{"id":782709,"date":"2026-07-05T23:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/782709\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T23:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:22:11","slug":"new-community-darkroom-coming-into-focus-on-p-e-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/782709\/","title":{"rendered":"New community darkroom coming into focus on P.E.I."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Inside the basement of Charlottetown\u2019s Arts Guild, a group of Islanders is trying to block the outside world.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re sealing every gap and shoring up the door, stopping any natural light from entering \u2014 all to create a community space for processing film photography in Prince Edward Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe room was in rough shape when we found it,\u201d said Owen Stanley, founding member of Charlottetown Darkroom, the non-profit group behind the project. \u201cRight now it\u2019s \u2026 almost usable. <\/p>\n

“We need light-sealing because entering and exiting the darkroom while it\u2019s in use is not light-tight yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"aMembers of Charlottetown Darkroom have been painting the walls to create optimal light-sensitive conditions in the basement space. (Submitted by Owen Stanley)<\/p>\n

The Charlottetown Darkroom was established last year by a group of P.E.I. photographers, responding to a lack of accessible darkroom facilities on the Island.\u00a0When the Arts Guild on Queen Street offered up its basement, members set about renovating the space. <\/p>\n

For Stanley and his fellow photographers, the effort has been worth it to preserve a classic art form. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time that we haven\u2019t had a space to develop or print our film,\u201d Stanley told CBC P.E.I.\u2019s Main Street. \u201cIn this day and age, we have so much technology that really brings us away from this original medium of photography…. [The darkroom] is really a way that we can get back into a creative, hands-on experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the arrival of digital photography largely wiped out the need for chemical baths and light-sensitive development, analog mediums are experiencing a major cultural comeback \u2014 much like vinyl records and vintage typewriters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a renaissance happening, I would say across Canada,\u201d said Vanessa Tignanelli, another founding member of Charlottetown Darkroom.\u00a0\u201cThere are darkrooms that are doing very similar things that we are \u2026 in Moncton and in Newfoundland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AMaterials inside the new community darkroom coming to Charlottetown. Once open, the space will host workshops for photographers of all skill levels. (Submitted by Owen Stanley)<\/p>\n

Tignanelli, a filmmaker and photojournalist, fell in love with the artform while studying fine art at the University of Guelph.<\/p>\n

Though her day-to-day work is entirely digital, she misses the tactile nature of film.<\/p>\n

“Everything is digital,” she said. “This opportunity to be able to get back into a darkroom and be able to play with film \u2026 away from the screen, is really exciting to me.”<\/p>\n

Once open, Charlottetown Darkroom plans to host workshops for photographers of all skill levels.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s for everybody,” Tignanelli said. “You don\u2019t have to have any previous experience with it.”<\/p>\n

She said the group has secured funding for workshops but not for renovations.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeA group of photographers from Charlottetown Darkroom renovating the space in the basement of the Arts Guild on Queen Street. (Submitted by Owen Stanley)<\/p>\n

\u201cCapital funding is really hard to come by,\u201d she said. \u201cThose renovations that we need to do, there\u2019s no grants for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group is currently looking to raise $7,500 to help cover its costs.<\/p>\n

But the group isn’t just looking for cash. Tignanelli said it is asking Islanders to donate any specialized equipment currently gathering dust.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone has a darkroom revolving door hidden in a barn somewhere, please let us know,\u201d Tignanelli laughed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-782709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}