My First B&W Development

It all started back in 2023, when I enrolled in an Advanced Diploma in Photography at MCAST. In my second and final year, we had a unit called Introduction to Darkroom Processes. This was the point where everything clicked, literally and metaphorically. The unit was all about what happens after you shoot film: how to develop it from start to finish, and even how to make prints in the darkroom.

I was given a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus, which became the first film I ever developed myself. I took it around Mosta to shoot my 36 exposures. Since it was only my second black and white film, I had to reprogramme my brain a little. Unlike colour, black and white photography forces you to think differently, you’ve only got black, white, and shades of grey to work with. So instead of obsessing over colour, you focus on contrast, light, mood, and storytelling.

What struck me again was the slowness of the process. I was more than happy to spend 3 hours of a 4 hour lecture walking around, looking for the right moments to fill those 36 frames.

Once the shooting was done, my mentor handed me a practice reel and a blank strip of film, teaching me how to load it. Everything had to be done in total darkness: cracking open the canister, cutting the leader, threading it onto the reel. The reel had to be in exactly the right place, facing the right way otherwise, good luck getting the film on!

After some practice (and a few clumsy attempts with my eyes shut), it was time for the real thing. Into the darkroom we went. I set up my bench, scissors and opener tucked into my pockets like I was preparing for surgery. Lights out.

The Loading & Development Process 

The pressure hit immediately. Suddenly it was real, my film, my photographs. One mistake and they were gone. That’s one of the beautiful but terrifying things about film: it’s fragile. It can be lost as easily as it can be created. But that fragility makes success feel all the more rewarding.

Of course, film being film, the strip came out of the canister tangled like spaghetti. I managed to cut the leader and get it feeding into the reel. Slowly, carefully, I wound it through. Too much speed and it would jump off track, and then you’d have to start all over again (yes, I learnt that the hard way later on). Just when I thought I was doing fine, disaster struck: I reached for my scissors, knocked them off the bench, and sent them clattering to the floor. In total darkness. Gone forever. Panic rising, I thought my first roll was doomed, until my mentor calmly suggested I just yank the film where it was still attached to the spool. It worked. Crisis averted. I finished loading the reel, sealed the tank, and finally, finally, the lights went back on.

With the hardest part done, it was time for chemistry class.

In the darkroom we use three main chemicals for black and white film:

• Developer – brings out the latent image.
  
  
• Stop bath – halts the development instantly.
  
  
• Fixer – makes the image permanent and viewable in normal light.
  
  

The golden rule? Everything must be done at 20°C. The developer we used was Ilford ID-11, diluted 1+1 (half stock, half water). For HP5+ at box speed, that meant 13 minutes of development. The stop bath was diluted at a ratio of 1:19, and the fixer at a ratio of 1:4 both to make a litre of working solution. 

I pre-washed the film to clean and prepare it, then poured in the developer. Every 30 seconds I had to do four gentle inversions, tapping the tank at the end to knock away bubbles. After 13 minutes, out went the developer, in went the stop bath for 30 seconds of constant agitation, and then the fixer for four minutes. A final 15-minute wash under running water, and the moment of truth had arrived.

Opening the tank for the first time and seeing my shiny, dripping negatives there. It's hard to describe. Magical doesn’t quite cover it. It felt like holding a secret I had made visible for the first time.

The last step was to squeegee the film and hang it up to dry, where it dangled like a tiny strip of victory. That was the day I properly understood the magic of the darkroom. Not just shooting, but creating photographs with your own hands, from start to finish.

The Results 

Next Time on Inside DarkLab…

I’ll take you through the next stage of the journey. Making my first contact sheet and print, and what it feels like to watch an image appear under the red light for the very first time.