Today’s mania for digital photography might incline you to declare traditional film-based photography dead. Far from it: Instead, a new generation is learning that silver-based film and hand-made prints are a unique art form on par with sculpture and painting. The real pleasure of using film lies in watching blank paper gradually transform into an image, an excitement that can only occur inside a darkroom — the “magic room” as amateur photographers call it.

“The move towards digital photography is growing. It’s become a worldwide phenomenon, switching from film to digital,” says Thomas Hartwell, chairman of Cairo’s Contemporary Image Collective (CiC). “But still a small number of people will continue to use film.”

In a bid to revive the disappearing art of manual photography, last December the CiC opened a darkroom to the public, free of charge. Founded in 2004–05 in Mounira, the CiC is the first independent artist-led center in Egypt.

According to Hartwell, “The purpose of CiC is to promote visual art in Egypt through both photography and video.” The CiC hosts lectures, exhibitions, film screenings and workshops in addition to maintaining the darkroom, which is open solely for black and white (B&W) photograph development every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 12–5pm.

According to Mohammed El-Maymony, a CiC photographer, very few people use the darkroom — especially Egyptians. “Visitors to the darkroom are mainly foreigners who also have their own darkrooms at home, and that was not the objective behind having a darkroom. Our main objective is to attract the public and educate them about the uses of the darkroom.”

“We’re finding that there are people out there who want to use the darkroom, but we haven’t really tapped it in the market,” Hartwell explains, “We’ll give it another six months, and if we find that we don’t have a lot of people coming in to use it enough we might make a smaller darkroom because we need more space.”

At the moment, CiC provides visitors with equipment required for developing film, including 35 millimeter (mm) and 120mm film tanks, reels, a washer and a dryer, as well as an enlarger for printing. The fact that guests must bring their own chemicals and paper might be the biggest reason why more people are not visiting.

“Accessibility to chemicals is getting very difficult — not just in Egypt, but especially in Egypt. I think some of the companies are getting out of the business completely,” Hartwell explains, adding that for this reason CiC is looking into providing some chemicals and paper through donations from individuals and institutions. Another option would be to buy pre-packaged chemicals and do the chemical mixing at the center. But Hartwell is playing it safe: “If we go out and buy chemicals, we’re investing in them. And if we don’t have a need [or a demand] for them, it’s a waste. So, we [will] buy on demand.”

Kodak on Adly Street Downtown and Fuji for Professional B&W Photography, with several locations around town, are among the few places that still sell chemicals and printing paper.

“The material is getting harder and harder to find. Different shops have it and then don’t have it,” Hartwell complains, “The whole market is shrinking, so a lot of shops that used to stock black and white material don’t have it anymore.”

The materials — when you can find them — aren’t unreasonably priced. A bottle of fixer, good for 100 prints, costs around LE 25, according to El-Maymony. The developer costs between LE 35–60 per bottle, while glossy paper costs LE 70 per 100 sheets, a bargain by Western standards. With the camera being the most expensive piece of equipment, photography isn’t an outrageously expensive hobby.

To further promote photography as an art in Egypt, in early February the CiC will offer a four-week introductory course to photography for LE 800. The course will cover topics including light, principles of image capture, film versus digital photography, digital editing, and photojournalism. The center is also hosting a photo exhibition entitled “Mafish Agaza fi Gaza” (“No Holidays in Gaza,” see Calendar on page 88), which drips with irony as it depicts Gaza as the perfect holiday destination with its light-colored sand and rock formations, gardens and seaside restaurants.

Hartwell adds that the main idea behind creating the darkroom was to allow for small courses in the darkroom. “But even if it’s not the main focus or interest of most photographers, it’s important for those who still want to work in [non-traditional and] silver-based photography. It’s [also] a good tool to teach it’s much easier to grasp when you see a print coming out in the darkroom. There’s a passion about it. Even if you don’t continue to do it, it’s a good experience to go through.

“We plan to have in the next few months a workshop on ‘non-traditional’ darkroom stuff, [which mainly includes] ways to make prints on platinum or silver-based paper. I think some of these workshops will generate an interest in the darkroom and will bring out the community that might have not heard about these [techniques] before.”

According to El-Maymony, it doesn’t take more than a one-hour session for beginners to learn the basics of developing their own pictures inside the darkroom. Personal photo development isn’t out of reach for the amateur photographer; grab a camera, snap some shots and create your own black and white art.

CiC will also host the Forty-Ninth World Press Photo (WPPH) annual awards during a three-week exhibition starting February 21. The WPPH organizes the world’s largest annual press photography contest to promote photojournalism. The exhibition will display the most haunting and inspiring photographs of 2005. More than 180 photos will be displayed, from a total collection of over 83,000 images taken by nearly 4,500 photographers, representing 122 countries.  et

Contemporary Image Collective (CiC) 20 Sefeya Zaghloul St. Second Floor Mounira +2 (02) 794-1686 www.ciccairo.com