Ventilation and safety issues have shuttered Delta’s darkroom, leaving photography students to contend with commutes to Lodi and class waiting lists complicated by a smaller space at Tokay High School.
Since 2018, college staff has notified administration of safety issues in the Photo Lab, located in Shima 150. One of the main concerns is poor air quality, caused by an inadequate ventilation system and compounded by the use of photo development chemicals.
“Air quality issues: Students with asthma have reported being bothered by air in darkroom/photo lab area…” according to the 2017-2018 program review document.
Documents from staff instructional program reviews also express concern over ADA compliance for students with disabilities.
“ADA issues: …make it near impossible for students with disabilities to move around, in the event of an emergency it would be hard for students to evacuate properly…” reads the program review.
Chris Guptill, the division dean of the Arts and Communication department, went on the record to elaborate on what has been stalling the process of repairing the campus photo lab.
“What was originally thought was that, just select elements of the ventilation needed to be repaired or replaced, [such as] the fan motors,” said Guptill. “What we discovered as we looked at it, was that in fact the entire ventilation system had to be replaced, and that is a much more costly proposition.”
Work towards those renovation goals were “in progress” and estimated to cost $500,000 at the time, according to the 2017-2018 document.
In the meantime, program enrollment has suffered significantly as told by one professor.
Kirstyn Russell, the professor of photography at Delta College, explained the hurdles caused by the setbacks. “We used to have four classes running a semester, four to five, now just one over at Tokay, and we were lucky to have the Tokay opportunity,” said Russell.
Russell, who has been with Delta College for more than 14 years, said there have been issues overlooked since she first began work here.
“There’s lots, lots to be fixed,” she said.
Those issues are interfering with the classes that can be offered.
“With lab renovations not yet started, our PHOTO1A class cannot be offered on campus…,” according to the 2022 Multimedia Instructional Program Review.
Michael Cruz, the adjunct associate professor of photography with Delta College and Tokay High, has been using his high school classroom to help with student demand. Without people like Mr. Cruz and our friends at Tokay, the art of darkroom photography would be dead in the water for Delta students.
“If the lab was running, I think they could grow the program. I think there’s a ton of possibilities for growth. I think they should hire a full-time professor so there would be two professors promoting, driving, and growing the program.” Cruz said.
Professor Cruz has been teaching with Delta College for three years now, and he explained the use of his class being fortunate for students while we await the renovations.
“Luckily we’re able to offer some classes here [at Tokay] and still keep the darkroom classes running, but it will be great when Delta gets open fully again because there’s so many opportunities there.” Cruz said.
“We just want to get to a point where we can issue awards again and have it [the program] be as robust as it was pre-pandemic,” said Mass Communication professor and Collegian adviser Tara Cuslidge-Staiano, who also serves as discipline chair for the photography program.