While some teens choose to share various aspects of their lives through posting selfies on social media, senior Jill Plaut has created an unconventional way to document the highlights of her last year of high school: developing black-and-white darkroom photography.
“Everyone is an artist,” Jill said. “You don’t have to be good at it.” After exploring painting and other visual arts over the past few years at KO, Jill has decided to create her own independent photography study. “I started painting as a form of coping with my anxiety and then over a while I just started to get better and better at it,” she said.
Although most students are unaware of this, KO does, in fact, have a dark room that has been left untouched for many years. “From middle school to freshman year, I took photography classes, so I definitely used to be really into it,” Jill said, “and then I got more into visual arts. I thought it would be interesting because I didn’t know we had a dark room, and I’ve always wanted to try this.”
Creative arts teacher Greg Scranton has been essential to the success of this endeavor. As an expert in photography, he has taught Jill how to use a film camera and helped create a plan for her independent study. “Although we haven’t started the whole development process yet, he’s been really supportive with talking me through what’s going to happen when we start,” Jill stated.
The first and most time-consuming step in Jill’s process, cleaning the dark room, has proved itself to be a difficult task. “Mr. Scranton helped me clean out the entire room because it hasn’t been used in years,” she said. “There’s a lot of chemicals and machines you have to learn to use. I’m going to have to be very particular with what I do to make sure I don’t mess this up, because I do not want to waste the film.”
While Jill certainly wants to take art classes in college, she hasn’t decided whether photography is in her future. “I also am really into painting, so I’m not definitely sure,” she said. And although this is only a one-semester course, Jill can see this continuing after she graduates. “I can see myself coming in over the summer too, if he leaves the room open for me,” she mentioned.
“I plan to take my camera with me to social events, and get all my friends on film,” Jill said. “I want to shoot at my graduation and prom. I think that would be really cool.” She also discussed how she has grown as an artist through this experience. “It’s all about your eye and your interpretation. Now I’m doing [art] through my lens, through my eyes,” she said. The fact that this is an independent project has allowed for more experimentation and freedom throughout the process.
In reflecting on the overall project, Jill said, “I feel like this is going to make me appreciate more about my time here, because now I’m going to have all these pictures of my senior year. It’s a really unique opportunity to be able to do darkroom photography.”
