SAM STEPHENSON
Interview by Robyn Daly
September 2021
What is @a.darkroom all about and how did it begin?
It has started as an account on the gram to show the progress of me starting my first darkroom at my parents’ house in their laundry. A side account of my commentary about a few things and have my voice directed at people a bit more interested in photography that wasn't on my main account. I've been daydreaming a lot in lockdown and limiting my time on screen for almost a month now, it's been a benefit to not looking at my phone as much to let the mind wander. I'm hoping to turn it into more of a little black and white darkroom photography community less about me. I don't know how/if it will work. I do plan to start the next stage of the project in the new year though. It will be based on a mixture of other things that have inspired new ideas starting from staring around my room at all my getups, art and shit during lockdown, and from over the years friends brands such as Pass Port and Loose Fit and exhibition/studio spaces such as china heights, lilac city and the corner shop windows.
Have you ever found an old contact sheet and seen the images you've circled, only to be like 'ahh how did I miss these ones!' and wonder how you'd choose the winners differently?
I feel my first thought in selection has always been very consistent over time reviewing images after 10-15 years. I haven’t done too much digging recently though, and all my contact sheets are at my parents to look through. I often don't take more than three frames for something of a person. Kinda always been that way. There may be a blink or an awkwardness about the other two and I choose what I feel is best. Sometimes the choice sits differently with the sitter when I share them. I feel that they have a right to choose as well in the selection, I haven't done much circulating of frames on contact sheets honestly, I do love that stuff though, something I'll dabble in over the next few months when I can get back in the darkroom. I feel it's an individual thing and a lot of the notes people make will make no sense to those reading them.
You have talked about how you don't like cropping photos, and you often leave the black borders on your photos to highlight this. What is it about restraining from the crop that interests you and how has it altered the way you shoot over time?
Nothing in it is wrong, however in my own film photos I think it kinda looks strange to me. I used to crop photos taken with a digital camera a lot at the same time I shot with a lot of compact film cameras where you left with not exactly what you framed at the time. Something nice about the photo not coming out as you Intended Vs with the digital trying to get points of interest in the rule of thirds or whatever. I shoot mostly with a 35mm SLR now and it's closer to what you see vs what comes out in the film. Sometimes where you scan the film it crops it a tiny bit. With the full-frame film carrier in an enlarger you get the full-frame, it's not entirely about that though. I think the black border is just a really nice finish to the print, my film carrier at the moment for my enlarger is for 6x6 format and it has blades you can move to crop or reveal more info on a 35mm negative, sprocket holes if you like. I like a thin black border, I think it just looks dope. It's classic, puts the image in a frame and is naked without it. I guess it's a nice way to identify it as an analog print and every time I load the film into its carrier the border will be different. I have added borders to digital scans though in the past.
Why is darkroom printing so important to you?
Sometimes I don't see the point of shooting film if you're only going to digitise it. I've been thinking about this more recently as my friend Otis Burian Hodge finished building his darkroom at his home about two weeks ago. He has been sharing his time in the darkroom through text messages while I've not been able to access mine, we were talking about scanning the prints. Thinking if there was any point as it's such a special physical thing, the printed image. Up until recently, I was still getting film processed and then test scans done at a lab in Sydney to review a whole roll of negatives, so I could decide on what's good on the screen rather than a contact sheet, it was good in that the scans could be easily sent to friends and put on the diary of my website for people to view, and get also crappy prints done on a home printer for scrapbooking, it's my fault but I was finding images I liked being thrown on the gram and the photos I believe losing their value if to be used later presented in an exhibition setting. Recently I stopped digitising as much as a decision I have made to try to go full darkroom. It will take some change, using a loup to view contact sheets or maybe just scanning in to zoom in, processing the film myself again and all the time involved. Photography is very much about sharing, I'm a bit protective of the image sometimes and I want the print to be shared not the digital image. What's the point of taking all these photos and not sharing them though. Especially when they are about a community bubble, I guess it's about patience in waiting for moments to share properly, I feel there is a time and place for sharing the prints in their physical form rather than their digital. I understand that having access to darkrooms is quite difficult though. To answer your question, I think darkroom printing is important to me as each print is unique, depending on things like my energy levels, mood or concentration. It can be under the complete control of the artist, handcrafted from the moment the film is loaded, then shot, processed and printed. I find that special.
There's a good deal of patience involved in both your art mediums. The question is are you a patient person and how do you work with these slower processes?
I'm pretty patient, Both practices rely on others which is the bit I get frustrated at, with ceramics it's getting access to kiln firings or a wheel to throw clay and at the moment even clay is hard to get with the shops not open. The work is made quite quickly. One day I hope to have all the things. In photography the majority I do is documenting people through portraiture, i get a feeling and then take the photos quickly if I can and the person lets me. I don't like being on my own that much and I very much get energy from being around others. Lots of photos of the same person over time is the majority of what I do which takes a while to accomplish. Strong images don't come all the time (not sure if that matters) and I have found myself in the same themes which are hard to break, that's what I'm often also not patient about. Over time you can look back and notice more things. When I shoot a roll of film I wanna get it processed immediately then I'm usually like everything sucks however other times it can be like an antidepressant. As my friend Mitch Tolman says "what a roll". With going full darkroom I'm learning to be slower and patient with that stuff. Images might have more substance as I have had time to forget the times shooting them. Having trouble describing this.
Any thoughts on how your photography and ceramics are connected, if at all? Why do both?
I never thought of ceramics as something you could edition or reproduce until at school we started doing mould making and slip casting. Very much like darkroom printing, every print slightly different every slip casted ceramics from the same mould (like a negative) may have its uniqueness. I stopped editioning my prints as I don't think I'm ever going to have my own system of how many of an image has been made and given to an owner, artist proofs and all that gallery stuff. Now I see it like if someone wants one I make it. As for my ceramic figurines I probably would only make one of one, they are also hand made but I see more substance of them being one of one. How they connect I'm not sure. Ideas for ceramics started to come from the mind wandering and the intention of others, these days it's more commission based work where others have the idea of what they would like to have made. In photography it's generally what presents itself in day to day life. It's more for myself but I do like to celebrate it with others from time to time. It's more about seeing, looking, waiting around and being there in the photo making. They're both fun and rewarding with small accomplishments of finishing things. These days I like making movies and scrapbooking too. I'd like to pick up some painting or more life drawing.
Looking back through your earlier work, what have been the most valuable lessons, processes and shooting techniques you've developed from?
Just guess.
Please share a few of your favourite art books, exhibitions, photographers over the last decade?
In more recent years I have liked Henry Taylor's book of paintings, Tom Gould’s book on Polo heads and Vincent Namatijira's The Royal Tour published with Perimeter. Exhibitions I've enjoyed are Noel McKenna's paintings at Darren Knight Gallery, Dean Quilin Li 'A Young Black Kangaroo' at The Corner Shop Windows, Steve Latimer III and Clare Wigney's paintings in various group shows, the OZO Campbell St. Project's day was really fun. Peter Rushforth's ceramics exhibition at Katoomba Cultural Centre inspired me to get on the wheel and learn more pottery. Photographers such as Joshua Heath for his project around Sydney ‘After The Golden Age', Dana Lixenberg because of her 18 or so year project Imperial Courts, Saul Leiter sticking around with his getups and archive of slides/print boxes and William Yang's storytelling through narrative text/images.
See more of Sam’s work at www.sam-stephenson.com