Duration: For 6 months starting immediately

Role type: Full-Time | In person in Kotivakkam |

Monday to Saturday - 10 am to 7 pm

Remuneration: Rs 15,000 per month per person

Description:

The CPB Foundation has established a large-scale community darkroom in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to spark the resurgence of historical photographic practice in South India and beyond. The darkroom aims to make analogue and historical practice accessible to the wider community through a range of products, services and learning opportunities. In the short 4 months since launch, the darkroom has offered 7 workshops in the basics of film photography, introduced a low-cost line of BW film with over 1000 units sold and now offering timely film processing and scanning services.

After a successful first edition of the Darkroom fellowships, Edition 2 of the fellowship invites artists, architects, engineers, graduates, wood workers and inventors who are interested in analogue and alternative photography to immerse themselves in the environs of the Community Darkroom. The need of the hour is to create practical and sustainable products and solutions that are low-cost and easy to access by the community at large. The fellowship will provide an opportunity for makers and tinkerers to embrace technologies like 3D modeling and printing to design a line of products in line with the needs of historical photographic practice.

As we imagine this collective space and make plans for programs, products and workshops to energise the community, we are looking for one candidate who is passionate to learn about analogue and interested in contributing to this journey.

The fellowship will involve:

• Researching and Reading Books on Film & Alt Photography

• Managing the community darkroom including assisting teachers, visitors and students. 

• Preparing spaces for Film Development and Alt processes and resetting them thereafter

• Assisting in conducting film photography and alt-process workshops

• Working with your hands as we experiment and innovate signature alt photo accessories and tools

• Preparing Alt Photo Kits & ReSpooling Film stocks for dispatch

• Shooting test rolls of film for technical tests, teaching and promotions

• Managing inventories of raw materials and restocking as necessary

• Taking meticulous notes of observations from various experiments

• Consistently developing film rolls and making prints after proper training

• Managing the Community Darkroom communication on Whatsapp, Email, Social Media and Website.

• Working with the darkroom team and learning from peers.

Skills & Traits we are looking for:

• A basic understanding of photography including shooting in full manual is mandatory

• Working knowledge of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop

• Visual art abilities include painting or sculpture or video (optional)

• Candidates with an interest and aptitude for Social media content creation will be preferred.

• Fluency in English is mandatory and Tamil is preferred [ spoken and written]

• Good communication skills are compulsory and the ability to teach and help people is ideal.

• Punctual and Self-Motivated: The applicant will need to work unsupervised for long periods of time and will need to meet deadlines and deliverables consistently.

• Meticulous and Detail-Oriented: Film and Alt processes are all about experimentation and recording observations. Familiarity with Word and Excel is preferred.

  What you can expect to learn:

• Complete understanding of film photography from the making of film to the development and analogue printing

• Candidates will be given limited quantities of film to shoot and experiment to get a first-hand understanding of the entire process.

• Historical processes like Cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, Salt Printing and Wet Plate Collodion.

• Managing and maintaining a darkroom.

• Research and experimentation methodology for chemical based experiments.

At the end of the engagement, the fellow can expect to receive a certificate of completion, a letter of recommendation from Varun and a complete working knowledge of Film & Alt Photo practice to take forward into artistic or commercial life. Should the candidate be interested, they can work on a personal project with mentorship from Varun during the fellowship period.