Going digital: Davis High School’s darkened darkroom

By COLLEEN FONTANA
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL
Boxes are scattered around the room and stacked against its dark walls to make space for more boxes.
Empty tubs lie among old photographs and negatives as the water pipes, red lights, and circulation vents sit unused.
The room that was once dark for a purpose has now gone dark for good.
Davis High School’s photography department has used its darkroom for film photography classes since the 1960s.
This school year, however, instead of assisting in the production of pieces of art and black-and-white photographs, it stores old equipment no longer needed for photo classes.
“It’s understandable,” retired, longtime Davis photography teacher Rob Prout says of the darkroom’s closing, “because we are moving to digital.”
Even so, his voice is tinged with disappointment.

“My hope would be that (students) are still expressive with the world around them, that they still see things and experience things through photography,” says 62-year-old Prout, who ran the Davis photography program with enthusiasm for 17 years. With the demise of the darkroom, he decided it was time to retire.
The current Davis photo teacher is 57-year-old Carol Wild-DeLano. Like Prout, she says, “I love film. There’s a look about film that is difficult to achieve with digital.”
It’s true that dwindling interest in the darkroom led to its closure. But, as with many decisions in school programming, money played a part.
“Film is expensive,” Wild-DeLano says.
So are the chemicals for the developing process. But the budget isn’t the only constraint. A great deal of time is required for film photography.
Rather than getting to see photos right away, as with digital, students have to go through a series of necessary steps, which can require a few days to accomplish.
Still, Prout says students responded positively to film. And many students claim working in the old darkroom made them better photographers.
Jared Campbell, a 17-year-old senior in the photography class at Davis, has experienced both film and digital photography.
“I like the color of digital and the simplicity of film,” he says.
Though he is no longer teaching, Prout is still pursuing his love of photography in his retirement.
“I experiment with my own art and photography more because I have more time,” he says, adding he’s still getting used to his new schedule.
Even though Prout and the darkroom are gone, the essence of the program is still there.
Joseph Clark, an 18-year-old senior, had already developed an appreciation for photography after being in the class for only a month.
“I like how you can put images together,” he says of digital photography.
Despite the new, widespread appreciation of digital photography, Prout says black-and -white photography is an art form that won’t ever be lost.
“We will always have darkrooms and film just like we still have pottery wheels,” he says. “There is a handmade quality to darkroom photography that will still be around.”
But for now, the dark walls and red lights in the Davis darkroom remain unused. The enlargers and containers of 5×7 photo paper lie unopened. The chemicals and trays sit idly by.
The cameras, however, keep clicking away, upholding a tradition for photography that will forever endure.

— Colleen Fontana is a senior at Davis High School and a member of the Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for students.