Developing Black & White Film & Introduction to the Darkroom
A 2-day workshop – take 1 day or both – your choice!

Saturday: Developing Black & White Film – Chip Standifer – 9am-3pm
Sunday: Intro to the Darkroom – Quintavious Oliver – 10am-3pm

At the APG Gallery and Darkroom

Developing Black and White Film is a hands-on, one-day workshop designed for photographers who want a clear, practical introduction to analog film development. Taught by artist Chip Standifer, this course demystifies the darkroom process and gives participants the confidence to develop black and white film on their own.

The workshop is structured as three hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, with a break for lunch. In the morning session, participants will cover the fundamentals of black and white film, including exposure considerations, film types, chemistry, equipment, and darkroom workflow. Chip will walk through each step of the development process, explaining not just how to do it, but why each step matters.

After lunch, participants will put theory into practice by developing their own first roll of black and white film. The afternoon session focuses on hands-on learning, troubleshooting common issues, and best practices for consistency and archival results. By the end of the class, participants will leave with a developed roll of film and a solid understanding of how to repeat the process independently.

This workshop is ideal for beginners with little or no darkroom experience, as well as digital photographers curious about working with film.

INSTRUCTOR: Chip Standifer

As a well-travelled but odd and disconnected child, Chip Standifer was always a keen observer of people, places and situations. At the age of 12, he built a pinhole camera and discovered the delights of creating images, developing film, and the magic of photographic images emerging from the darkness.  Today, when travelling the world for fast paced startups, he enjoys the meditative benefits of noticing the beauty everyone else misses as they hustle by.  His images have been juried into multiple shows at the Atlanta Photography Group, the Photographer’s Eye Collective, The Houston Center for Photography, the Photo Place Gallery, the SOHO Photo Gallery, the Southeastern Center for Photography, the Atlanta Airport, The 2025 Atlanta Art Fair, The Marietta Cobb Art Museum,  the John’s Creek Art Center, The Fence Regional Show, Slow Exposures, The Montgomery Photo Festival, The South By Southeast Gallery, The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, The Madison-Morgan Cultural Center and the Buckhead Library.

Introduction to the Darkroom – Learning how to see and make pictures with your camera is one thing – learning how to make your photographs real by printing them is another artform, entirely. To do so by hand is often looked at as something of a meditative, alchemical, and spiritual practice. Inthis Intro To Darkroom class, you’ll be given the tools to immortalize your images on silver gelatin paper through the classical means of black and white photographic development.

Students will explore the relationship between their film and paper of choice, various chemistry, contrast filters, and proper darkroom etiquette. This course will be a hands on an immersive experience for beginners and returning analogue printers alike. Once complete, students will have a fundamental understanding of darkroom printing concepts as well as how to see and understand print worthy images before raising their camera to expose their film.

Chemistry will be provided.

Each student should bring their own black and white negatives and photosensitive paper to print with.

Class will be limited to six students.

INSTRUCTOR: Quintavious Oliver

Quintavius Oliver (b. 1989 Atlanta, Ga.) is an Atlanta based fine art and documentary photographer who uses his engaging and intimate portraits as a means for dynamic storytelling. Acquiring his first camera at the age of six from his grandmother, he immediately began to document his ever-expanding world. By his mid-20s the self-taught colorblind photographer was making waves in the photography community, landing exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Atlanta and the Griffin Museum in Winchester, MA – all while raising his daughter as a full-time single father. Quintavius spent much of his early career straddling the fence between his documentary-style photography in the streets of Atlanta and making intimate portraits with friends, exploring sexuality, fear, joy, and identity. His work would eventually expand to places like India and Cuba where he would explore life in the homes of individuals and families, fostering a sense of global community through photography. Those photographs have since been awarded 1st place in the 2025 International Photography Awards in Greece, exhibitions at The Art Gallery of Alberta, Canada, and even the permanent collections of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston TX and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ga. Now, still with a camera in hand, Quintavius has made it his mission to see and photograph people honestly and wholly as he continues to create a space for self-expression and vulnerability through his passion for photography.

Workshop Title – Saturday: Developing Black & White Film – Chip Standifer – 9am-3pm
Sunday: Intro to the Darkroom – Quintavious Oliver – 10am-3pm
Instructor’s Names – Chip Standifer & Quintavious Oliver
Date(s) – Saturday, September 19 & Sunday, September 20, 2026
Time(s) – Saturday: 9:00am – 3:00pm / Sunday: 10:00am – 3:00pm
Location – In-Person at the APG Gallery and Darkroom
Workshop Fee – Saturday $45 member / $65 non-members
Sunday $175 member / $195 non-members
Purchase both Saturday and Sunday $185 member / $205 non-members
Maximum of 6 students for each class