Location, Location …
… Location! And a little embellishment until I can do it myself, but we’ll see you soon. :)
Piney Woods Darkroom became a real concept in the fallout of a year that was terrible almost from the start. It was mid-2021, my mom had passed away, and my stepfather’s only brother had also died unexpectedly. As things began settling from that and the madness of 2020, I was finally faced with having to seriously figure out what type of work I wanted to do. The Pandemic had claimed my previous employment, and I no longer wished to return to the fray of freelance work. I had been developing film for friends at an increasing rate the last few years, but I didn’t think East Texas was ready to support a standalone film lab yet. Amid the fading days of lockdown, the brief phenomenon of Clubhouse entered my life and I became friends with a small group of like-minded photographers from across North America. One of these was Penelope, who owns Dodge and Burn Darkroom in Yucca Valley, California.
It was at some point in these wild and superbly silly chats with my Clubhouse friends that the idea of “I wish I could have a community darkroom” went from wistful to real. The more I looked at the state of film photography and the exploding number of film photographers in East Texas, the more the gears turned in my head. The schools had all closed their darkrooms, and mostly eliminated photography classes entirely. The last dedicated photo lab in East Texas had closed years and years ago. For anyone who needs hands-on learning and a space to learn the darkroom arts, there was nothing in almost the entire Piney Woods region. And even during inflation spikes, I saw more and more film shooters. I couldn’t deny this was an analog desert — a void I was uniquely qualified to remedy.
By the end of 2022, I had a detailed business plan, and I had even been to Dodge and Burn to see for myself (among other visits I’ve made for research). As 2023 crawled along, my non-profit guru cousin, Monica, convinced me: I should pursue becoming a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. And … long story slightly shorter, I did. We launched, you probably found this website through our initial fundraising campaign, and we’re here! We have a board, a bank account, and a lot of terribly interested potential customers … but the location was proving elusive.
Even as donations poured in — monetary and material — I couldn’t seem to make anything work. We almost got there by the very beginning of October 2023, only to be dropped at the very last second (much to the chagrin of our Real Estate agent). But finally, we got a bite and it stuck and …
Welcome to 231 S. College Ave, Tyler, TX 75702. We’re building out, and you can keep up with the work here. Keep up with this blog (And IG, etc) if you want updates, and donate via our Donorbox link, buy cool merch to donate (or however else you want) … We’re going to pour everything back into this project.
Let’s get this place built and get those safelights turned on! THANK YOU!