Back in 1988 the first pay packet I recieved was from my position as a black and white hand printer in a busy darkroom at Stevenson and Johnson Photography on Whitworth Street Manchester. Over the years I have had a familar relationship with the darkroom. I have had some of the funniest laughs in there, slept in there done things I should'nt then finally seen it pass into history as like an old friend I have mourned its demise.
Imagine my excitement when now, like a phoenix it has once again risen in the basement of my house. I can carry on our frienship and special bond secretely, quitely walking down the stone steps where we can once again be together.
This isnt entirely an illicit affair however, during the first year of my degree course if there was one area I perhaps found difficult it was working in a more considered manner than I had been familiar with working as a photojournalist shooting digital. The idea of having 16 weeks to produce a project seemed very alien to me after shooting on average 8 jobs per day. It is with this decision to investigate once again shooting film and process and print myself that I hope will "slow down" my working practice and also importantly allow me to retain full control throughout the whole photographic process to achieve the desired visualization I had at the beginning.
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