Safelight Imaging’s Community Darkroom Build

Hey Safelight family! We are FINALLY ready to begin our long-anticipated community darkroom project, but we need your help!! We have put together a 3-phase plan to not only open a darkroom, but also a new shop and new daylight rental studio! We are hoping to raise $15,000 to support the building and renovation of our space, as well as the purchasing of consumables and necessary darkroom and safety equipment required for successful operation of the darkroom.

Phase 1 of the project begins this spring! We will begin transforming our space with new walls, doors, and fixtures to bring the shop back down to ground level. This will open up the current shop space in the tower for a multi-use rental space (see phase 2). Our new shop will be our pivotal point of contact for in-person services. The completion of phase 1 separates the shop space from the darkroom space, so we can begin building out the darkroom!

Phase 2 of the project can begin as soon as phase 1 has been completed. This phase primarily focuses on building the bones of the darkroom. Plumbing sinks, installing counters, wiring for equipment, ventilation, all the important requirements to make the darkroom run safely and efficiently. As a secondary point, we will also begin working on cleaning up and refreshing the previous shop space in the tower for conversion into a rentable mixed-use space! While it will be primarily marketed as a daylight studio, we aim to make this space available for meetings, galleries, events, shoots, pretty much anything y’all need it to be.

Phase 3 of the project can begin once phase 2 of the darkroom build has been completed. This phase will see all the details coming together in the equipment and execution needed to make the darkroom functioning for use. This will entail gear cleaning/testing, installing safety features, and preparing all consumables for use. At this time, we will begin prebooking for classes and renting darkroom time. We will also aim to complete the daylight studio at the same time, but the darkroom will take priority.

We hope to bring so much more to the community through this new build! Even if you are unable to support us financially in this pursuit, please spread the word! The more community members that are aware of the project, the more voices we can hear from and tailor this project to meet everyone’s needs as best as possible. We will also be running several donation days as we get closer to completing phase 3, so if you have any darkroom-related gear you want to see have a new life, keep an eye on our social media for updates!

We also have a survey out to get a read on what our community members would like to see from us this year. Please share this form around to all your photog friends and help us help you!

https://forms.gle/5jhah4xczvrnu89w9

Thank y'all from all of us here at Safelight! We couldn’t be more excited to finally begin this project for y'all!