The Dark Horse of the Photographic – an exploration of alternative photographic printing processes

Thanks to an a-n artist’s bursary I will be able to expand my artistic and practical skills in photographic printmaking. For this I will be taking part in a series of highly specialised workshops on photographic printing processes in Bristol and London. These techniques, old in their origin, have been adapted to be more environmentally friendly and offer an alternative to digital and analogue lab printing. This is exciting to me as it will allow me to physically engage with the photographic image whilst not necessarily returning to the full darkroom setup. In specific I will explore the following processes: wet plate Collodion photography, salt printing photography, platinum/Palladium, Cyanotype with tri-colour gum bichromate and photopolymer printing. These processes are used to create unique prints with natural materials and negatives (digital or other). Some of them are also more accessible and can be incorporated in collaborative projects. Another valid aspect for me practice.

This week I have had my first session in Cyanotype printing with Martyn Grimmer at Spike Island Print Studios. Only once beforehand I tried out this process in a very rudimentary way and unsurprisingly I hadn’t found it inspiring. This time though it was really thought provoking and I have begun to see this specific process in a whole new light. Just one thing to point out: the final result does not have to be bright blue at all, it can be even golden yellow. I came home totally buzzing and have started to try to produce digital negatives. I also plan to order the chemicals so that I can experiment in my studio or in BEEF’s darkroom with it. Next week we will start with the trip-colour gum bichromate process. In the words of Martyn, a truly slow process that takes you back right to 1860.

In the coming months, I will use this blog to share my experiences and insights of exploring these various old photographic processes. To me this side of the photographic seems to be the dark horse of British photography that is nevertheless worthwhile painting anew.