clean set is a clean set. the "theme" feels like an afterthought... to which is true after reading all of this lol
the novelties leave much to be desired. literally the bare minimum in reference to the theme. since the graphics reference a sort of "dark room" i am assuming this theme is more related to the black and white film side of photography? could dive even further into "street photography" when i think of "japanese" and "street photography" daido moriyama comes to mind; extremely stark black and white work. film has so many aspects one can use: exposure, develop, stop, dodge/burn, etc...
anyways good luck with the set its got lots of potential. at the end of the day, no one really cares about theme lore. its already a clean set.