Image Lab

A Space for Playful Experimentation and Image Making

The Image Lab is a workshop and studio space for exploring all forms of image making. We use traditional analog silver-based film developing and printing as a starting point but also experiment with alternative processes including cyanotypes, salt printing, and anthotypes. We print on photographic paper, watercolor paper, fabric, and any other surface that will retain a picture. We develop 8mm and 16mm film. Our presentations have taken up ethical issues surrounding picture taking and darkroom chemicals, photography’s “critical moment,” and practical uses of the Zone System. In workshops we have made pinhole cameras, made our own developers with coffee and chickpea juice, and printed tri-color cyanotypes on handmade paper. Our work and practice continually asks how we can make pictures in more sustainable ways–through the use of natural materials, through the reuse and repair of old equipment, through techniques that revive expired film and paper. We believe image making thrives when knowledge and resources are made accessible, when creative people support one another, and when we maintain strong ties with the broader Soil Factory community.

Watch the Soil Factory schedule for our events and activities.

Some Images of Our Image Making