Ilford: Defend the Darkroom

[david b]

Ilford released this on August 21, 2007 :

CAMPAIGN TO DEFEND THE DARKROOM

21st August 2007
ILFORD PHOTO ANNOUNCES CAMPAIGN TO ‘DEFEND THE DARKROOM’
*Commitment and backing for traditional photography re-affirmed

ILFORD PHOTO has launched a campaign to enhance the position, standing and future of the UK’s darkrooms and associated creative techniques. Inspired by those involved in the analogue photographic industry, from manufacturers to the media, the campaign is designed to be a vehicle to establish a new future for darkroom photography.
By inspiring a new generation of darkroom users, raising the profile of darkroom on the photo-education agenda and redefining the relationship between analogue and digital photography, ‘Defend the Darkroom’ will establish a new direction for photography. The campaign will inspire a new mindset that will unlock the latent potential of photography’s heritage to inspire a bold future of innovation, creativity and diversity.
Howard Hopwood, marketing director at ILFORD PHOTO commented:
“Interest in darkroom photography isn’t waning, but it is certainly being neglected by various parties. Our campaign is a watershed moment for the industry, designed to inspire a future of photography that reflects the coexistence of digital and darkroom technology.”
The campaign will take many forms and is essentially an ever-evolving project to bring the world of darkroom photography to the attention of the digital generation and inspire new ideas, new enthusiasm and new skills amongst a new breed of photographers.
Howard Hopwood, added:
“For too long now, Darkroom has been slipping down the agenda of educational institutions, regardless of continued support from photo-educators and those responsible for establishing the photo-education curriculum. Our campaign will highlight these problems and make the case for darkroom education.

During the fast-paced digital revolution, digital technology has been seen, by some as a replacement for analogue technology – but through this campaign ILFORD PHOTO is keen to show how the two can coexist as complementary creative art forms.
“Darkroom photography is not standing still. It is not a relic of a bygone era, it is very much a part of the evolving world of photography. Our campaign will educate new and existing darkroom photographers about the technological developments from manufacturers that are shaping the future of darkroom
“The signature of darkroom is the physical control over the image; the art of the developing process. Skill and creativity in the darkroom is as much a part of photography as the taking of the picture.” Added Howard.
Initial initiatives for the campaign include:
1. Development of a Photo Instructor Newsletter for UK educational establishments
2. A series of ‘Darkroom’ Master Class events to promote and inspire the creative process.
3. Continuing sponsorship of Red Eye, an Art Council funded project to provide a travelling darkroom to enhance awareness of black and white photography to schools, colleges, local arts groups and the like.
4. Sponsorship of talented students to support and promote darkroom enthusiasts.
New initiatives will be announced on a regular basis all under the ‘Defend the Darkroom’ banner.



Already ILFORD PHOTO has invited twenty of the most highly regarded photography educators in the United Kingdom to the HARMAN technology headquarters in Mobberley, to highlight the campaign and learn about the latest advances in traditional photography. The event was organised by ILFORD PHOTO alongside Key Photo, the leading supplier of photographic products to education and the public sector. A key focus of the two-day tour and conference event was how the merger of darkroom and digital technologies is influencing a ‘new world’ of photography shaped by the coexistence of analogue and digital technology.

Matthew Finn, photography lecturer at Thames Valley University commented on the day:
“Since visiting HARMAN I can see they are committed to keeping black and white photography alive and it is up to me and other photo educators across the country to also make sure it remains a widely used medium and not just a mere specialist niche interest.
“If this was to happen photography would lose an entire dimension. I support ILFORD PHOTO’s campaign to communicate the dangers of losing darkroom, and the consequences of neglecting analogue photography.”
ILFORD PHOTO believes that analogue and digital photography should have an equal standing in the photographic arena. By lobbying for equal recognition in generic industry debate and discussion, the campaign will help analogue photography, and darkroom photographers to gain the recognition they deserve.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

Holy cow, Ilford! When are you going to do something like that in my country, too?

I applaud with all my four opposable appendages.

