Analogue FIlm Photography

From Exposure to Print

Thursday 10 to Monday 14 September 2026

Overview

Let us slow down the scroll and change our image diet. Let us make and consume images at a slower rate, more consciously.

Four nights and three full day residential course for photographers who are newcomers or want to deepen their understanding of analogue black and white photography. Working in a very small group, participants will shoot on film, develop their own negatives, and print their photographs in the darkroom, with close individual guidance throughout. 

The surrounding Tuscan landscape — marble quarries, coastline, mountains, woods, rivers, and medieval villages — provides the visual and physical context for the work with an  emphasis on learning how experience, place, light, and process shape photographic decisions.

This course is suitable for:

• Photographers with a basic understanding of photography who want to work with film

• Digital photographers curious about analogue processes

• Artists interested working with the analogue process

• Students looking to give time to the image making process.

No prior darkroom experience is required. The course can accommodate complete beginners as well as experienced photographers.

By the end of the residency, participants will:

• Understand black and white film photography, principles, techniques and approaches.

• Be able to process black and white film independently

• Feel confident working in a home or rental darkroom

• Leave with a contact sheet and at the very least a silver gelatin print, preferably a small set of finished prints.

The course is structured as six (3-day) half-day sessions, with evening reviews and discussions.

Thursday September 10 Welcome dinner 

Friday to Sunday 

• Introductions and orientation

• Ideation and visualisation

• Practical discussion of cameras, lenses, filters, and film choice

• Location-based shooting sessions in the surrounding landscape

• Evening debrief and review

• Black and white film processing, with attention to grain and tonal range

• Making and reading contact sheets

• Introduction to editing, sequencing, and narrative

• Darkroom printing intro: from test strips to finished prints

• Extended shooting time

• Darkroom printing time

• Final critique and discussion

Monday September 14 - Good bye breakfast

About the Tutor

I am a photographer with a long, award-winning career in fashion and advertising, working internationally for most major brands and publications. I had over 30 editorial covers of Vogue Bambini and shot 27 years of uninterrupted Baby Gap and Gap Kids campaigns. Some other brands I have worked for range from Armani, Dolce e Gabbana, Benetton, Uniqlo and Donna Karan. 

In recent years, my focus has shifted towards more personal, place-based work and towards sharing a lifelong engagement with photography as a practice rather than a product.

My journey with photography began at the age of eleven with a Zenit E and soon after I taught myself to work in the darkroom. That early fascination with film, light, and printing has remained central to my practice, whether working with analogue or digital tools.

My teaching is grounded in experience, curiosity, and attention. In 2025, I completed an NCFE Award in Education and Training, deepening my ability to structure learning around individual needs and different levels of experience.

A Note on the Darkroom

Much of my relationship with photography was shaped in the darkroom. As a young photographer, I spent countless hours printing, testing, dodging, burning, and learning—often through disappointment—what it really meant to translate a negative into a finished photograph.

A formative period was spent working alongside Roberto of Studio Roberto, one of London's master printers of the 1980s. Roberto's approach was instinctive, physical, and fearless: he could read a negative at a glance, move under the enlarger light with extraordinary precision, and arrive at a finished print with an ease that came only from years of experience.

Although I now work extensively with digital processes and archival inkjet printing, this residency returns to the analogue darkroom—not out of nostalgia, but out of respect for the craft, the discipline, and the particular joy of watching an image appear in the tray.

Location

The course is hosted at our country home and darkroom in Bagnone, northern Tuscany. Pisa airport is about 80km away and our local train station Villafranca-Bagnone has trains that will get you there if you prefer not to hire a car. Genova airport is a little further and further still are Milan Linate and Malpensa. The home is in a remote and secluded spot in a wood 4km from the village of Bagnone. Accommodation and meals are available on site and ( mostly )  my very favourite local restaurants, creating a relaxed, residential atmosphere where discussion and reflection continue beyond formal sessions.

Practical Details

• The course is run in a small residential group, allowing for individual guidance, shared meals, and unhurried time in the darkroom.

• Duration: 4 nights/ 3 full days

• Location: Bagnone (MS)

• Materials: Darkroom chemicals (limited choice of developers) and some paper provided

• Participants are responsible for their own cameras and film although some may be available for hire.

Pricing

Tuition is priced per course: 

All inclusive full board on 3 day course, 4 night stay, welcome dinner on arrival and goodbye breakfast on departure morning. Euro 900

Course only if you choose not to have full board and stay with us: Euro 400

Transfers to and from airport are not included.

Dates & Booking

Upcoming course dates: September 10-14 2026 

For enquiries, availability, or to apply for a place, please contact:

Stefano Azario
studio@stefanoazario.com

Places are limited and allocated on a first-come basis once suitability is confirmed.