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Community Darkroom Opening Night

Community Darkroom Opening Night

Friday, January 30th,  6pm - 10pm

Join us for an evening celebrating the opening of our new community darkroom at SeeSaw. The space brings together our members to explore new facilities equipped with fresh enlargers, RA-4 colour printing equipment, and high-quality film scanners, supporting the full printing process in one place.

The night is a chance to spend time in the space, see how it’s set up, and celebrate the growth of the community that’s shaped it. There will be opportunities to look around, talk through the tools and workflows, and share ideas with others who care about analogue craft.

What the opening night is for

The opening night is a relaxed chance to explore the new darkroom, get a feel for the space, and see how things work. There’s no formal programme — just time to look around, ask questions, and connect with others who are curious about analogue photography.

What you’ll find in the new darkroom

The space is set up for both black and white and colour work, with fresh enlargers, RA-4 colour printing equipment, and a high-quality automatic film scanner. Everything is arranged to support hands-on printing, experimentation, and longer working sessions.

How the evening will run

You’re welcome to drop in, take a look around, and spend as much or as little time as you like. Members of the Negative Development team will be around to talk through the space, the equipment, and how people use the darkroom day to day.

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A new home for our community

We’ve moved into a new space at SeeSaw in Manchester city centre. The new studio is easier to reach, better connected, and designed to make time in the darkroom simpler and more flexible. It’s a place to settle in, work at your own pace, and spend more time creating and sharing prints together.

A place to gather

SeeSaw’s café sits at the centre of the building, offering a relaxed, communal place to pause before or after time in the darkroom.

Coffee is carefully chosen and regularly refreshed. Red Bank Coffee from the Lake District provides the house espresso and filter, with guest roasters from across the UK and Europe rotating through the menu. There’s also a small selection of locally sourced snacks, pastries, and seasonal bakes from Pomelo Bakes.

The space is home to RamYum, serving South Korean street food inspired by bold, comforting flavours, all made with their own twist.

A place to showcase our work

SeeSaw offers space to share work made in the darkroom, giving prints context beyond the wash and dry stages. The walls are part of the process, shaping how work is seen and understood.

Exhibiting here will be open and peer-led, guided by the people using the space rather than fixed hierarchies. Prints might be a finished project, a working edit, or an experiment worth placing in the room.

It’s a way to see how others approach their craft, start practical conversations around printing, and let photographs be encountered slowly by more than just their maker.

A place designed for printing

The new darkroom is set up to support focused, hands-on printing. The layout, equipment, and working areas are designed to make time in the darkroom flow, with space to slow down and concentrate on the craft.

The room includes fresh enlargers, RA-4 colour printing equipment, and a high-quality automatic film scanner. These tools make it possible to move between black and white, colour, and scanning or printing without compromise.

Everything is shared, maintained, and available to the community, giving people the chance to work with professional-grade tools and develop confidence through regular use.

Still have questions?

If you have any questions about our workshops, membership scheme or the facilities available in our community darkroom, please don't hesitate to get in touch.