Looking for suggestions for a summer (or other) photography program
May 27, 2019 8:39 AM   Subscribe

A friend of mine studied photography in college, but hasn't kept up with it for a while. They are now interested in getting back into it, and are trying to find a full time, 6-8 week program to get back into the swing of things. One snag: they're most excited about color film photography. More snowflake details within!

First off, said friend is still a solid photographer, so doesn't need a program for beginners. That said, they aren't averse to a program that also accepts beginners if it is supportive in what they want to do. Their main goal is just to have the time and the support to get back into photography.

As mentioned in the snippet, the thing that would separate a good program from a perfect one would be color film. They really really like color film photography and would like to do more...of course, this is tricky given how digital has eaten up photography. Still, I believe it's still likely that there are _some_ programs that would still have the facilities for this (our college had them a decade ago, and I assume still does). This isn't a dealbreaker if a program is strong in every other area, but it would really be awesome if there were some that still dealt with color film.

A pretty location would be a plus. Friend is in the US, but is not averse to going abroad, though it'd have to be in English


Money isn't really an issue. It doesn't have to be the summer, but since summer is coming up and many schools etc have summer programs, and so my friends was looking around to see if there were any suitable programs.
posted by wooh to Education (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Maine Media Workshops has a Photography Intensive 8 or 12 week program and it certainly fulfills the "pretty location" element.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:44 AM on May 27, 2019


The magic words are 'RA-4 Optical Printing'.

It's going to be rough to find. Even the type of processors I used in school are being sold as scrap on ebay. You can still shoot color film and scour ebay for discontinued gems like Agfa Ultra 50, but the current commercially available stock is so-so and odds are you're going to find it easier to have the negatives scanned and digitally printed.

Another option is to look for tabletop RA-4 printer (expensive, rare, no parts available) or buy a Jobo rig for hand processing ( expensive, time consuming). I researched trying to get RA-4 printing up and running last year and it's do much easier and cheaper to shoot film and have them printed from scans.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:57 AM on May 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


I trained as a photographer before digital photography existed. Shot dozens of magazine covers on 6x7 Ektachrome. Processed and printed my own black and white pictures for years.

I think fetishizing film, particularly color film is stupid. The pictures are all that matter and digital pictures are wonderful. Working out how to get the right patterns of photons into the camera, that is photography.
posted by w0mbat at 1:30 PM on May 27, 2019 [2 favorites]


A lot of art schools run summer classes open to the public - check continuing education programs. The California College of Art (Oakland) used to have open photography classes in summer, and they have B&W and color darkrooms. It looks like they're not offering photography this year, but worth looking around.
posted by jrobin276 at 1:45 PM on May 27, 2019


I have seen a lot of photography. I don't think I can tell the difference between a print made from a color film negative and one made from a digital file. At least not without a loop.

If your friend is into color photography, they should take a look at Stephen Shore's Ukraine project. Most of his previous pictures were taken with color film, but these were taken digitally. There is no visible difference.

If your friend is set on using color film, they can simply do that, get the film processed, scanned, and then work with the resulting file in Photoshop in the same manner they would a digital file. They don't need a special class. If they want to scan their own color negatives, they should buy a scanner and take a class in doing just that.

If your friend really wants to go old school and learn how to process color film and print from color negatives then two things: One this is an incredibly time consuming process involving mixing chemicals, loading film into canisters, loading a lot of different pieces of paper into machines - all in absolute darkness. It is time consuming. It is expensive. Mistakes happen. A lot. Second, I would be shocked if anyone does this anymore.

If your friend is into the look of old color film prints, I'm sure the teacher will know how to achieve the effect he is looking for.
posted by xammerboy at 10:17 PM on May 28, 2019


At this point, it's still very possible to shoot with color film and get it professionally developed. However, if your pal wants to print in a color darkroom, that's a difficult proposition in 2019. At this point there are only three or four publicly accessible color darkrooms left in the U.S. that I know of. There used to be color darkroom classes available for students at ICP in New York, but that school is moving to a new location and I'm not sure if the color darkrooms will follow. (Home color darkrooms are still plausible, but much more complex than a home black-and-white darkroom.)

What I and most other color-film shooters do now is have our film developed at a lab, and then make scans and make digital prints from those. (I think they still have a different feel than prints from digital cameras, but that's subjective.) So your friend might look into honing three separate skills: 1) the mechanics of shooting film with a manual camera, 2) figuring out the photography styles or aesthetics they like to shoot, and 3) scanning color film and making good inkjet prints. ICP, as mentioned above, is a good school for all of those if you're in NYC – and they have summer classes. They sometimes also do online classes. But nothing really beats just loading up a camera and going out and shooting a lot. Good luck to your friend!
posted by lisa g at 10:12 AM on May 29, 2019


I shouldn't have said there is no difference between digital and color film. Many people do love it. You might also check to see if Bard College has a summer or short program. I believe they still require students use color film.
posted by xammerboy at 1:00 AM on May 31, 2019


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