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MLTON Studios Kingston

@mltonstudios

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📍 Kingston, NY
📸 Vernacular photography | Found archives
🎷 Darkroom printing w/ Milton Hinton’s enlarger
🎞️ Saving stories and photos left behind.

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The “Sign” That Started It All!

When I picked up this lot of vintage darkroom gear, I noticed a handwritten label on a cardboard box: “Milt’s Darkroom.” I didn’t know what it meant at the time.

After a little digging, everything started to come together. The address traced back to a New York City apartment once home to David G. Berger on 12th street in NYC—a close friend and longtime collaborator of jazz legend Milton Hinton. Together with Holly Maxson, they worked for decades to preserve and organize Milt’s massive archive of black and white jazz photography.

It turns out this darkroom was part of that original effort. It’s where thousands of contact sheets and prints were made—images that would go on to appear in books like Bass Line and OverTime, which helped bring Milt’s work to the world.

I reached out to the art conservator I acquired it from in Cold Springs, and she confirmed that David and Holly was who the darkroom set came from. Many of the box labels and envelopes that was used to pack up these photo supplies when the darkroom closed were addressed to David Berger.

While I can’t say for certain if David and Milt ever officially called their darkroom “Milt’s Darkroom,” I’m keeping that name alive as a tribute to the legacy.

This space in Kingston is being built from the ground up again with respect for the history and appreciation and love for analog printing.

Huge thanks to @cbuildinteriors and @carrieoninstyle for making the trip to Cold Spring with me to haul it all back and help bring this darkroom back to life.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Milt’s Darkroom—reborn! by @mltonstudios

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a year ago

The Leica Focomat I Enlarger

This is the crown jewel of the setup—the Leica Focomat 1, the very enlarger used to print Milton Hinton’s original jazz photography archive in NYC.

Built like a tank and engineered in Germany, the Focomat 1 is a manual focus 35mm enlarger known for razor-sharp optics, smooth movements, and incredible tonal control.

Leica only made a limited number of these, and it’s wild to have one with real photographic history behind it.

It’s incredible to know that iconic photos of jazz legends in smoky clubs & timeless moments were frozen on Ilford or Kodak papers through this enlarger’s lens.

And now it’s here in Kingston and it’s almost ready to produce museum quality photos!

Can’t wait to fire it up and start making magic.

#leicafocomat #focomat1 #darkroomphotography #enlarger #35mmfilm #filmprinting #analogphotography #miltonhinton #vintagephotogear #blackandwhitefilm #hudsonvalleyarts #kingstonnyphotography #filmisnotdead taken in Kingston Stockade District by @mltonstudios

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a year ago

This original & comprehensive darkroom setup I acquired once belonged to David G. Berger—the man who helped preserve one of the most important archives in American jazz photography.

Starting in the 1960s, Berger worked side by side with bassist and photographer Milt Hinton to identify, print, and catalog over 45,000 images—featuring legends like Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Frank Sinatra.

With the help of Holly Maxson, they printed and archived decades of unseen jazz history, much of it right using this darkroom setup that was originally housed in NYC on 12th Street, 10003.

Their work became the foundation for the acclaimed books Bass Line and OverTime—both essential records of Black music history in America. 🖤📷

This is a photo is from Berger & Milt’s book, Bass Line and Over Time. taken in Kingston Stockade District by @mltonstudios

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a year ago

A GANG OF THREE
Dirty Words and Other Things
October 17 - November 7
@onemilegallery | Kingston, NY taken in Kingston, New York by @mltonstudios

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a day ago

Really enjoyed seeing Helena Palazzi’s current solo exhibition, BLUE HOUR, here in Kingston.

The work explores that space between visibility and concealment—layered fields of blue, muted color, marks and erasures that allow forms to emerge and disappear. After more than two decades working in fashion and commercial photography, Helena has returned to painting, bringing a photographer’s sensitivity to light, atmosphere and composition into a completely different medium.

There’s something especially beautiful about seeing work like this being made and exhibited right here in Kingston.

Helena Palazzi — BLUE HOUR
534 Broadway, Kingston, NY
@artbyhelenapalazzi taken in Kingston Stockade District by @mltonstudios

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13 days ago

Passing iIn White. Found archive 35mm negative. Vietnam c.1960’s-70’s. taken in Kingston Stockade District by @mltonstudios

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15 days ago

A photograph isn’t finished when the edit is finished because how it’s printed also becomes part of how the work is experienced.

