Fewer and fewer photographers in the world still print from negatives in a darkroom. In the darkroom I set up in Kuşadası, I work through this process carefully. Every stage is planned, every detail thought through.
From file to negative
The process starts by printing the digital file onto transparent film. That film becomes the negative for the print. The image that lived on a screen turns into an object light can pass through.
In the darkroom
Then I move into the darkroom: silver gelatin paper, chemical baths, careful control of light and time. The negative is laid on the paper, it is exposed, and then the paper goes through the baths one by one: developer, stop, fixer and a long wash.
The image appears slowly in the tray. A few seconds more or less of light changes the whole tone of the print. So I don't rush.
Every print is one of a kind
No print is exactly the same as another. The small differences that come from the materials, the chemistry and the moment itself turn every print into an original object of its own.
That is something a print coming out of a machine cannot give.
You can find the prints I make in the darkroom on the Artworks page, under Silver Gelatin.