 

[john_s]

Holy cow, Ilford! When are you going to do something like that in my country, too?

I applaud with all my four opposable appendages.

My thoughts exactly. The whole world depends on Ilford.

 

[Thanasis]

Go Ilford!!

 

[Dave Miller]

This month's best kept secret has escaped.

 

[Teitur]

Ilford is so cool!!

 

[FrankB]

Excellent! Very loud applause from this corner!

 

[abcpyro]

very cool perfect ilford, i love darkroom we hold hard

 

[mcarmo]

A huge applause to Ilford !!!

Hope this will motivate similar ideas in my country too.

This was my optimistic side speaking...

 

[arigram]

That's great, but it will do little to the perception and use of analog photography in most parts of the world. For example, analog photography in Greece is pretty much dead, including Ilford's presence.

 

[Snapshot]

Very good for Ilford... and for us as well if they succeed. They have my support.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Ari, I agree 100% with you, but Ilford has to start somewhere.

At least they are be pro-active about their product. Ilford, has to my mind, always been reasonably active about helping and generating interest in film photography.

About 20-25 years ago, Ilford Australia, they manufactured here in Melbourne then. Put together a great darkroom start-up kit. There was a 35mm Beseler enlarger (with a Beseler lens IIRC) the usual complete B&W start-up kit, + 5 rolls of FP4 and 5 rolls of HP5 to get one started.

There was also an excellent book to get you underway, or get one or both of your parents, Aunt, Uncle to read it and help you

It was quite successful at the time, it did boost things and I happen to know two people who did buy that outfit, today they are still fiddling with film.

It wasn't a great thing, but it was a start.

Mick.

 

[bill schwab]

Great news!!! ... for the UK. What about the rest of the world? Is there a plan to expand this crusade to other countries? You'd think a similar campaign in countries with a larger potential market might be a good idea as well? Bravo Ilford for what I hope is just your first step in an attempt to revive the darkroom.

 

[terri]

Bravo, indeed! I would love to see how this campaign played out in the USA. A campaign like this must be costly - perhaps the UK is being considered the beta site, and will be rolled out to other countries over time.

Regardless, this is a wonderful first post to come back to, after spending a week at Photographer's Formulary. Analog seems quite strong in my world atm.

Go, Ilford!

 

[Ian Grant]

That's great, but it will do little to the perception and use of analog photography in most parts of the world. For example, analog photography in Greece is pretty much dead, including Ilford's presence.

I have to agree Ari. Here on the other side of the Aegean I can buy Ilford products but only what the importer decides to stock, which doesn't include the films I want. Despite helpful advice from Simon with contact details etc I can't get what I'd like because there's no demand.

There's no demand because importers dropped the products and now think there are no users in the country, talking to a large pro dealer I was told everyone now buys online from the UK or elsewhere in Europe as a result.

In Izmir (Smyrna to you Ari) there's a good photo-shop in the Kemeralti, plenty of analog stuff, lots of film not the full range from Ilford, plenty of Foma, also paper RC & Fibre - plenty of Ilford but the date codes show manufacture of around 1989 so not very fresh stock. However they will get any Ilford product stocked by the importer for the next day if required.

There does need to be a new approach to supplying analog materials outside the major UK / US markets.

Ian

 

[arigram]

I have to agree Ari. Here on the other side of the Aegean I can buy Ilford products but only what the importer decides to stock, which doesn't include the films I want. Despite helpful advice from Simon with contact details etc I can't get what I'd like because there's no demand.

There's no demand because importers dropped the products and now think there are no users in the country, talking to a large pro dealer I was told everyone now buys online from the UK or elsewhere in Europe as a result.

In Izmir (Smyrna to you Ari) there's a good photo-shop in the Kemeralti, plenty of analog stuff, lots of film not the full range from Ilford, plenty of Foma, also paper RC & Fibre - plenty of Ilford but the date codes show manufacture of around 1989 so not very fresh stock. However they will get any Ilford product stocked by the importer for the next day if required.

There does need to be a new approach to supplying analog materials outside the major UK / US markets.

