Published for the bicentenary of photography, this volume is given over to the practice of the darkroom and to the experience of printing — the appearance of the picture and its making, which is what decided a good many photographers to give themselves to the medium. While the taking of the picture is always in the light, the printing stage has long been thought of as work in the shadows. To pay homage to the darkroom, to celebrate its occurrences, its metamorphoses and also its emotions, is what this sets out to do.

Thirteen photographers and artists show their own practice of printing, and the printers themselves — the craftsmen of the shadows — are given the floor, in extracts from interviews that put flesh on the history.