Trumbull revives darkroom, launches movie pictures class

Courtesy of Amartya De

Trumbull College recently renovated its once-dormant darkroom, and is now offering a darkroom photography class for students interested in using the space. 

The ideas for the photography class and refurbishment of the darkroom were conceptualized by Samuel Ostrove ’25 and Amartya De ART ’22. The pair met at Yale’s Center for Collaborative Arts and Media towards the end of Ostrove’s first year at Yale College and De’s final year at the School of Art. 

“We’re both kind of gearheads,” Ostrove said. “He got me into a place where I wanted to try my hand at medium format film.” 

Ostrove used to send all his film to an offsite lab before he realized there was a darkroom in Trumbull, his residential college. 

“I started asking around, first to our operation manager Deborah Bellman, and then to our Head of College Fahmeed Hyder,” he said. 

Ostrove was informed that although the darkroom had basic equipment, it was out of use and needed renovation. 

Trumbull College funded the renovation of the darkroom, which now has three enlargers — devices used to produce large photographic prints from film negatives — instead of one. It also has new equipment and infrastructure, including tables and a sink tray for rinsing the film. 

De, an associate fellow of Trumbull College, now instructs the darkroom photography class. Students will learn the technical basics of analog camera operations, film development and darkroom printing. They will have access to roughly a year’s supply of film at no cost and will be able to use the darkroom through the spring semester. 

“We had facilities come and work on the lights and redirect our whole water system,” Bellman said. “Amartya and I just really put our heads together to determine what was needed to make this as cutting edge as we can. And I think that’s what we accomplished, I really do.” 

According to Bellman, “the thought of this happening has been almost a couple years” in the making, adding that Hyder was “really, really responsive” to students’ interest in the darkroom.

“We’re the only college that has this darkroom, and it was really his goal to bring it back to life and to bring somebody like Amartya in,” Bellman said.

The first project conducted in the rehabilitated darkroom was a series of photos Ostrove took of the Trumbull dining hall staff. According to Ostrove, the dining hall project was helpful in garnering the interest of other students.

“We started building up the goodwill around this space. At the end of the day, these spaces at Yale function on the goodwill of administrators and students,” Ostrove said. “Once that goodwill is present, they function off of the dedication of people like Amartya.”

The darkroom class takes place on Saturday afternoons and is capped at 15 students. Currently, there are 11 confirmed students, along with a darkroom aide, Elio Wentzel ’27. The first class was held on Saturday, and they will continue until Nov. 16. 

“I have been really into film photography since high school. When I saw this class and I thought that I would finally have the opportunity to use this Trumbull darkroom and actually print my photos, I was like, I need this, immediately,” Uma Sukhu ’28, a student in Trumbull, said.

Sukhu also said she’s looking forward to having “the ability to make my own prints completely independently.”

Yana Jayampathy ’26 said she hopes the class will help her to “actually think about things that I’m shooting with more precision or technique.” 

Trumbull College is located at 241 Elm St.