Ian

Ian said it all.
That's exactly the problem I've noticed and I think I have already reported it in another thread.
I happened to visit Salonica a couple weeks ago where the representative of Hasselblad resides and he pretty much convinced me that there is one one person left in the country that does professional analog printing and he is slowly moving to digital.
I have bought and stored large quantities of film and paper in the fridge because prices are atleast twice as much as I can find them in Germany online and Greek vendors stock little.

This initiative might be great, if it fortfies the UK market and as a strong homebase to operate "overseas".

The way I see it, analog will only survive in the UK, the US and in Germany and artists from other countries will either have to order online or go digital.
APUG is evidence of it as the community seems to be very specific geographically and closed to their little worlds, ie. not very international.

The way I personally see it, I might be switching to digital a lot earlier than I first thought. I use almost completely Ilford materials, so their strategy matters to me.

 

[CBG]

A darn good start Ilford.

We need more here in USA.

I have heard ugly rumors a local NH college has discarded their darkroom entirely.

Sad,

C

 

[Discpad]

I applaud them with all five of my appendages!

All that being said, as I read over these posts, it occured to me that Ilford is going to have to rely on some sort of logistical company for just-in-time delivery of small quantities of materials.

Here in the United Statestwo major examples are:

• Martin-Brower providing daily small deliveries to the thousands of small McDonald's stores, including fresh tomatoes (which can be difficult to source at times);
• Wal-Mart, with their dozens of million square foot distribution warehouses supplying their 3500 stores nationwide.

I cite the example of Wal-Mart, because the major reason they are so successful ($1/4 trillion in sales), and have run KMart into bankruptcy, is that they are ruthless in slashing back-end costs, i.e. getting the merchandise from the end of the production line onto their store shelves.

Fortunately, logistical support is available for smaller companies, too: The delivery boys (FedEx, DHL & (especially) UPS) have gone into the distribution business, leveraging their fleets of delivery trucks. Here in the NYC area, many, many small to medium companies -- Including Fuji -- have their distribution warehouses in the Raritan Arsenal Business Park (NJ Turnpike exits 10 & 11), including a massive FedEx warehouse right on site, 15 minutes from their massive terminal at EWR (Newark Liberty International Airport).

If the people at Ilford/Harmon were smart, they would use one of these logistical companies to handle their JIT distribution, so darkroom supply stores need only carry the minimum inventory, easing their cash flow woes...

 

[Simon R Galley]

Dear All,

Very interesting reading your ( positive ) comments on 'defend the darkroom'
we will see how it gains momentum, hopefully around the world. Regarding distribution, being able to obtain our product virtually anywhere in the world is rather important to me as my day job is Director of Export Sales, and of course vitally important to our end users, we export over 90% of what we make and to over 50 countries Worldwide.

I have referred to this before but we have over 2,000 SKU's and very few
distributors could take that number of items or anything like it, we do everything we can to ensure good distribution, and we have a really good set of loyal distributors, the photo resellers are the determining factor, they buy what they can sell which is why we have seen a polarising around photo resellers, most will sell film, you do not need a big space, but those who are committed to darkroom are much fewer than 5 years ago, they need more space and they have to have the knowledge and commitment to sell the products.

We do all we can to support them and give them a strong product range to sell, the factor they obviously look at is sales out, digital has obviously completely changed the photo retail market in the last 10 years, they need customer demand to stock.

We have large variances from Country to Country regarding range availability and all primarily analog manufacturers are the same, much is relative to the photo education market in that country, where analog teaching is strong, good supply, where analog teaching is weak supply is poorer.

We are not a big company, we hopefully 'hit above our weight' we promote monochrome with a real passion, we support our distributors and resellers all around the world as much as we are able within our available resource, and this is obviously focussed on keeping our products in distribution and available for our customers who use them and value them.

Simon : ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

 

[Ian Grant]

Your reply is very welcome but there has been a major shake up in the photo market as dealers panicked and reduced stock levels on their shelves.

