Discover how 140+ artists bring colour to traditionally monochrome processes. This book explores pigments, chemistry, layering, and experimentation through real working examples. From anthotypes and cyanotypes to hand-coloured, gum bichromates, and hybrids, each print includes insights into methods and creative choices. A rich source of both inspiration and practical learning.
“Both the Pure Inspiration books are must-haves at the very least in digital form, not just for inspiration but for anyone like myself interested in research. You will see the breadth of alt pro artistry. You get to learn about so many practitioners in their succinct bios. On their page, processes used are clearly defined along with the artist’s website and where they’re from.”
| $32 | Download eBook directly | |
| $72 | Best hardcover option | Buy from Lulu.com PREMIUM PHOTO QUALITY hardcover The PREMIUM hardcover version offers the best image quality with high-end paper and ink, though at a higher cost. Size: 8.5 x 11.5″ / 216 x 279 mm. |
| $48 | Standard hardcover | Buy from Lulu.com STANDARD QUALITY hardcover The standard hardcover version uses premium paper with standard ink. While images print well, colours may be less vibrant, and the paper may buckle slightly. This budget-friendly option keeps the book accessible, but we recommend the premium version if possible. Size: 8.5 x 11.5″ / 216 x 279 mm. |
| $66 | Hardcover Amazon | Buy from Amazon.com STANDARD QUALITY hardcover The standard hardcover version uses premium paper with standard ink. Images print well, but colours may be less vibrant, and the paper may buckle slightly. This budget-friendly option keeps the book accessible, but we recommend the premium version if possible. If you prefer standard quality, the Lulu version above offers the same print quality at a lower price. Size: 8.25 x 11″ / 209 x 279 mm. More marketplaces: UK Germany France Spain Italy Netherlands Polen Sweden |
| $62 | Best paperback option | Buy from Lulu.com PREMIUM PHOTO QUALITY paperback The PREMIUM paperback version offers the best image quality with high-end paper and ink, though at a higher cost. Size: 8.5 x 11.5″ / 216 x 279 mm. |
| $49 | Paperback on Amazon | Buy from Amazon.com STANDARD QUALITY paperback The standard paper version uses premium paper with standard ink. Images print well, but colours may be less vibrant, and the paper may buckle slightly. This budget-friendly option keeps the book accessible, but we recommend the premium version if possible. Size: 8 x 10″ / 203 x 254 mm. More marketplaces: UK Germany France Spain Italy Netherlands Polen Sweden Japan Canada, Australia |
Said about “Pure Inspiration, Volume 2: Colour – Techniques and Insights from Artists Working in Alternative Photographic Processes”:
Read a review from Turboélice magazine, issue 12, June 2026
“A stunning volume which depicts the artworks of more than 140 artists who, through various and often sophisticated artistic processes, dared to bring colour to a medium usually monochrome. The book is an invitation into the beauties of several alternative photographic processes, which are by themselves already fascinating, but with another layer of intricacies and amazement added to them in colours.”
– Felipe Dourado, co-editor of Turboélice magazine.
“I have both volumes of Art and Artists, with so many names I recognize throughout my 30 years of practicing alt, but these latter two Pure Inspiration books are designed and laid out even better!”
About the book
Discover the possibilities for bringing colour to alternative photographic processes that are traditionally monochrome. This book brings together 140+ artists who explore and share their processes in chemistry, pigments, layering, and experimentation. From plant-based anthotypes to tricolour cyanotypes, hand-coloured prints, layered gum bichromates and experimental hybrids, each print is supported by insights into the artists’ methods, materials, and decisions behind the image, making it a resource for learning as well as a source of inspiration.
Whether you use this book for inspiration or learning, it offers a practical way to understand how colour is created across different processes – through real examples from practising artists. Slowing down, experimenting, and learning from others – this is alternative photographic processes in colour.
Alternative photographic processes encompass a diverse array of techniques beyond the realms of traditional film and digital photography. Practitioners explore experimental approaches to image-making, including practices such as anthotype, cyanotype, gum bichromate, platinum/palladium printing, and many others. What sets alternative processes apart is their emphasis on hands-on craftsmanship and the use of unconventional materials. These methods result in aesthetic qualities that evoke a mood that is hard to achieve through conventional means. Try this book. It might just change your life.
The artists are part of the community on www.AlternativePhotography.com – a resource dedicated to historical photographic methods in use today. We encourage photographers and artists to learn, get inspired and connect. Any profits from sales contribute towards the running costs.
“The book is really beautiful, and well done! My family & friends are so surprised at the extent of possibilities that alternative photography can achieve, and all had their favourites.”