Learning to make exhibition-quality prints means understanding everything from print settings and black-and-white tonality to choosing a paper that supports the photographs themselves.

Matte can feel quiet and tactile. Glossy can bring greater depth and contrast. For this current project, a soft luster felt just right—subtle enough to retain an archival quality, while still giving the blacks, tonal range and details the depth they needed.

Working with @cpw_kingston and their digital media lab has helped fine-tune that process, from dialing in the files and print settings to evaluating test prints and understanding how different surfaces affect the final image. Their guidance has been an invaluable part of learning what it takes to produce archival pigment prints that are truly exhibition-ready.

Because the final print isn’t simply a reproduction of the photograph—it’s part of the photograph.

A special thank you to @alicia.schirrmeister at CPW for sharing her knowledge, patience and eye. taken in CPW Kingston by @mltonstudios

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15 days ago

A body of work can change entirely depending on what comes before and what follows.

Pairing and sequencing photographs becomes a way of finding the larger narrative—creating rhythm, tension, connection and emotion between images that may have once existed independently.

Working through a current project with @adriannaault at @cpw_kingston has been an opportunity to put the work in front of new eyes, question what the photographs are saying together, and uncover threads that weren’t immediately visible before.

Sometimes moving a body of work forward means stepping outside of it—allowing critique, conversation and another perspective to reveal the story that has been there all along.

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ABOUT ADRIANNA AULT

Adrianna Ault is a Hudson Valley–based photographer whose practice is deeply rooted in the photobook as a form of visual storytelling. Her debut monograph, Levee, was published by VOID in 2023, and she is the author of the artist books Impeded Stream and Through a River Darkly. She also collaborated on Township, which was nominated for the Kassel Fotobook Award.

Ault was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Photography in 2021. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Paris Photo, and Levee was presented as a solo exhibition at CPW in 2024. taken in CPW Kingston by @mltonstudios

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15 days ago

Newest finds….

Vietnam, 1969. Sealed away for more than half a century, these negatives are waiting to tell their story and be rediscovered. by @mltonstudios

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15 days ago

Frame 10A — Army Observation Aircraft
Recovered 35mm black-and-white negative, Vietnam War era, circa late 1960s–early 1970s. Frame 19A.

Four American servicemen stand beside a U.S. Army light observation aircraft on an airfield in Vietnam. The aircraft appears to be a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, a fixed-wing reconnaissance and forward air control aircraft widely used by the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War for spotting, artillery adjustment, and low-altitude observation missions.

The servicemen wear standard U.S. Army utility uniforms and combat boots. One individual standing near the aircraft door appears to be wearing a flight suit, suggesting he may have served as a pilot or aircrew member associated with the aircraft.

Visible sleeve insignia and patches are difficult to fully identify from the negative, though at least one serviceman appears to wear enlisted rank chevrons. The aircraft bears large “ARMY” lettering along the fuselage consistent with Vietnam-era U.S. Army aviation markings.

The servicemen appear to range from their 20s to late 30s. Exact identities, unit assignments, and airfield location remain unconfirmed. by @mltonstudios

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5 months ago

Chicago, July 28, 1965.

A crowd gathers outside a storefront window, watching President Lyndon B. Johnson speak on Vietnam.

This frame was pulled from an original 120 black and white negative. Photographer unknown. taken in Kingston Stockade District by @mltonstudios

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6 months ago

This was the camera behind Milt Hinton’s photographic life — a Japanese Canon rangefinder that was among his favorites built in the late 1950s.

This camera moved behind clubs, backstage corridors, recording sessions, and tour travel, documenting over a decade of jazz history on film!

Compact, fully mechanical, and trusted in low light, the VI-T was Milt Hinton’s trusty camera - it preserved performances and more importantly the culture surrounding them: rehearsals and portraits of musicians who would later become super legends.

This Canon VI-T is the very camera he used behind thousands of inspriring frames that helped shape and document jazz’s golden era in Milt’s eye. taken in Kingston Stockade District by @mltonstudios

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8 months ago