darkroom – IJM Photography

I had obviously taken a break with the Canon AE1 and spent the whole of December and January in hibernation, as most grumpy bears of my age do. Get Christmas over with, then go back to bed… I like my bed. No, I love my bed!!

Spring was just around the corner, and Kate had managed to awaken the beast and proceeded to tell me what she had planned for the day. It included me, a camera, and the Chateau de Clisson. I had just been “told” by my daughter, and off we headed to Clisson.

Now, the Chateau de Clisson is no small affair by any means. It dominates the centre of the town, sitting atop a hill as an imposing structure. I remember Kate having begged me on numerous occasions to actually go inside, and this time I acquiesced.

It was the perfect opportunity to not only document the inside of this historic site but also to let my playful daughter do what children do best: be cute, or as they say in French, espiègle. At that age, she was still content to pose for the camera, unlike the moody teenager she has become. Yet, sometimes, that same playful nature still manages to shine through.

If you’re curious to learn more about the history of the Chateau de Clisson, I’ve included a link for further reading.

After our outing in Clisson, I retreated to the quiet of my darkroom, where the real magic happens—transforming the captured moments into tangible memories. The familiar routine of developing the film, loading it into the tank, and watching the images slowly emerge never fails to captivate me. Once the negatives are ready and the scans are complete, I file them away in both my digital and analogue archives.

Then, a few years later, I get to share these memories with you. It’s a special kind of nostalgia—the kind that comes with taking time to slow down, reflect, and preserve what matters most. Thank you for joining me on this journey and for allowing me to share these pieces of the past with you.

Sometimes we can have a tendency to ignore our habitual surroundings as photographers. In this series of photos from the film archive, I’m going to show you part of the route I use to go to work. What is ordinary to one person might be an pastoral idyl to somebody else. It only goes to show that there is beauty everywhere in this world and one of our roles as photographers is to document it for future generations.

My wife, bless her, has always said that my black and white photos have a timeless feel to them, be they in the city or out here in the country. I think that using film, especially this grainy HP5 Plus, even shot at box speed, adds to that sentiment. The fact that I used Rodinal as my developer might have accentuated the grain too. Also don’t forget that this is the beginning of my return to film development so I might have been a little vigorous in my “agitations” whilst developing the film. I now use mostly Ilfosil 3 and lower grain film, and have brought a little more “calm” to my “agitations.”

The camera that day was the FED 5 rangefinder camera from Ukraine. I’ve talked about it before, and although I mainly use SLRs, I still feel guilty about not using it more. It’s a beautiful camera and I don’t want it to feel neglected. I might just have to correct that soon.

I lived just outside Paris for 7 years before moving out to the country in 2001. The change in ambiance was startling. I went from blocks of flats to village life in the French countryside. I went from riding the metro, and suburban Parisian trains, to learning to drive though this beautiful landscape. Driving through this scenery still gets me every time I get into the car. I wonder what I’ll see. I see the changes in the fields and countryside through the seasons.

I want you to promise me, Dear Reader, that you will take a closer look at your route to work, and maybe I can convince you to record it too for prosperity. Don’t worry about film or camera, even just using your phone will do the trick.