Ten years ago my Agfa dealer (Leeds Cameras/Photovisual) kept Record Rapid 12"x16" Gds 2 & 3 on the shelf despite the fact I was the only person buying it, now a part of Calumet all B&W paper is only to order, and thats not fast. They knew if they didn't stock it I'd buy elsewhere.

There must be a new and better way of making all your products more freely available in world markets. If you can't then potential sales go to competitors.

At the moment Ilford is not "hitting above our weight" outside of the UK or US, it's far easier to buy from other manufacturers. Here I can only speak from personal experience.

Ian

We are not a big company, we hopefully 'hit above our weight' we promote monochrome with a real passion, we support our distributors and resellers all around the world as much as we are able within our available resource, and this is obviously focussed on keeping our products in distribution and available for our customers who use them and value them.

Simon : ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited

 

[mtbbrian]

Yeah!
Go Ilford! Go Ilford! GO! GO! GO!
Brian

 

[Wilcoxson David L.]

God bless Ilford!!! They RULE. I will continue to spend all my money for B&W photography on they're products. I quite like HP5+ in 4X5. I hope they start a program like this in the US.

 

[rtuttle]

Makes me wish they were an American based company so we could have the same influence in our school systems. Wish we had a photo company, oh wait we do Kodak are you reading these forums like Ilford does? Wouldn't matter anyway, they (Kodak) wouldn't do anything. Can't wait for the photo show in the Javitz center so I can shake their hand!

 

[JPD]

I like Ilford more and more, since they are one of the few companies that takes traditional photography seriously I have the feeling that Kodak see film as a burden, and Agfa surely did. Agfa even stopped advertising their traditional products.

I don't like the trend of giving the products names as "Retro" and "Classic". Traditional photo products like film and paper should not be looked upon as things from the past. I'm glad that Ilford aren't falling for that trend.

 

[Discpad]

F&D in the USA

Dear Simon:

Did it occur to you that maybe, just maybe, your whole distribution strategy for here in the United States needs to be radically changed, to follow the "supply chain management" (SCM) that thousands of mid-sized companies use, to "hit above their weight?"

As I see it, your fine company got so tied up in the changeover (or more accurately, product expansion) from film to film + inkjet, that you forgot to "mind the store" and adapt your (U.S.) distribution model to changing best SCM practices.

As you see it from your vantage point in England, you have the U.K. market and the "export" market, which to you is "the rest of the world." However, the distribution model for, say, Turkey or Greece will be different than, say, Japan.

But: The differences between the United States and "the rest of the world," from a supply chain management standpoint, are staggering. It is this very SCM (logistics) boat you are missing here on this side of the Pond. By going to an SCM model, you'll actually make it easier, faster, and less expensive to put your fine products in the hands of retailers, photo labs, imaging shops, and darkrooms.

If you will be at the big PhotoPlus Expo in NYC next month, I'd like to sit down with you with a pen & paper to `splain this better.

Dear All,

Very interesting reading your ( positive ) comments on 'defend the darkroom'
we will see how it gains momentum, hopefully around the world. Regarding distribution, being able to obtain our product virtually anywhere in the world is rather important to me as my day job is Director of Export Sales, and of course vitally important to our end users, we export over 90% of what we make and to over 50 countries Worldwide.

I have referred to this before but we have over 2,000 SKU's and very few
distributors could take that number of items or anything like it, we do everything we can to ensure good distribution, and we have a really good set of loyal distributors, the photo resellers are the determining factor, they buy what they can sell which is why we have seen a polarising around photo resellers, most will sell film, you do not need a big space, but those who are committed to darkroom are much fewer than 5 years ago, they need more space and they have to have the knowledge and commitment to sell the products.

We do all we can to support them and give them a strong product range to sell, the factor they obviously look at is sales out, digital has obviously completely changed the photo retail market in the last 10 years, they need customer demand to stock.

(cut)

We are not a big company, we hopefully 'hit above our weight' we promote monochrome with a real passion, we support our distributors and resellers all around the world as much as we are able within our available resource, and this is obviously focussed on keeping our products in distribution and available for our customers who use them and value them.

Simon : ILFORD Photo / HARMAN technology Limited