ABOUT BCD: Where we came from & where we're going.
Our History
Bushwick Community Darkroom began in 2011 as a DIY response to a real problem: film labs were disappearing, access was shrinking, and making photographs by hand was getting harder — especially in Brooklyn.
So Lucia Rollow built what she needed.
A single enlarger in a basement storage room.
A place to learn, experiment, and keep film photography alive through shared use.
What started small didn’t stay that way for long.
Over the years, BCD grew into a community of photographers, artists, teachers, students, and neighbors — moving through several spaces, each shaped by the same belief: photography is better when it’s shared. Not gated. Not precious. Not optimized out of existence.
We’ve never been about perfection.
We’ve always been about access, curiosity, and showing up.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
Today, Bushwick Community Darkroom is a shared, working darkroom and film lab on Himrod Street. We offer darkroom access, film developing and scanning, classes for all experience levels, exhibitions, and a place to spend time with other people who care about process and community.
We’re run by people who actually use the space. We fix things as we go. We ask questions. We help each other out.
It’s a place to make work — and to belong while doing it.
WHERE WE’RE GOING
BCD isn’t frozen in time. We’re always developing something — new classes, new exhibitions, new ways to keep analog photography accessible in a changing city.
What won’t change is the core idea:
shared tools
shared responsibility
and a belief that creative spaces should feel human
If that sounds like your kind of place, you’ll probably feel at home here.
We’re committed to building a community where people feel welcome, respected, and safe.
That means paying attention to who feels comfortable walking through the door — and who doesn’t — and doing the ongoing work to make this space more open, more equitable, and more human. Bushwick Community Darkroom exists because access matters. We believe film photography should be shared, not gatekept, and that creative spaces work best when people look out for one another. We welcome community input, feedback, and participation, and we take responsibility for how this space feels to the people in it. Our members, students, staff, and guests come from many backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We’re proud to support artists from New York and beyond, and we’re committed to learning, listening, and adjusting as we grow. This isn’t a static policy — it’s a practice. And we’re always working on it.
We are committed
Bushwick Community Darkroom is a shared space, and we take that responsibility seriously. We’re committed to creating an environment where people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences feel welcome, respected, and safe. That applies to everyone who passes through this space — members, students, staff, instructors, visiting artists, and guests. We don’t believe in gatekeeping creativity or tolerating behavior that makes others feel unwelcome. Care for the darkroom includes care for the people in it. Discrimination, harassment, and intimidation have no place here. This commitment isn’t about checking boxes or posting perfect language — it’s about how we show up every day, how we listen when something feels off, and how we’re willing to learn and adjust when we get things wrong. If you’re here to make work, share resources, and treat others with basic respect, you belong here.
Additional hiring policies:
- We hire based on skills, experience, reliability, and how someone shows up in a shared community space. Technical ability matters — so does communication and respect for others.
- We don’t require formal degrees. Strong hands-on experience, curiosity, and the ability to learn and collaborate matter more to us.
- We don’t ask about legal history during the application process.
- We’re interested in people who care about the work, the space, and the people in it.