Rochester Prep visits RIT for crash course in film photography

A group of enthusiastic Rochester Prep High School students were recently treated to a classic photography experience, courtesy of RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences (SPAS).

Fifteen students in the local charter school’s photography club paid RIT a visit on Feb. 2 to get exposed to darkroom processes for the first time. They witnessed the techniques that produce high-quality photo prints as SPAS associate professor Ken White led a multi-hour demonstration in one of RIT’s darkrooms.

With gaining an understanding of film photography in today’s digital age deemed important by Rochester Prep design teacher and photo club leader Rachel Dominic, the students got a crash course in the purpose and functionality of darkrooms.

It was a much closer view of the setting than the students previously had.

“It’s usually something that we only see on TV, so to see it in real life was really amazing,” said Lydia Hylaab, a junior at Rochester Prep. “I appreciate the opportunity.”

Bathing photo paper in chemicals and using associated darkroom equipment, White walked the young learners through the procedure of making a handful of prints of images they took.

“For a first-timer, it was really neat,” said junior Joyceline Dweh. “It was exciting seeing the process. And I’m interested in doing film in college” as a minor “so it was cool.”

Leading up to the demo, Dominic — a 2017 RIT advertising photography alumna — shared her film camera with each of the students. They proceeded to follow the assignment of snapping photos on their school’s cameras before Dominic had the black-and-white film developed in preparation for the learning experience at RIT.

“My favorite part was when the first print went into the developer and they could see the photograph coming through, everyone was like, ‘Oooh,’” Dominic said. “It was the initial shock of the actual process. They were eager to see everything.

“They were really excited to be there,” Dominic added. “They had no idea what it was going to be like. We talked about it, we went through the whole process on a PowerPoint. But actually being there in the darkroom was a really cool experience.”

The idea for this collaboration traces back to the fall, when Rochester Prep’s photography club was on campus touring SPAS.

Dominic said one of that day’s highlights for the students was getting a glimpse of the darkroom. It ignited a desire to see SPAS’ facilities in action and to learn how to use film. So Dominic connected with SPAS associate administrative chair Michael Peres, who organized the event and helped make the students’ introduction to analog photography possible.

The demonstration was just the latest venture related to RIT and Rochester Prep High School, which was developed in partnership between RIT and Uncommon Schools in 2014.

“It’s a wonderful collaboration between them and us,” Peres said. “They’re delightful visitors, they’re full of curiosity and smiles. I think it opens their eyes to something they maybe haven’t thought about. It’s a nice way to give back to photography and to the community.”

Dominic took film classes early in her college career, and said she finds obtaining knowledge in the area useful because it taught her “where everything is coming from.”

“Everything in Photoshop is applicable to film,” Dominic said. “All the different exposure things that you do directly come from film. Burning and dodging are different tools in Photoshop, and it’s something you do in the darkroom. … It’s definitely something they should know — like this is where we came from and this is where we’re moving to.”