Once she learned how to process and print her own film photography, Tamara Lee could never return to handing off control of the final step in her art.

"I see the final results. I'm standing overtop of the machine," she said. "If you're relying on a lab--although the labs do a great job--but if you're relying on a lab to print something for you digitally, you're basically outsourcing the end portion of that experience. No matter how much editing you do at your house there will be something that will change or shift."

When the owner of Pacific Light Impressions, where she rented lab time downtown, told her he was shutting his doors, she told him he should set up a co-op where photographers could share expenses.

"'Why don't you,'" was his response.

So Lee moved his Kreonite processor and other equipment to 652 Kingsway in 2006, and put the word out to other photographers that the space, with its darkroom that can process colour photographs, was open to the public.

"I would rather edit in a darkroom than sit in front of a computer," said Lee, who has pursued professional and art photography part time for 11 years. "I figured I couldn't have been the only one."

Now the Vancouver Darkroom Co-op comprises more than 50 members ranging from hobbyists to professionals and those who teach the art of photography at universities.

On Sept. 11, a dozen or so of the co-op's members will launch its new gallery space that fronts the darkroom, with a show called Agent Silver that will also spill into a space run by The Toast Collective at 648 Kingsway.

Western Magazine Award-nominated photographer and creative director and co-publisher of Vancouver Review Mark Mushet will show three photos alongside Lee's components series, where she's used multiple photos to form one whole image. Justin Berger, who recently returned to film photography after he inherited his grandfather's old cameras, will exhibit street scenes from Guatemala. Brigid Nee will show shots inspired by her volunteer work in an orphanage in Belarus and Gwenda Lorenzetti will show meticulously composed travel shots.

The Aeroplane Trio, with two members who are part of the Juno-nominated Inhabitants, Chelsea Trites, Karma Sohn and Nora Dawn will perform jazz, acoustic and electronic music.

The Darkroom Co-op hosts social nights where its members teach others alternative processing techniques, including cyanotype processing, or painting an exposure onto a regular piece of paper to make a cyan-blue print, and making photograms, where images are made by placing objects on photosensitive paper and exposing them to light, resulting in a negative shadow image.

Agent Silver is named for one of the emulsion components used in the darkroom.

"There's something to be said for understanding the manual camera and film and darkroom side of photography even if people choose to be digital photographers," Lee said. "Lots of people that just pick up a digital camera, they don't have a very thorough understanding of what is an F-Stop, why is my camera talking about something called ISO, and so they end up not being able to really control their camera as well as if they have an understanding of its roots."

It's obvious that members of the Darkroom Co-op aren't alone with their enthusiasm for shooting with film.

The first 12x12 Photo Marathon held in Vancouver last December attracted much more attention than its creator, Morten Rand-Hendriksen, anticipated and 60 tickets for participation in its upcoming Sept. 12 event sold out in a day and a half.

Participants get a roll of film with only 12 exposures. Over 12 hours they're given 12 themes they must interpret and photograph. Instead of snapping multiple shots, the contest forces photographers to thoughtfully compose on each image.

"It's the digital age where everybody has one of those handy point-and-shoots and they take a thousand photos of everything and then they put them on their hard drive and never look back at them again," said 12x12 event producer and coordinator Angela Chih. "We have old albums where we have these treasured prints and once in a while we'll take them out and have a look, and we have this nostalgia that comes up... We wanted to create something where people had that feeling again, when you take a picture, you don't know how it's going to turn out and it's really exciting."

Anyone who likes a challenge can participate unofficially on Sunday and have their photos uploaded to the 12x12 site by tagging them 12x12yvr.

Prizes will be awarded at a public exhibit of the photos Oct. 16 at the Vancouver Photo Workshops, 14 West Seventh Ave.

Agent Silver runs from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Admission is free.

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Your chance to finally dance in a flash mob happens Sept. 10, and it's all for a good cause. DanceHouse, Take a Hike and CampOUT want you to prance in the street at 7 p.m. at Bute and Nelson and collect donations. For more information, see randhouse.ca/Flash.html.

crossi@vancourier.com