It all began with a word of encouragement from a friend to start selling darkroom prints. I printed 50 silver gelatin photos in a darkroom, which was really just my dark enough apartment bathroom, and signed up to sell them at the Ardmore Art Walk in Winston-Salem, NC. While there, I was approached by a producer for a segment on the local news which highlights artists. The producer was awed at my work and commitment to the analog process in the digital era. He politely asked for an interview and I accepted. Find the interview here.

At the time, I was teaching biology at a local high school. Little did I know, my principal saw the interview, and the very next day when I saw him at a basketball game he asked, “Do you want to teach darkroom photography?” Without even a second thought, or consulting my wife, I immediately accepted. I quickly set to work allocating what little money our school could spare the program into purchasing cameras, film, and furnishing an entire darkroom. The 20 students who signed up for my class were phenomenal. Some had never held a digital camera, much less though about film or darkroom. But they accepted the challenge with excitement and passion. Throughout the course, students shot two rolls of black and white film, and then processed and enlarged their images. From this process, 17 of the students elected to present in the school’s spring art show. In the end, this was one of the most fulfilling experiences I have had the pleasure of undertaking. I know that I sparked a passion for photography in these students, and I thank them for their patience and grace while I tried something I would have never though possible. Thank you HPC Photography class of 2024.

Special thanks to Chad Tucker and Fox8 for finding my passion interesting, to my former school administrators for finding the space and money in our school to follow this project, to Aeden for being my TA in the course, to Ken Toda for inspiring and mentoring me, and to Daniel Rogers and Callie White for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself.