The Process

I shoot and develop all my work on film and develop it in my home darkroom. The cameras I use are varied but my daily is a Canon AE1, preferring its heft and full manual mode to newer film cameras with plastic bodies and automated settings. It isn't a fancy camera, they don't have to be. Occasionally I'll have light leaks, and the image will be streaked through with a blade of sun. More than occasionally I'll blow the focus or under-develop a frame. All of these imperfections are accurate reflections of the man holding the camera and the world beyond the lens.

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After shooting a roll, I move into the darkroom I built into a corner of my unfinished basement to develop the negatives. I load the film onto reels and place them in a light-tight tank. Using a series of chemical baths—including developer, stop bath, and fixer, making sure the timing and temperature near enough to right to produce an image. Not a chemist or a cook I often count time off in my head or judge it by the length of a song I've played a thousand times. 

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Unwilling to resist the digital I upload the now dried negatives using a scanner, those files populate this page and my social media. For the images destined to be tangible I develop prints on archival-quality photo-sensitive paper. I use an enlarger to blow up the negative and expose the paper, adjusting the exposure time and contrast to achieve the desired effect. I then process the prints using chemical baths, resulting in images with clarity and depth.

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I often hand-color these prints with Marshall Oils, applying pigments with brushes and cotton swabs to add color and detail to the black-and-white photographs, making each one unique.

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Finally, I frame the prints in Haus & Hues sustainably sourced oak frames. These frames are simple and environmentally friendly, complementing the prints and ensuring they are ready to be displayed and preserved for years to come.