Gregory Davis is The Naked Photographer.

Many of you who are interested in darkroom work will be familiar with Gregory’s channel “The Naked Photographer” on YouTube.

By Christopher Osborne.

​

Gregory Davis is The Naked Photographer. Many of you who are interested in darkroom work will be familiar with Gregory’s channel on YouTube.

We spoke on Zoom. Gregory was at home in Kentucky, and I was in the United Kingdom. Gregory comes across as a man at ease. As we talk, his deep understanding of all things photographically technical is rapidly apparent. Just as in his videos, he is one of those people with a knack for explaining complex technical concepts in a way that is easily understood. Do not be fooled. Gregory’s passion for photography as an artistic medium is clear. The technical aspects of photography are a means to an end.

​

I asked Gregory how “The Naked Photographer” started. Gregory, who is a university professor teaching photography explained that he started the channel five years ago to make the information he provided to his students available to a wider audience. “The early episodes were based on my first-year lesson plan”, he explains. These episodes covered topics such as film-developing tanks, making contact sheets, testing safelights and the basics of developing C41 film.

Eventually, he ran out of year one lesson plans, and so he moved onto his classroom notes from year two. Those of you who have followed his channel for some time will recall episodes on densitometry, sensitometry, and determining film speed. This is the point where he moved on to his second-year syllabus.

Lockdown changed all of our lives, and Gregory and his wife spent a week making film comparison videos. Most of these have now been published, and he is considering what to do with the videos about film stocks that have been withdrawn from the market before he could publish them.

I asked Gregory how scripted his shows are. “I tried storyboarding, and it took more time to do this than to film an episode. I have discovered that I know what I want to say, and these days I just make the video”. This is not surprising for someone who has delivered the same content to classrooms of students.

“Initially, I tried filming processing as it happened in the darkroom. These days, I film the videos in the style of a cooking show”. Gregory is laughing. “Here’s one I made earlier”, as his hands produce an imaginary print with a flourish.

Those of you who have been watching the channel lately will have noticed that Gregory is no longer in his familiar darkroom. He and his family are adjusting to life after his mother-in-law passed away, and he has not had the time to build a new darkroom as they have moved house. However, this has forced Gregory to work differently, and it is interesting to follow him adjusting to darkroom work in a bathroom. I am sure that seeing how an experienced darkroom practitioner works without a permanent darkroom will be of great value to photographers starting to develop and print at home.

I asked Gregory which videos in his collection have been the most popular. In film comparisons, the popular videos are Fuji 200 vs Kodak Gold and HP5 vs Tri-X. His test of the smartphone Lightmeter app still attracts viewers. In the darkroom, how to Splitgrade print, make an unsharp mask and an introduction to C41 film processing are popular. And the videos on mounting prints are popular too. And the wooden frame viewers sold through his shop are also very popular.

We finish by talking about the future of “The Naked Photographer”. The house move has allowed Gregory to think about this question at length. There will be more camera-based episodes and more of Gergory’s personal work. As a fan of the episodes where he shoots abandoned farms with his 8×10 camera, and the episode replicating the lighting of Richard Avedon’s American West series, I am excited to see what is coming.

Gregory has also been invited to teach courses outside the United States. He is also talking to organisations in Kentucky. I do not doubt that these courses will be worth attending.

Gregory shares his episode plan on the screen on the agreement that I do not share it. Rest assured, there are plenty of future episodes that I am looking forward to seeing.

You can see more of Gregory Davis on Instagram at @gregory.davis304 and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@TheNakedPhotographer/videos

The episodes mentioned in this article can be accessed here:

Avedon’s American West https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLHGXCcA5no

More Methods For Mounting Photos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kfla6g12Mw

Episode 3 – Making darkroom masks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kp1jgoQXQA

Unboxing the Intrepid Enlarger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqq_wwrZxk0

Tri-X to HP5+ Comparison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzEgzLcTDDU

Are Light Meter Apps Any Good? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7KpoHoF6Y4

Split Grade Printing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sewXRaFdkBI

Making Darkroom Masks, part 2: The Unsharp Mask https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adPlt89SGJs

Developing C41 Color Negative Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arrCQutv_TQ

You might also be interested in this article on Lukas Birk’s Box Camera project. See https://silvergrainclassics.com/en/2023/02/instant-box-camera/

You can find an index to the entire collection of SilvergrainClassics magazines here https://silvergrainclassics.com/en/magazine/index-of-articles/