THE DDC TEAM

Bernie Cram – Photographer, designer, owner

Bernie’s recent work has been in graphic design and corporate photography. Having used photoshop since version 2.5 and being really ‘meh’ about the new ‘features’, working in the darkroom and being able to shoot a lot of film is pure joy.

Bernie is fanatical about film photography and has been shooting film since the eighties. Back in the day (in this case, ‘back in the day’ means back when we made film and paper in Australia) Bernie worked at Kodak in Elizabeth Street in Coburg, so feels a real sense of coming home being back in the ‘burg and back in film and the darkroom. At Kodak he worked in the tech support area for photo products and was involved in the Q-LAB program for E6 prolabs around around Australia. Bernie also worked in E6 labs keeping the chemistry in line and feeding film into the beasts. He has developed film and printed in black and white since high school.

Jade Mallick – Photographer, artist

Jade Mallick is a fine art photographer, multi-media painter, Jade set up District Darkroom originally.  We love to have Jade available to run an occasional workshop and to run ideas past for projects.

At aged 13, Jade stepped into her first dark room and was hooked by the magic of developing photographs. So much so, she convinced her parents to build a darkroom in what was going to be their ensuite bathroom. She has an Advanced Diploma of Illustrative Photography from Photography Studies College in Melbourne. 

Fast forward 25 years and Jade’s still shooting and developing her own film. Her love for analogue and its processes has not changed. Which is why when she had the opportunity to build and open a community darkroom in Coburg, she jumped at it. 

Chip Elliott - Fine Art Photographer & Educator

Chip Elliott is a photographer, painter and educator. He holds a BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR. He has taught film and darkroom classes in NYC, Portland and San Francisco and youth photography programs in developing countries modelled on the Literacy Through Photography program developed by Wendy Ewald.

He has been working with film and in the darkroom for over 30 years and also works in traditional photographic techniques including cyanotypes, Van Dyke brown, salt, palladium and platinum prints.