Film based photography was the only option twenty years ago when I started teaching. Supplies were readily available and the “darkroom magic” was still a thing wanted to be experienced. For the most part, my classes were capped at 12 although I had many more students wanting to take the course.
This is not the case today; our current digital culture is firmly planted and even our youngest are not immune to this. I remember when I first introduced the wonders of this new media, and students were slightly warm to the idea of it. These early classes struggled to make enrollment and digital technology was expensive and not literally in everyone’s hands yet. I began to notice a significant shift three years ago when I needed to add a second digital class option. For the longest time I had about an 80/20 split interest between film and digital, with film still reigning as the more sought after and popular choice. In dramatic fashion the split reversed, and the percentage divide continued to grow. Last semester was the first time that I did not have any students enroll in film based photography. This was certainly not influenced by me as my work is based around film and alternative processes. To be honest, I am a little uncertain about the future of the darkroom here….