I think this journey started at university . From the very first moment when my lecturer explained the history of photography and how prints were originally made I was hooked. From that point on I spent my first year exploring albumen printing and how it works. Then learning that the paper you choose or make has to be sized correctly… down the rabbit hole I went and the further I traveled the more I learnt and whole magical universe revealed itself to me.

The photographic universe showed me all these different possibilities of expression and depth that I was desperately trying to find in my photographs and I could not get enough of it.

The only road block I hit came in the form of the university’s darkroom and technicians. It was not an issue of having the space or if the technicians willing to help me make it happen but it is just that the space was for everyone and the technicians had to protect everyone. With a high footfall some of my wacky Ideas were impossible to make and some of the processes I wanted to use… well I ended up waiting 8 months until it was all figured out and I could actually print !

So as I came to the end of my three years at uni, and felt that I had just begun exploring the universe of photographic alchemy. I was now facing the vast world of reality only with having 2 options; 1) I could go to london and try and figure out a way to rent a darkroom and somehow find a way for them to approve the processes I wanted to use - costly and still had to wait! Or option 2) build a darkroom of my own and have the freedom to work and make it however I wanted.

With the aid of my family and my savings, option 2 became a reality and here I am 2 years later. The Alternative Darkroom exists and is built to cater specifically for the creation of high quality alternative photographic printing. For me a universe has opened with unrestricted freedom of exploration.

The best thing is that now it is built and working I can also offer the same opportunity to others because it is a private darkroom that possibility of experimentation and exploration into the universe of photographic printing is available to others. The Alternative Darkroom is open for anybody who is interested in exploring and experimenting with photographic printing. Be it a student, teacher, individual or group the Alternative Darkroom is available to all.