The Photographic Darkroom, Early Screen Media and Animated Images
Dominici, S. 2026. Forthcoming. The Photographic Darkroom, Early Screen Media and Animated Images. Transbordeur. Photographie histoire société. 10.
Dominici, S. 2026. Forthcoming. The Photographic Darkroom, Early Screen Media and Animated Images. Transbordeur. Photographie histoire société. 10.
| Title | The Photographic Darkroom, Early Screen Media and Animated Images |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Dominici, S. |
| Abstract | This article explores the points of convergence between the ephemeral images that inhabited the early photographic darkrooms and screen media. Charting the long 19th century in the Anglophone world, it discusses, first, the animation of the image on the plate encountered during the chemical development of negatives, which up until the 1890s was done by observation, and how this echoed the illusion once achieved by the diorama through lighting effects. Second, the technical and conceptual affinities between the photographic enlarger, the magic lantern and the cinematographer as technologies geared to foster the public life of images. By taking as its guiding thread darkroom practitioners’ own words, the article argues that their responses to the latent-turning-visible and then to the projected image were part of a media culture that strove for the technological reproductions of the phenomenal world and for such images to elicit kinaesthetic perceptions. |
| Keywords | analogue darkroom |
| chemical development | |
| cinema | |
| diorama | |
| magic lantern | |
| photographic enlarger | |
| Journal | Transbordeur. Photographie histoire société |
| Journal citation | 10 |
| ISSN | 2552-9137 |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | Éditions Macula |
| Funder | BA (British Academy) |