The inside
On each spread, there are two artists represented with a description of how the images were made and the artist’s bio.
Right: Rosemary Horn combines chlorophyll printing with gouache, creating light-sensitive works that sit between photography and painting.
Phytogram by Shari Trennert: made on Ilford Art 300 paper using water, washing soda, and vitamin C. Spices and organic materials are added directly to the surface, letting chemistry and chance shape colour, texture, and form.
And Lorraine Crowder: geranium placed directly on expired Ilford warm-tone paper, sealed under glass and exposed in full sun for 60 minutes. The plant acts as both subject and tool, imprinting itself through light alone.
Cyanotype over photopolymer by Alex Chater: combines digital simulation, photopolymer printing, and cyanotype layering. Tone is balanced in Photoshop, then translated through inking, coating, and exposure into a layered print.
And by Anne Guest: cyanotype on Hahnemühle Platinum Rag, made from a negative of tree reflections on water. After UV exposure and washing, dilute watercolour was added to build colour without obscuring the image, echoing ripples and light on the surface.
Cyanotype by Marie Picard Craig: from her Color Studies series, combining cyanotype with office materials. Hand-coloured with highlighters, it embraces impermanence, construction, and unstable, luminous colour.
And by Annette Golaz: constructed in three hand-registered layers—madder root toning, bleached cyanotype, and classic blue. Carefully aligned, the layers merge into expanded colour beyond primaries, from soft greys to warm sunrise tones.
Hand-coloured kallitype by Jen Perena: digital negative printed on Bergger Cot 320 with selenium toning, then built up with slow, layered watercolour washes on absorbent paper.
Gum bichromate by Mac Cosgrove-Davies: multiple colour emulsions from an in-camera negative, aligned with a pinhole registration system and layered in repeated passes until the image resolves.
“Pure Inspiration #2, however, actually offers more than what its name suggests because it gives to the reader not only inspiration but also education on the subject.”
From the editor
This book began, like the first volume, as part of our yearly spring Calendar event. As artists sent in their creations, it soon became clear that something different was happening. The theme, Colour, opened up a new way of working, and the artists’ responses were immediate and, as usual, of extremely high creativity and quality. Each of the entries explored colour in its own way, and once again I found myself not wanting to let them disappear when the event ended. The obvious solution: Volume 2 of Pure Inspiration, because that is what they are, all of the creations in this book are pure inspiration, and the book intends to offer both reference and inspiration.
Colour in alternative photographic processes is not straightforward. Most of these processes were never designed for it. And yet, that is exactly what makes it so compelling. The artists in this book rose to the challenge and approached colour from every possible angle – through chemistry, layering, natural materials, painting and hand-colouring, pigments, and experimentation. Some methods are controlled, others are unpredictable, but all of them push beyond what the processes were originally intended to do.
/Malin Fabbri, editor
Formats:
- Page Count: 164 pages
- Interior: Colour
- Cover Finish: Glossy
- Publisher: AlternativePhotography.com (2026)
- Paperback format on Amazon Kindle: 20.3 x 25.4 cm or 8×10 inches
- Paperback format on Lulu: 8,5×11 inches or 21.6 x 27.9 cm
- Hardback on Amazon Kindle: 8.25 x 11 inches
- Hardback on Lulu: 8,5×11 inches or 21.6 x 27.9 cm
- E-book format here on AlternativePhotography.com: PDF, 8×10 inches or 20.3 x 25.4 cm
Artists included
Inspirational alternative photographic process work from:
- Alessia Siragusa, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Alexander Chater, Southend on Sea, Essex, UK, Cyanotype over photopolymer
- Alfonso de Castro, Pedrola, Zaragoza, Spain, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Amy Heller, Orleans, Massachusetts, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype on fabric
- Anna Menkel, Berlin, Germany, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Anne Guest, Birmingham, UK, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Anne Risum, Denmark, Toned and hand-coloured cyanotype
- Annette Golaz, Männedorf, Swizerland, Tri-color cyanotype
- Ausra Barysiene, Vilnius, Lithuania, Lumen print
- Bea Estevez, Galdakao, Bizkaia, Spain, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Bernd Hutschenreuther, Dresden, Germany, Cyanotype with nature printing
- Bob Rogers, Carmel, New York State, USA, Photopolymer gravure
