The Melbourne Silver Mine, along with the generosity of MSM member Zaeem Burq are pleased to be able to provide members with the opportunity to spend time in a fully equipped darkroom to learn about darkroom techniques and to produce prints from their own negatives.
The Melbourne Silver Mine are part funding the darkroom located at the Irene community arts centre in Pitt Street Brunswick. Zaeem is generously donating his time to help fellow members learn the ropes.
The darkroom is equipped to produce prints up to 20 x 24 inch, from negatives of any film format up to and including 5×4 and 8×10.
Introductory Darkroom Session for MSM Members
We are offering our members the following
- A one on one guided session in the darkroom with MSM Member and experienced print maker Zaeem Burq.
- Sessions will run for approximately 7 hours with time for breaks, drying etc.
- You are encouraged to supply your own negatives to print
- You are welcome to supply your own paper, however the MSM does have some stock of paper available which we can sell to you at cost.
The fee for participating in a session is $75 for members of the Melbourne Silver Mine, and $150 for members of the general public.
We think this is exceptional value, and can’t thank Zaeem enough for his enthusiasm and support of the MSM. Please try and get in early as the number of available sessions is limited.
Room Availability: please contact us via darkroom@silvermine.org.au to find out the next available timeslot (generally, it’s available for one day most weekends).
Each session will cover chemical theory, printing on variable contrast fibre paper, including
split-grade printing, dodging & burning, some other useful tricks, and toning. People can expect to have a couple of exhibition quality prints by the end of the day.
Sessions can only be booked with pre-payment of the appropriate fee.
If you have any questions at all about Irene please drop us a line at darkroom@silvermine.org.au
The MSM Darkroom fund
The Melbourne Silver Mine is already planning to expand our darkroom and add to the type of equipment we make available to our members. We therefore welcome any financial contributions made by users of the community darkroom to meet this goal. Any donations made will be set aside for expanding the darkroon, restocking consumables.
Payment Options
At this time payments for sessions at Irene can only be made via direct deposit into the MSM Bank account
To pay via direct bank deposit.
Online payment or over the counter transfer at any branch of the Bendigo Bank.
Our account details are as follows.
Name: Melbourne Silver Mine Inc.
BSB: 633 000
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 133674028
Any amount you pay over the $75 (or $150) session fee will be considered a donation to the MSM Darkroom Fund.
Confirmation of bookings
Once you have made a payment please send us a confirmation email to darkroom@silvermine.org.au including your name, contact number, preferred date and the method of payment you used, some information on your level of darkroom experience or any specific procedures you are interested in would also be helpful.
Future plans for Irene
We plan to offer additional services at Irene, these may include
- A print making service
- Darkroom Hire
- Weekday / weeknight sessions
- Advanced darkroom techniques workshops
I’ve found your web site through the Australia/New Zealand Lomography ‘s link. I am very much interested in the dark room session the club is hosting. I had a dark room experience when I was in high school but that was during the 80′s, it would be nice to have a refresher course again. Just a simple question, if I decide to join the Melbourne Silver Mine club, will I be able to use the facility of the dark room on a semi-regular basis without doing the “Introductory Darkroom Course” again?
Ben
Hi Ben, Thanks for contacting us.
Darkroom sessions are by arrangement with Zaeem Burq, please contact him via darkroom@silvermine.org.au to discuss your needs.