Bill Rowlinson, doyen of black and white master printers, bequeathed his print collection to Photofusion on his death in 2008. His somewhat eccentric approach (such as staining a print with tea bags and smoking over it!) produced results that were highly sought after by photographers. He began printing for Sarah Moon in the late 1960s, bringing a wide range of tones to the dreamlike quality of her work, establishing his reputation as a master printer. Photographers began entrusting him with their work and advertising agencies looked to him when they wanted something ‘special’.
An advertising shot for Newcastle Brown Ale, by photographer Derek Coutts, won him his first Ilford Printer of the Year Award in 1975. The Ilford Photographic Awards ran for 25 years from 1968 and became unique by giving the printer equal billing with the photographer. Rowlinson was a regular recipient of these awards.
From the many esteemed photographers he printed for, Photofusion will be exhibiting a selection by Sarah Moon, Bill Brandt, Julia Margaret Cameron (Dimbola Lodge), Barry Lategan, Jon Swannell, Clive Arrowsmith, Jimmy Wormser.
Photofusion is delighted to show for the first time Richard Nicholson’s series. This project, begun in 2006 and shot on large format film, documents London’s remaining professional darkrooms. For decades these workspaces were the engine rooms of the British photographic scene, turning out iconic images for galleries, billboards and glossy magazines. Yet now they languish, struggling to survive in the new world of digital photography.
Nicholson’s carefully composed images shed light on private workspaces that were previously obscured by darkness. Enlargers stand proudly, like spiritual relics from another age, in chaotic rooms marked with the patina of time – a world apart from the contemporary photographer’s shiny computer workstation. By turning his lens on the printing process itself, Nicholson invites us to reflect on the nature of photography and the accelerating pace of technological change.
The series includes the darkrooms of master printers Roy Snell, Michael Dyer, Debbie Sears, Adrian Ensor, Brian Dowling, Mike Spry, Robin Bell and many others.