Darkroom Dave

There is something magical about selling a print. That someone is prepared to part with money in order to hang one of our creations on a wall in their house – and live with it every day – is perhaps the greatest compliment a photographer can expect. It is easy for anyone to say ‘Oh, yes, that’s lovely’, but when the notes slide out of the wallet and into your hands you know they mean it.

A man who is by now very familiar with that feeling is black & white photographer and printer Dr Dave Butcher. Dave has been selling his handmade and expertly printed photos for over 35 years. It started as a side venture that grew into his main source of income after he left his job with film maker Ilford. Dave was a chemist at Ilford for 21 years and was taught to print ‘the Ilford way’ by the master printers in the firm. ‘At Ilford we had a camera club,’ Dave tells me. ‘And there was an annual competition against the Kodak Camera Club. Every year we’d win the black & white category, and they’d always win the colour. Not a lot of people know that.’

Shoot to till

‘For me photography is for recording what is in front of me and showing the scene the way it is to make something beautiful for the wall. It’s for brightening up people’s lives…in glorious