The world around us is perpetually changing – ice melts, glaciers shift, weather changes and time passes. Nothing stays the same, neither we nor the spaces we occupy.
‘Passage’ captures a time of transition in Tom Goldner’s photography practice. In 2015 and 2016, Tom made two expeditions around the Mont Blanc regions of France, Italy and Switzerland. Ever-conscious of the changing nature of the landscape – the fact that you could stand in the same spot one year later and find everything had changed – he shot fleeting moments on medium format film.
Back in Melbourne, Tom carefully developed and printed each photograph by hand in his darkroom. The experience reawakened his love of manual photography, and he saw parallels between the physical exertion of actually taking the pictures and the concentration needed in producing the atmospheric black and white landscapes.
This process is often portrayed as a lost or dying art form. Rather than focusing on nostalgia and trends, Tom’s work explores the relevance of film and darkroom printing in the contemporary landscape of photography.
Tom Goldner is a professional photographer whose career spans art, portraiture, documentary and commercial projects. He founded The Fox Darkroom in 2014 to share his enthusiasm for black-and-white film photography. Tom is fascinated by the patience and craft involved in printing photographs by hand. The opening of The Fox Gallery in 2016 reflects both his ongoing commitment to traditional darkroom printing and his passion for sharing the results as well as the process. The gallery has become an important outpost for both photographers and members of the public to experience and engage with important photographic works.
