Learning Skills to Capture the Moment
Nervous energy filled the room in the Photo One class as students learned how to load film with nothing but touch.
“You have to learn how to do all of these steps on how to load film in the dark, with touch,” said Mrs. Colleen Sheehy, referring to a step-by-step guide provided to the students. “Check out your equipment before you get started. If there’s a light leak, it will ruin your film.”
Photo One students at Somers High School learned how to load film from their camera roll into a canister used while developing their film in the darkroom—a critical skill needed to successfully develop photo prints. First, students had to learn how to open the roll of film with a tool shaped like a bottle opener before safely being able to remove the film. Next, students had to transfer the film onto a reel that would be stored inside a light-secure canister until it was time to develop it.
“We’re learning how to load our film into the canisters,” said Brooke Hadley. “I don’t think it’s that difficult if you’re focusing.”
Loading the film into the reel can’t be done directly in the darkroom because the amber light inside the darkroom would fog the film. The film needs to be in total darkness before it is put into developing chemicals. Each canister held two rolls of film, so students also had to learn how to load their film without disturbing the other roll of film in the canister. To protect their film while learning this new skill, students used dummy rolls of film that would not be affected by light or touch, allowing them to practice multiple times.
“You just had to think more about it and feel it,” said Hazel Sledzik, “because you don’t want to mess it up when it’s a real film roll.”
The first time, students were allowed to have their gear on the table in front of them. They could refer to a guideline of steps, ask for help, check with their classmates to find out how they were doing, and they could physically see what was supposed to happen. Once they felt comfortable doing it that way, students then closed their eyes and tried to do it again just by touch alone.
The final step had students put their hands into a changing bag to move the film from the roll to the reel and into the canister. A changing bag is a doubled-bagged and zippered pouch with arm holes that acts as a mini portable darkroom. Students can’t see their hands or tools while they are in the changing bag so it forces them to go by what they feel to get it done right.
“I feel like once I learned it outside the bag, it was pretty easy,” said Darcy Solomon. “We’re working on our first roll of film right now. I’m hoping it turns out. Getting the focus and aperture to line up is challenging.”
The atmosphere in the classroom was full of excitement and confidence by the end of the period as students felt ready to take on the task of moving their first real roll of film from their cameras to the canisters, which would take place in an upcoming class. Photo One is an elective that teaches more than how to take and develop film, it also fosters lessons about independence, problem-solving, creative thinking, and self-assurance that the students will take with them into their other classes and beyond the classroom.
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