Keeping Traditional Darkroom Processes Alive
A chat with photographer Matt Slater
Photographers who remain passionate about film are dwindling in numbers, and those who incorporate traditional darkroom processes are even fewer. Matt Slater of Cape Town, South Africa embraces the slower, almost meditative, and arguably more fulfilling practice of making photographs through traditional darkroom processes.
For Slater, the darkroom is a place that provides respite. He takes his time making prints and experimenting with various processes. Some of his work is abstract, some of it flawed and disorderly, and deliberately so. In every case, a Slater print is something to behold. We wanted to get inside his creative process so we fired a few questions his way.
Can you tell us what your projects are about, and which darkroom processes you are focusing on?
My first project Echoes was based around the darkroom and the time spent in it. I find the darkroom as this really meditative space. It allows me to be alone, put on some good music, and work on my images. I focus mainly on the traditional print process. A bunch were photograms where there is no camera involved, just the photographic paper, object and light. I like misusing the chemicals to create different colors or effects, sometimes solarizing or bleaching the images. I’m planning to order more chemicals to play with, though.
I’ve done a few different things with my negatives in the past which create strange effects, like burning and soaking them in various liquid before development.
Originally from East London, you live and work in Cape Town, South Africa. How long have you been here? Does Cape Town affects or influences your practice?
I moved to Cape Town when I was seven years old, so I’ve been living here for about 14 years now. This place and the people here have definitely influenced the way I work! Compared to East London, there’s a way bigger art and photography scene here. It’s definitely one of the best creative hubs in the country.
What and who inspires you?
Music, art, movies, literature, my peers.
I’m hugely inspired by the works of people like Jeff Cowen, Robert Adams, and Sally Mann.
How would you describe your photographic style?
Most of my work is black and white or monochromatic. To some extent, I think there’s a flawed and messy aesthetic which brings across a handmade feel.
What do you usually make photographs of?
I photograph a variety of things. I enjoy photographing my friends and girlfriend a lot, as well as landscapes and still lives.
If I feel like things are getting stagnant, I like to walk around with a camera and a roll and just shoot whatever interests me. Lately, I have taken an interest in architectural settings, as well as food and portraits.
What other things you do besides photography.
Spend my time surfing, skating, and drinking beers with friends. After high school, I took the opportunity to go traveling before I settled back into Cape Town and started studying at the Cape Town School of Photography.
What is it about darkroom processes that draws you into them?
I like the layered process of working in the darkroom. It takes time to do the work and I like that in the end you have this image that you handmade.
What is the importance of shooting film and practicing darkroom processes in this day and age?
It provides you with more time to think. When shooting, you have to meter the light and get things right and trust you got them right. I think it’s important to shoot film, at least at some stage. I mean, I own a digital camera and there definitely is a place for it, but I find that using film helps me make my best work.
I enjoy using different cameras, and I always find people coming up to me and asking me about my camera and if it really works. I also think that in this day and age, photography is very saturated with pictures everywhere. The analog process allows for a unique image.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned when it comes to photography?
How to look at light. Once you start looking, you see beautiful light falling everywhere. Next would probably be preparation: always have that aperture and shutter speed set in case something happens.
Matt Slater (b. 1994) is a Cape Town-based photographer. Follow him on Tumblr.
This is an edited version of an article written by Julien Matabuena that originally appeared on Lomography.