- Bonnie O. App, Lakewood, Ohio, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Brian Lavery, Port Alberni, Canada, Gum bichromate
- Bridget Conn, Nashville, Indiana, USA, Chemigram
- Carol Hayman, Austin, Texas, USA, Photopolymer gravure
- Caroline Roberts, Houston, Texas, USA, Cyanolumen
- Charlotte Mello Stevenson, West Melbourne, Florida, USA, Hand-coloured wet cyanotype
- Chris Byrnes AKA Lady Camera Obscura, Newcastle, Australia, Developed with plants
- Christine Acebo, Ashford, Connecticut, USA, Anthotype
- Christine Bruce, Leiden, Netherlands, Hand-colured and stitched wet cyanotype
- Christine Mitchell, Chicago, Illinois, USA, Lumen print
- Clive Pigott, Wellington, New Zealand, Gum bichromate
- Colin Penley, Norway, Maine, USA, Cyanotype and cuprotype
- Cynthia Hurayt, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, Toned lumen print
- Dalene Marais, Chartwell North, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, Cyanotype
- Dan Fiore, New Jersey, USA, Gel transfer over cyanotype
- Daniel Rothenberg, Rochester, New York, USA, Kallitype etching
- Danielle Edwards, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Hand-coloured platinum and palladium print
- David A. McCain, North Pole, Alaska, USA, Cyanolumen with turmeric emulsion
- David Aimone, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA, Gum bichromate
- David Heger, Czech republic, Resinotype
- David Jeffery, Ljungskile, Sweden, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- David Lowe, Manchester, England, Anthotype
- David Symonds, Newton Stewart, Scotland, UK, Hand-coloured bromoil
- Debbie Bentley, Wiggins, Colorado, USA, Lumen print
- Deborah Ryan, New York, USA, Cyanotype collage
- Donna Moore, Blaine, Tennessee, USA, Lumen on cibachrome
- Douglas Stockdale, Rancho Santa Margarita, California, USA, Monotype
- Dror Maayan, Haifa, Israel, In-camera direct positive albumen on metal
- Elizabeth Busey, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, Embroidered and handcoloured cyanotype
- Ellie Young, Trentham, East Victoria, Australia, Carbon transfer
- Fruma Markowitz, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, Lumen prints
- Galina Manikova, Ramberg, Norway, Hand-coloured cyanotype over vandyke
- Gülsen Göksel, Denver, Colorado, USA, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Günther Wilhelm, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, Gum bichromate over cyanotype
- Hanne Lange Houlberg, Denmark, Chemigram over pinhole
- Hélène Barrette, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, Lumen print
- IJda Smits, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Cyanotype over gum bichromate
- Inkyung Seo, Seoul, South Korea, Gum bichromate
- Jamie Paratore, Santa Cruz, California, USA, Duotone cyanotype
- Jane Linders, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Dyed wet cyanotype
- Janelle Lorenzen, Sylvania, Ohio, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype, double exposed
- Janet Fine, Santa Cruz, California, USA, Toned cyanotypes
- Jen Perena, Rochester, New York, USA, Hand-coloured kallitype
- Jen Shutt, Frome, Somerset, UK, Chemigram
- Jennifer Brown, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Jo Bind, Baden, Switzerland, Carbon transfer
- Jo Howell, Sunderland, UK, Toned and hand-coloured cyanotype collage
- Johannes Schmidt, Nantes, France, Lumen print
- John Brewer, Macclesfield, UK, Gum bichromate
- John D. Ackley, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Josie Purcell, Cornwall, UK, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Jude Kaye, Asheville, North Carolina, USA, Toned cyanotypes and solarfast collage
- Julie Mixon, Florence, South Carolina, USA, Gel transfer over cyanotype
- Karin Matter-Locher, Murten, Switzerland, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Katarzyna Kalua Kryńska, Warsaw, Poland, Discolored cyanotype
- Kate Jordahl, Bellingham, Washington, USA/Kristiansund, Norway, Lumen print
- Kathleen Vukasovich, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Hand-coloured wet cyanotype
- Katia Weibel, Näfels, Switzerland, Lumen print
- Kazimierz Biernat, Wola Batorska, Poland, Marbled cyanotype
- Kevin Rose Schultz, Floyds Knobs, Indiana, USA, Toned and hand-coloured cyanotype
- Kirsten Murphy, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, Cyanotype with flowers
- Koa A. Tom, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, Cyanolumen? Print on the back
- Lani Doely, Seattle, Washington, USA, Gum bichromate
- Laurinda Bellew, Bath, Wiltshire, UK, Wet cyanotype
- Lilah Mae Gagne, Athens, Ohio, USA, Cyanolumen
- Linda Jarrett, Mangonui, New Zealand, Chemigram, mordançage, kawakawa, iron oxide
- Lisa Brussell, San Rafael, California, USA, Gum bichromate over cyanotype
- Lisa Jones, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Lorraine Couch Crowder, Sunnyvale, California, USA, Lumen print
