I forgot to say one thing. I believe it's important to make sure a course is not only educating consumers. I have been a music teacher once. Most of the students would end up as "educated consumers only" - that is music listeners. Some would become activly playing music practitioners. And a few sould become professional musicians.
I guess it's just about the same for photography. I believe it's crucial not to just educate consumers (point and shooters with a labtop). All the best Jens There is many reason why children, who wants to learn about photography, should learn about film/darkrooms. This does not mean ALL the work should be in a darkroom or lab. I believe, that photography today is about taking photographs as well as processing photographic material in a lab as well as on the computer processing: These element should be reoresented in a course: Taking photographs (from idea/assignement to pressing the realease bitton) Processing photographic material (from photographic raw material (exposed film, files) to producing readdy to print or publish raw matrerial (neg, slide or file) Printing and publishing photographs - marketing, delivering, exibit, publish. Here is a few reasons for spending time in a darkroom or lab: Health. It's not very healthy to sit many hours by the computer. The damages to the body may very well be as serious as the posible damages from handeling chemicals etc. Understanding tools and theory: Many tools as well as theories used in current photography software are more or less derived from the work and processes in a darkroom or lab. To understand these properly it is necasary to have a sertain amount of darkroom experience. Ecposure: Learning about metering and exposure is best done by exposing, delveloping and looking at film, where no automatic sharpening or tonal or contrast control is possible. Most digital shooters blame the camera, when white snow looks like gray cement in a photograph. They have NO IDEA about exposing or how a lighmeter works. Shooting and developing a black and white film will (hopefully) teach them well. All the best Jens mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hjem.get2net.dk/bladt -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- Fra: Kevin Waterson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sendt: 25. maj 2004 23:21 Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emne: Darkroom or Digital for beginners My childrens school is to be offering photography as a subject. I have talked to the principle about this and he is very keen about an all digital photo lab type set up. He stated that with a darkroom there was could be problems with Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) with the use of chemicals and children with asthma. Also as the world was going digital this would be a real world solution. The school is well equipped with computers, so there would be no need to build another (dark)room for processing. Added to this there is no cost of film. He did say he could be swayed if there was a compelling arguement in favour of film. If you have any reasons why children should be learning in a darkroom, I would love to hear them and pass them on. Kind regards Kevin -- ______ (_____ \ _____) ) ____ ____ ____ ____ | ____/ / _ ) / _ | / ___) / _ ) | | ( (/ / ( ( | |( (___ ( (/ / |_| \____) \_||_| \____) \____) Kevin Waterson Port Macquarie, Australia
