Noirfotocontest is a community-driven, non-profit initiative established by Noirfoto in 2020 with the ambition of fostering sustainable artistic development in Vietnam through photography. In its preceding five events, Noirfotocontest predominantly catered to proponents of film photography. This was largely due to Noirfoto’s signature output of exquisite silver gelatin prints, meticulously crafted in the darkroom.
The distinctive allure of this year’s competition, which has aroused considerable public interest, lies in its innovative integration of digital capture alongside traditional film practices. Specifically, participating photographers are no longer strictly bound to shooting on film and submitting physical negatives for the traditional developing and printing processes undertaken by Noirfoto.
Instead, entrants gain the latitude to capture their images digitally, employing any preferred medium, and subsequently submitting high-resolution files to the organizing committee. Crucially, however, adhering to the competition’s foundational principle, all submitted images, regardless of their origin, are required to be in monochrome.
Subsequently, Noirfoto undertakes the process of converting these digital image files into negatives, which are then digitally outputted using a printer. These digital negatives then serve as the intermediary for a further printing stage, ultimately yielding positive images on the revered silver gelatin medium.
This undeniably represents a lengthier and considerably more resource-intensive approach. However, the rationale underpinning this method is to achieve the tangible outcome of an image saturated within the very fibers of silver gelatin paper, ensuring a level of detail, sharpness, and tonal nuance comparable to direct printing from film negatives or the original digital file.
Photographer Pham Tuan Ngoc, a founding member of Noirfoto, elaborated: “This technology isn't entirely novel; it has precedents in various parts of the world. More sophisticated techniques even exist, such as employing lasers to directly imprint digital images onto film negatives. Nevertheless, the methodology Noirfoto is currently pioneering marks its debut in Vietnam, yielding remarkably impressive results.”
From a purely visual standpoint, a print produced using this hybrid technology might appear indistinguishable from a direct digital inkjet print. The fundamental distinction resides in the material. While both result in black and white images, conventional digital printing relies on the deposition of ink particles or laser-induced heat transfer onto the paper surface. Conversely, the manual printing process on silver gelatin paper bears a close resemblance to traditional darkroom printing, where the image gradually emerges within the silver halide crystals of the paper emulsion.
This technique is highly prized by photographers and collectors globally for its capacity to render profound tonal depth, intricate detail, and exceptional archival longevity.
Given the fundamental requirement of traditional silver gelatin printing for film-based negatives, the advent of these new technologies now extends the possibility of creating handmade prints to photographers working with digital capture.
Pham Tuan Ngoc wisely observed: “In my view, this harmonious merging of film and digital photography grants creators an unprecedented degree of freedom. They can initiate their creative process with any tool and ultimately realize their artistic vision on any medium they desire, and that, I believe, is paramount. For artists, the last thing they want is to feel constrained by the limitations of a specific technology.”
Duong Do, the visionary founder of Toong Co-working Space, the exhibition’s venue sponsor, remarked that the ability to transform digital photographs into images capable of manual darkroom printing offers photographers an exciting avenue to fully explore their creative potential.
Within the realm of photography, handmade prints have always stood as a symbol of artistic ingenuity, where technical proficiency intertwines with the photographer’s unique skill. The nuanced tonalities, rich textures, and captivating depth characteristic of handmade prints provide a truly irreplaceable visual experience.
The black and white art photography exhibition themed “NOI” is currently hosted at Toong, located at the address of 2 Thi Sach Street in Ben Nghe Ward of District 1 (HCMC). The exhibition showcases a careful selection of 30 photographs drawn from over 3,000 submissions to the Noirfotocontest 2024 photography competition.
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