Photographic development is the chemical process by which a photographic film or paper is treated after exposure to create an image. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to enter or create a dark room in a studio, you would notice the pungent smells which arise from using various acids and halides to develop an image. But what if you could create these images using plant based developers?
Hannah Fletcher of the London Alternative Photography Collective explores the possibilities of doing so in the Sustainable Dark Room Project.
29 August 2020 - 2:00 PM IST
We learnt the essentials of making DIY plant-based photographic developers to use in developing photographic films, 16mm films or silver gelatine photographic paper. Using this chemistry and any plants or organic matters available in your area, Hannah took us through this process to produce the photographs. We thought about the ecological impacts of materials used in this process and learn how to safely and responsibly dispose of any remaining chemistry.
Materials required -
Vitamin C (ascorbic acid)
Washing Soda / Soda crystals (Sodium carbonate)
Two trays or large dishes / Tupperware
Photographic paper (this is a good use of expired or fogged papers)
Plant material
About the Facilitator
Hannah Fletcher is a London based artist, working with cameraless photographic processes, a facilitator and Co-director of London Alternative Photography Collective. Recently, she has initiated and is running The Sustainable Darkroom Project; an artist-run research, training and mutual learning programme to equip cultural practitioners with new skills and knowledge to develop a more environmentally friendly analogue photographic practice.
Thank you for visiting PHYTOPIA. We would love for you to share your thoughts and experience about this programme here!