- Mac Cosgrove-Davies, Arlington, Virginia, USA, Gum bichromate
- Malin Fabbri, Stockholm, Sweden, Wet cyanotype
- Marek Majewski, Paris, France, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Margaret Dent, Ontario, Canada, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Margrieta A. P. Jeltema, The Netherlands, living in Bolsena, Tuscia, Italy, Hand-coloured platinum palladium print
- Maria McGinley, Oak Park, California, USA, Wet cyanotype, double exposed
- Maria Solaguren-Beascoa Negre, Barcelona, Spain, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Maria Trunk, Socorro, New Mexico, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Marian Verkerk, Drachten, The Netherlands, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Marie Picard Craig, Natick, Massachusetts, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Mariela Palmeri, Meerbusch, Germany, Duotone cyanotype
- Marion Sidebottom, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, UK, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Marlene Weinstein, Setauket, New York, USA, Hand-coloured wet cyanotype
- Massimiliano Macchia, Perugia, Umbria, Italy, Rawlins oil print process / oleotype
- Maya Mircheva, Varna, Bulgaria, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Melody Locke, Houston, Texas, USA, Lumen print
- Mohammed Shamma, Petaluma, California, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype with Polaroid emulsion lift
- Montserrat Rodríguez aka nyx10110, Girona, Catalonia, Spain, Wet cyanotype
- Nan Wollman, Tucson, Arizona, USA, Part-bleached cyanotype
- Nancy Anne Holowka, Rochester, New York, USA, Hand-coloured and palladium-toned kallitype
- Natalia Rudychev, Paris, France, Toned cyanotype and polaroid emulsion transfer
- Natalia Tcherniak, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Cyanotype on coloured paper
- Nathalie Stone, Wales, UK, Toned cyanotype, double exposed
- Nikki Gardner, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA, Duotone cyanotype
- Noah Shinneman, Vancouver, Washington, USA, Hand-coloured gum bichromate
- Paige Billin-Frye, Washington, DC, USA, Hand-coloured salt print
- Palle Lindgaard-Jorgensen, Naerum, Denmark, Embroidered cyanotype
- Panu Pahkamaa, Helsinki, Finland, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Pat Holgate, Boulder, Colorado, USA, Hand-coloured platinum palladium print
- Patricia Bromberger, Los Osos, California, USA, Tri-colour cyanotype, with the first layer in anthotype
- Peggy Reeves, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA, Cyanolumen
- Peter McDonald, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Ferroblend
- Raghavendra Udupa, Mysuru, Karnataka, India, FerroBlend
- Ralph Rinke, Parksville, British Columbia, Canada, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Rhonda Lee Usipiuk, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Lumen print
- Richard Bailey, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK, Gum bichromate over cyanotype
- Rita Mungiardi, Treviso, Italy, Wet cyanotype
- Robert A. Schaefer Jr. , New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Robert Poole, Sheffield, UK, Chrysotype
- Rosemary Horn, Nelson, New Zealand, Gouache painted cholorphyll print
- Ruchita Madhok, Mumbai, India, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Sabrina Gabrielle Yates, Mountain View, California, USA, Toned cyanotype
- Shannon Beatty, Frederick, Maryland USA, Hand-coloured and part-toned cyanotype
- Shari Trennert, Arizona, USA, Phytogram
- Sharlene Holliday, Pennsylvania, USA, Sequin-embellished cyanotype
- Sichem Rizo Álvarez, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, México, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Stuart Clook, Christchurch, New Zealand, Carbon transfer
- Sue Bradshaw, Peregian Beach, Queensland, Australia, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Susan Chainey, Berkeley, California, USA, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Susan June Robertson-Baranick, Ottawa, Canada, Cyanotype and solarfast print
- Suzanne Izzo, Washington, District of Columbia, USA, Gum bichromate over vandyke
- Tena Smith, Dade City, Florida, USA, Wet cyanotype
- Teresa Guxens, Barcelona, Spain, Wet Cyanotype and anthotype
- Tine Barkmann, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Tracy Milchick, Macleay Island, Queensland, Australia, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Trine Gomsrud Nyfelt, Oslo, Norway, Tri-colour cyanotype
- Tuula Pystynen, Lahti, Finland, Gum bichromate over cyanotype
- Wendy Currie, Melbourne, Australia, Hand-coloured cyanotype
- Wesley Lindberg, Gainesville, Florida, USA, Gum bichromate over Platinum/Palladium
- Yulia Kapustynska, Kyiv, Ukraine, Eco-print
World Anthotype Day
World Cyanotype Day