets of my own Ilford photographic paper, I will be booking the Photofusion darkroom soon to print some more of me Egypt and Morocco images.