Film Is Not Dead: Live Developing on Stage (emf2026)

Watch as I develop a roll of black-and-white film live on stage, taking it from exposed film to visible negatives and scanned digital images in real time. The roll will contain photos shot around EMF earlier that day, with a volunteer taking the final frames live during the session.

A lot of people think photographic chemistry is effectively magic, but developing film is really just a sequence of straightforward steps, timings, and temperature control — much closer to following a recipe than performing an arcane art.

As the chemistry works, you’ll learn how black-and-white film development actually works, why it’s much easier and more accessible than most people assume, and how analogue photography connects surprisingly well with modern maker culture, including all the modern ways for scanning and sharing your film photos.

By the end of the talk, you’ll (hopefully!) see freshly developed negatives projected live on screen.

Licensed to the public under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
about this event: https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/78-film-is-not-dead-live-developing-on-stage