Topic: Last One Out, Please Turn On the Light

[roryot]

Mike Johnson posted this today on http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/blog_index.html, so apologies to all who have seen it already.  But what a beautiful selection of papers, enlargers, and years of bits and bobs, and how sad their days are numbered - Richard Nicholsons project to document the last of Londons professional darkrooms

http://www.richardnicholson.com/darkroom/

[Francois]

Well... it pretty much says it all.
Photography which started as something done by amateurs (as in fans of and not beginners, just like in the dictionary) is going back to its roots.

Good thing, bad thing... I can't tell.
On one hand, it's the best time to get top quality gear at bargain basement prices.
On the other, it it wiser to do like a photographer I know who, in the beginnings of digital photography, sold his Hasselblad and everything that went with it to buy a Nikon with an early Kodak DCS camera back (I think it was a 4 mpx at the time)...

[Ed Wenn]

Yep, it has been posted here before (albeit quite recently) and I'll say again what I said then...this is NOT an exhaustive selection of London's pro printers/dark rooms. If you read the piece carefully it doesn't actually say that it is, but it does give that impression. I know at least 2 which aren't featured here, both doing very good business still. And considering how 'not in the loop' I am in the world of London photography I can only assume there are more.

Lovely photos though. I also like Nicholson's series on East End lock-ups and will be looking out for new work from him in the future.

[Francois]

I tend to think that while service offer will drop significantly, the service will still be offered.

[Ailsa]

Am I the only one who feels quite uplifted by this project? I had no idea there were so many professional darkrooms left in London! (Although I note he does say that several have since closed.)

Also, to say there are 'no young printers' is something of a sweeping statement. My mate Dave Illman makes a big chunk of his income as a black & white printer, and he's only in his early 30s (which is still young by my reckoning).