Source: Summit Daily News
Written by Leslie Brefeld
Since Ansel Adams developed the zone system of manipulating the lights and darks of a photograph at the turn of the 19th century, darkrooms have been facilitating the production of this mainstay of popular art.
But in the name of digital, the art of photography is undergoing a revolution.
As the techniques formed in the wet lab darkroom are translated into computer applications like Photoshop, can that sacred space, the darkroom, survive?
It’s not looking good if you consider the movement of college education. The new consolidated Colorado Mountain College in Breckenridge, set to break ground by April 2009, will not include a darkroom.
“Our numbers in wet lab are way down, as they are everywhere in the country,” said division director (and up until recently interim dean) Dave Askeland. “The market for photography — everything is moving to digital.”
CMC classes of Photo I and Photo II, which both utilize and teach the use of a darkroom, formerly were able to fill up two classes of 12 students each. But in the last four years, the tides of change have become evident. Filling up just one class is not always a given.
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