‘End of an era’ for old-school shutterbugs
Film photographer starts petition to delay closure of the darkroom at Dunbar Community Centre
Photographers who love developing film and making their own prints in a darkroom are about to see their world grow a little smaller.
At the end of the month, the darkroom at the Dunbar Community Centre will be closing. That will leave only the darkroom at downtown’s West End Community Centre on Denman as the last such facility in Vancouver’s community centres.
Film photography and the use of darkrooms have been disappearing for well over a decade. According to one estimate, of the 2.5 trillion digital images taken this year, 90 per cent will be on a smartphone and viewed exclusively on a screen.
Kathy Mullen, vice-president of the Dunbar Community Centre Association, said the darkroom will be closed when Dunbar takes its annual break for Christmas starting Friday, Dec. 23.
She said attendance and interest in the darkroom has been declining for years. Mullen estimated there’s been a darkroom at Dunbar for 30 years or more.
The centre believes it should be putting its energy into activities that bring in more people, she said.
“The numbers at Dunbar have been low for years,” Mullen said. “People are moving on and there aren’t that many people interested any longer.”
She said the centre will find a good home for the darkroom equipment. “It’s the end of an era,” she said. August Bramhoff has operated the darkroom since about 2008. She’s a photographer who loves the whole process, from loading a camera with film to seeing the image take shape on paper in a bath of chemicals in the darkroom.
“The actual process of making an analog photograph has always been captivating for me,” she said.
She runs a class each season and has two or three people taking private lessons.
Bramhoff admits those are small numbers. She also acknowledges the community centre pays her to teach classes. On some occasions, programs have been cancelled because of lack of interest.
Monthly membership is down to two people who pay $55 a month and cover the cost of their own paper.
“I’ve kept it going for this long just because it’s a labour of love,” she said.
Bramhoff has started an online petition to keep the Centre’s darkroom going.
“Once it is gone, it is gone. That’s it.”