"The Dark Room"

The Dark-Room of a Photo-Lab is similar to that of a Musician’s Practice-Room, such as for a Pianist. Both spaces offer a private place within which to practice and develop their craft. The photographer spends hours counting seconds, and exposing light sensitive paper to the carefully controlled beams from an enlarger, while the piano player counts out measures, tapping their fingers on the keys to the rhythm of the notes on the sheet-music. I only played piano for a few years when I was younger and my attention span made it difficult to produce satisfactory work that flowed freely from my hands. When I discovered that the solitude and quiet of the photographic darkroom played well into quieting my overactive mind, I was able to practice this new art form with greater focus. A rehearsal space allows a musician to run a piece of music over and over, making mistakes in the same places and slowly training their mind to work in sync with their hands, feet and body. In the developing process for a photograph a similar process must be undergone. The artist exposes the paper over and over, making small adjustments in order to realize the photograph as a cohesive work of art, interpreting the parts that must be developed lightly and the areas that can be exposed at full volume. This can take time, hours spent alone trying to figure out this one image and how to get it to sing. There is a magic in the creation of music and in the development of a photograph. I’ve become transfixed as so many other photographers are by the mystical powers of an image floating to the surface, rendered murky by the red light. In the many hours spent pacing from the enlarger to the various developing baths and back, attempting to play the light just right; I’ve found a space that allows for presence and mistakes. In the practice room a wrong note goes unheard to all but the one playing. This show isn’t an attempt to show how practice makes perfect, but rather, share the imperfections and process of the practice room.