Sabine Alex – Analogue photography in Berlin
Sabine realised that there were an increasing number of people exploring analogue photography. She started dreaming about teaching analogue photography in a mobile classroom.
By Christopher Osborne
Sabine Alex studied to be a teacher in Dresden, Germany. However, before she had finished the course, she knew that she wanted to follow an alternative path to the one to the classroom door. Sabine realised that there were an increasing number of people exploring analogue photography. She started dreaming about teaching analogue photography in a mobile classroom.
Her first photography training course took place in Leipzig in 2010. She used a tent as a mobile darkroom and remembers a blur of workshops and places. In 2011 Sabine moved to Berlin. “It was really good being in Berlin. I started running courses for schools, museums, and social projects”.
Sabine had been looking for a bus to convert into a mobile darkroom when some friends pointed out an advertisement for a bus which was just a few streets away. This bus has largely replaced the tent, although the pandemic did restrict its use.
Sabine teamed up with other artists and photographers. I found myself with other people with the same interests and motivation”.
By now Sabine was running courses 2-3 times per week. Subjects ranged from film developing in both black & white and colour, enlarging, using liquid emulsion, making photograms, pinhole photography and cyanotype printing.
The inspiration for analogueNow!, the analogue film festival in Berlin came in parallel. Sabine was one of the founders, the first festival was live in 2014. Sabine was part of the organising team for six years. She now runs some of the workshops.
In 2014, Sabine joined the East Berlin artist association BLO-Ateliers and had her first permanent studio. The facility is in a former railway workshop. She has run courses here since 2015 and makes her darkroom available to other photographers.
The demand for her courses is increasing again. “I am hopeless at marketing”, laughs Sabine. “People find me. Festival organisers, schools and social projects hunt me out”.
I asked Sabine about the strangest things that had ever happened on a course. “I was running courses at a music festival”, she recalls. “The tent I was sleeping in was right next to the stage. In fact, next to the drummer. Even with earplugs I didn’t get much sleep”.
“And then there was the Skandalös-Festival. They asked me if my tent was waterproof. When I arrived, the reason for the question became obvious. It rained and rained. I had to build a roof within the tent. These days I prepare better, Sabine says with a smile. “I have a checklist. Is there electricity and water, is there parking nearby, and so on”.
Our conversation moves to the future. “I would like to relocate out of the city to the countryside”, says Sabine. “I would like to combine working and living in the countryside with life in Berlin”.
You can see more of Sabine Alex’ work on Instagram at @mobiledunkelkammer. Her website is https://www.mobile-dunkelkammer.com
Images © Sabine Alex and Andreas Waldeck 2022.
You might also be interested in a previous SilvergrainClassics article on the Heiland Splitgrade Controller at https://silvergrainclassics.com/en/2021/09/what-is-the-heiland-splitgrade-controller/
