A resident of Nashville, Benjamin (Ben) Perlin is an accomplished photographer. Benjamin Perlin enjoys shooting on film using a variety of cameras, and prefers to develop and edit his own shots in a darkroom.

Digital technology has transformed the world of photography. It is now easy for anyone to pick up a camera and edit their shots in programs like Photoshop without any formal training or darkroom experience. This convenience comes at a cost, according to many photographers. In the age of Photoshop, it may be much harder for photographers to learn from mistakes and truly grow as an artist.

When developing a photo in the darkroom, there is no undo. A photographer cannot easily move back three steps in the process, or remove a layer of processing. Every mistake and many adjustments require starting over from scratch. This makes it important to focus, plan, and execute techniques like dodging and burning carefully. It may be time consuming, but this is valuable practice. 

The same idea applies to taking photographs, before photographers even enter the darkroom. Using a digital camera, it's easy to quickly snap hundreds of photos without much thought. They can be cropped for composition later. When working with film, each exposure is precious. This encourages photographers to observe the subject before them carefully and deliberately, in order to create a strong composition before taking each photo.