In another life,  before  I became an illustrator,  my days consisted of countless hours sheltered in a dark room.   Photography is probably still my very  first love and certainly my life long affair (sorry illustration).  Even though I didn’t follow it as a career,  there’s still plenty of passion left all these years later.  I guess thats why these images impacted me so much.

British photographer Richard Nicholson has been shooting the few remaining darkrooms left in London. For me,  these photos are  pure  bittersweet nostalgia that immediately reference  memories composed of all the senses:    The smell of chemistry and feel the humid coolness of the darkroom.   The faint sound of the timer… click, click, click, beep.  The rush of water and the times excitement would win out over the use of safety and tongs.  And most important:  that sense of mystery,  the beautiful magic of watching a picture develop under the glow of a soft red light.  Alchemy.

These things are dying away.

My husband teaches photography and he is in the process of closing his darkroom to put together a digital lab for his students.  It would be a disservice to their future careers to do anything else he says.  And I agree.  But I will miss the way he smells when  he gets home.  He often apologizes as we hug when he returns everyday  “Sorry babe,  I was in the darkroom today”  .. And every time I tell him,  “I don’t mind. I’m going to miss that smell when it’s gone.”