Behind a tan, metal door with its window obscured by black paper and gaffers tape and a vaguely imposing “Knock, or else” sign, a machine sits humming softly while the gears and chains of its internal mechanisms rotate resolutely every day from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. It performs as a complete development machine for students in the photo department who choose to make photographic prints in color. Its time in service, however, is quickly drawing to a close, while students anticipate the arrival of a vital replacement.
The new machine will not have so many moving pieces, being that it is for the most part entirely manual. But the significant advantage it will bring to students as well as Point Park is the capability of developing color film and paper.
“It’s extremely valuable on a university level, mainly because there are so few schools that have it. It definitely makes us one of a kind in that sense,” said April Friges, Assistant Professor of Photography.
Until now, students have relied on the automatic roller processor to develop, fix and dry their prints.
“You just slide the paper in the slot and wait about five minutes for your print,” Chloe Jakiela, a freshman photojournalism major, said.
Using the device is quite simple, allowing students to expose their images and create final prints in complete darkness. The new Jobo CPP2 from Catlabs may have a complicated nametag but the introduction of a new manual contraption will likely be a quite simple transition.
Jakiela expressed confidence in students adapting to the change, rationalizing that most students who will encounter the machine would be fresh out of the Intro to Black and White class and therefore would be quite familiar with how to operate film processing manually.
The advantages expand beyond easy assimilation. Because this model will allow students to not only develop prints, but their film as well, they can abandon their considerably inconvenient previous methods.
Typically, students have been required to develop their color film at CVS or by mailing them out to places like Dwayne’s Photo in Kansas and The Dark Room all the way on the west coast. This method has agonized students with absurd expenses and wait time.
“I spent about one to two hundred dollars last semester from sending out film [that] took a week to get back,” Tyler White, a sophomore photography major, said.
Additional issues coincide with relying on third parties to create crucial work for classes.
“When I would get my film back from Dwayne’s Photo, I would find it impossible to color correct and match my hues with the ones from their machine,” White said.
The advanced control students will soon have over their artistic process is certainly a boon to the expansion of their skills and darkroom finesse, especially considering this is the first interaction many students will have with a functioning darkroom environment.
Julie Kooser, a freshman photojournalism major, explained how her decision to attend Point Park was largely motivated by the presence of analogue processes in the program.
“It’s definitely been interesting compared to digital. There’s a lot more work involved but I feel like I have more freedom. I like both; I feel like you need to learn both to be an artist,” Kooser said.
The Point Park photo department has spent years pushing its students forward by taking a step back. Through learning methods and techniques considered outdated by modern standards, students are taught to see things differently and slow down. It is the primary opinion of Friges that this way is much better than focusing solely on cutting edge technology to prepare students for the real world.
“Will they use it in the future, who knows? But they can. That’s something that I think is really promising,” Friges said.
