If a picture speaks a thousand words, the East Tennessean has created an entire library of piles of photos. Whether they display the college’s achievements, breaking news, sports, opinions or the voices of students, photographs tell a story that cannot be said with only words.

But it didn’t always work like it does today. Looking at ETSU’s photographic past, many aspects of its craft can no longer be seen on campus, including what was known as ETSU’s darkrooms. There was a photographic darkroom on the north side of Carter Hall before it became a residence hall in 1980. Another one was in the art department where students used it for classes, projects and their endeavors.

After the renovation of Carter Hall, that darkroom was moved to the third floor of the D.P. Culp Student Center. The service helped develop pictures taken with a camera that used film, mainly printing photos in black and white.

Larry Smith used to be a university photographer from 1978 until he retired in 2015. Now working in ETSU Photographic Services located in the backside of Sam Wilson, he still does what he loves and works for the college he used to capture in film as a student.

“We had a lot of people walking through that area,” Smith said on the dark room. “We had people coming in all the time to visit and look at pictures.”

It was in 1995 when university photography services finally had their own darkroom which they got to design themselves. Having been moved around, the team settled in the administration service building where they would work for six years until the downfall of film. Around 2002, digital cameras became popular and as result, the darkroom was no longer in use and got renovated into the services we have today.

University photographer Ron Campbell used to work for the Johnson City Press, the East Tennessean and the Buccaneer newspaper as a staff photographer. Having been behind the camera since a student, Ron remembers and mourns the darkroom as it made up a big part of his college experience.

“I was always in the darkroom developing film and printing pictures, every day,” Campbell said.

On the transition from film to digital pictures, protocols changed and so did the lifestyles of many. Having been working in the room for approximately 20 years, Campbell described the shift of times with: “I miss it.”

“It was actually the gateway between my picture and it becoming a reality for somebody to see,” Campbell said on the darkroom. “Because without it, I couldn’t get it in the paper, it was still just a latent image in the back of the camera.”

The darkrooms of ETSU captured the days that built the foundation students and staff can now proudly stand on. With alumni such as Campbell and Smith, ETSU is proven to stay true to its lineage and never forget the message of community.

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