We are fortunate enough to have a well stocked, fully functional, all rounded darkroom here at Imperial. The darkroom contains all the chemicals, and equipment needed for processing b/w film and prints as well as colour and slide film developing/scanning. For our digital camera users we have a colour calibrated 24 inch monitor and computer with Photoshop CS2 for image editing.

If you would like to use any of these facilities you can purchase a darkroom card which will grant you access to the darkroom located in the West wing basement of Beit quad. It is in here where you will be learning colour developing, slide film printing, cross processing, alternative processes, lith printing, b/w printing and spend whole weekends forgetting what time it is! But lets not get ahead of ourselves, first we need to learn the basics before we can start using the darkroom so you will be required to take a brief orientation in which you will find out where everything goes and how to develop a roll of b/w film. If you have some b/w film laying around please bring it in, as we can use this to demonstrate the process (free developing!) If you are interested in getting a darkroom card please go online and buy the darkroom membership (£10). You can sign up to an induction by using the form on our website. We will run orientations every day over the next week between 1 and 1.45 and will meet in the darkroom (map).

Please note, you will have to become a member of photosoc first (you can find that on the union site too) which is an additional £5 but hey, free chemicals (unlimited) and discounted film prices equals unlimited the opportunity to learn new skills and actually put them into use for free! Wow now there’s a good deal!

Hope to see you there,

Sam – Darkroom Manager