Photography News issue 21

Competitions Back to basics INTERVIEW

It had lain dormant since the demise of analogue with the rise of digital, but with the darkroom experiencing a revival Tetenal decided the time was right to celebrate the art form and relaunch its original black & white analogue awards competition. Petra Roll, who helped come up with the idea, tells us more

Interview by Megan Croft

For those who aren’t familiar with Tetenal, can you tell us about what you do? Tradition, imaging expertise and innovation: these characteristics have distinguished Tetenal since its establishment in 1847. Tetenal has been highly regarded by the photographic community almost since photo technology was invented. So, analogue photography is not only a nice opportunity to develop images, it is for us in Tetenal an affair of the heart. The Tetenal group today is an international, innovative company, leading in developing and manufacturing analogue and digital imaging technologies. I’m corporate communication manager for the Tetenal Group. I started at Tetenal in the early nineties and enjoyed the good old darkroom days where darkroom work was a daily occurrence. So, Tetenal products such as Eukobrom, Superfix and so on from that time onwards are very familiar to me. We used to host a competition frequently in the past but stopped when photography went digital as there wasn’t enough demand. Last year with the 175th anniversary of the photographic industry, we thought it was an apt moment to ask our fans what they can still produce in darkrooms today. The Tetenal European B&W Analogue Award 2014/2015 invited all photography enthusiasts, professional imaging service providers and the specialist photographic retail sector to pay tribute to the huge momentum behind the fascination with this genre of photography. That’s very simple to answer: as one of the most important photo chemistry manufacturers worldwide Tetenal still produces b&w chemicals and still introduces new products in this product field, ie. our new Eukobrom AC developer. But, you are right, for about two to three years we’ve felt that traditional b&w processing is a trend, especially for young people who want to learn more about ‘hand-made photos’. The youngest entrant into our b&w analogue competition is 13 years old – and, by the way, sent us a fantastic image which you can see on our blog. Could you introduce yourself and explain how you fit in with the competition? This is the first year Tetenal has hosted a photo competition, why now? Have you noticed more of an appetite for black & white analogue photos recently?

RIGHT Mood D by Oliver Hecht.

Last year with the 175th anniversary of the photographic industry, we thought it was an aptmoment to ask our fans what they can still produce indarkrooms today

Photography News | Issue 21