Noirfoto Darkroom-Studio-Gallery

One of Vietnam's rare professional open darkrooms, founded in early 2017 by photographer Pham Tuan Ngoc - a place that keeps alive the craft of printing photographs by hand on light-sensitive material.

Gallery from the Localis platform

Noirfoto Darkroom-Studio-Gallery is a three-in-one space for photography - darkroom, studio and gallery - now at 131 Duong Van An, An Phu An Khanh urban area, Binh Trung ward, having moved from its former address at 199bis Nguyen Van Huong, Thao Dien. Noirfoto was founded in early 2017 by photographer Pham Tuan Ngoc, and what makes it special is not the gallery but the darkroom, recorded as one of the rare professionally equipped open darkrooms in Vietnam, used for hand printing and for classical and alternative photographic processes. In the digital age, keeping a working darkroom is something very few places manage, because it is costly and demands real skill. Pham Tuan Ngoc describes his working philosophy as mastering and balancing technique, material and natural elements to create work on light-sensitive material - in other words, a photograph here is understood as an object made by hand, not a file. Besides printing, Noirfoto runs talks, teaches photography at various levels and offers experimental art courses, while maintaining the Noirfoto Group Exhibition programme, a regular activity that gives those working in the language of photography a chance to show their work. The space is clearly divided in two: a bright gallery and studio area with plenty of plants and plain architecture, and the darkroom as its core - dark and specially equipped. The new location is about five minutes' walk from An Phu metro station. Practical details: the address is 131 Duong Van An, An Phu An Khanh urban area, Binh Trung; open Monday to Friday 10:00-17:00, closed Saturday and Sunday; phone +84 345 170 401; more at noirfoto.com and on Facebook at noirfoto.gallery. The place suits film photographers, those who want to learn hand printing and visitors coming to see photography exhibitions; do not come at the weekend, as it is closed, and do not expect a large gallery, since this is first of all a working space. A visit can be combined with the An Phu and Thao Dien areas, reached by metro to An Phu station. Note that it closes on both Saturday and Sunday, unlike most galleries, which makes it easy to arrive on the wrong day; many online articles still give the old Thao Dien address; and since the darkroom is a professional work area, ask before entering and do not switch on the lights yourself.

English text: machine translation from the Localis platform — proper names kept in Vietnamese.