In a time where video has become the preferred medium of the generation and everything seems to be digitized and automated, a new program in the Bronx focuses on teaching a lost art.
Spearheaded by Suede Hunte, a self-taught photographer and Bronx resident, and his business partner, Pierre Guillet, filmmaker and media director of the Andrew Freedman Home (AFH), BXposure welcomes locals of all ages to their newly opened independent film lab and community darkroom.
“I started [at AFH] as an artist-in-residence in February,” Hunte said. “And then I gave a proposal like, ‘Hey, I want to start this up in the Bronx’ and they said, ‘Well, we’ve seen what you’ve been doing so, yea.”
With the support of the Andrew Freedman Home, the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council and the Uptown Fine Arts Print Shop, also at AFH, individuals can learn how to shoot with manual and digital cameras and develop film.
“[It’s about] giving access to the community. It’s informative for the younger generation because when I was a kid, I didn’t know that I could be an artist or I could be a filmmaker, and it took me longer to realize that I could. I wish I had someone or an institution or an educational platform to know that that was even an opportunity,” Guillet said who runs the home’s film-screening series, Bronx Frame.
Past the gates of AFH at 1125 Grand Concourse and tucked away down the long corridor of the main floor, an old mop closet serves as the darkroom for developing film. In another room, shelves are filled with bottles of chemicals, cameras and photos with a spacious, white-tiled bathroom where developed film hang dries.
“That sounds like a typical in-house darkroom setup up,” Tiffany Williams said with a lighthearted chuckle. She works as the International Center of Photography program manager at The Point Community Development Center in Hunts Point.
The partnership between ICP and The Point started more than two decades ago with their own darkroom and workshops, but they are only available to students enrolled in their free classes.
The Bronx Documentary Center in Mott Haven has also been making strides in teaching Bronxites about manual cameras and film development since 2011. They offer classes at a cost and a free Youth Photo League for those accepted. BXposure plans to keep their programming free and open to all.
“I’m more concerned about creating authentic places,” Hunte told the Bronx Times. “I think for us becoming more of a beacon so people will know like, ‘Alright, this is a place where I can actually learn and create and then pass it on.’”
Their first film workshop will kick off some time in December where individuals can learn how to develop black and white film using beer. Kicking off in 2026, two workshops will run parallel to each other from January through March. Both will be introductory courses, one focusing on color photography and film development, and the other on black and white.
On Sunday, Nov. 16, BXposure will host their first workshop, Intro to Portrait Photography, led by their current artist-in-residence, Andrés Rodriguez von Rabenau who is also a member of the print shop team. The Puerto Rican photographer comes from a long line of shutterbugs and with his lens, poetically frames the daily humanity of the Boogie Down.
“I try to capture the voices through my photography, the voices of the people. I try to capture their stories, their everyday life. I try to tell a story about that transient nature,” he said. Rodriguez von Rabenau’s photos are currently on view at AFH as part of BXposure’s monthly artist highlight.
In his black and white image, “Fire at Featherbed Lane” (2020), a large plume of smoke fills the air as a fire rips through the first floor of an apartment building in Morris Heights. A firetruck, firefighters and a crowd of people can be seen in the background as a seemingly unbothered man in the foreground walks away from the scene with his bicycle. In the space between the handlebars, a “Dead End” sign can be seen, an ominous message given the blaze behind him. While their belongings may have been torched, all the tenants left with their lives, according to Rodriguez von Rabenau.
Although workshops at BXposure have yet to roll out, they are open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. where individuals can drop off film to be developed and or have digital prints done, all for less than $10 a roll.
Reach ET Rodriguez at etrodriguez317@gmail.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
