Writer and photography / Simone Simoncini Simone Simoncini is looking for a way for the surface of her paintings to accept more pigments and re-discovers the Sury process. A few months ago, I started finger painting with pastels on some scrap palladium and gum prints I had made. I found it difficult to get a decent amount of pigment where I wanted it to be unless I sprayed with a … Read more
1. Learn a new process
2. Get (or update) your gallery
3. Attend a workshop, learn new skills and meet new people
Whatever you decide, enjoy next year! Happy new year!
The holidays are approaching fast. It’s fun to give gifts, but if you are tired of giving THINGS away, you can always give EXPERIENCES. Some ideas: Give away a day with yourself in the darkroom. Give away a day at an exhibition. Give away a workshop. Or… if you still feel you have to buy a THING, perhaps make it a book that shows just how much fun alternative photographic … Read more
Peter J. Blackburn gives tips on how to edit your work before showing it to the world. Writer and photography / Peter J. Blackburn All right, gather them up. Begin by sliding out the drawers and spill the contents on the floor. Drag out the piles from under your bed and then very slowly open that hall closet so it all cascades gently to the floor. Check the garage, the … Read more
World Cyanotype started in 2015, and was created by the artists of shootapalooza. The official celebration day is always the last Saturday of September. There are several events taking place over the world, here are a few – if you know of more let us know. Contribute with your own work, or if you don’t practice it yourself, you can enjoy the other artists’ work. Here are some links to … Read more
Photography / Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart World Cyanotype Day really IS happening all over the world. Australian Cyanotypists Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart in Melbourne collaborates with A Smith Gallery in USA. Tell us a little about who you are and what you do! We are both artists and teachers of photography. We have completed a higher academic study in photography, artists books and photobooks. Our practice is concerned … Read more
Photography / db Dennis Waltrip, Melanie Walker, Kimberly Chiaris and Paula Riff World Cyanotype Day is a yearly event that takes place the last Saturday in September. It came about as a group effort ’round a kitchen table. Here we talk to db Dennis Waltrip, the contact person for the website and the Facebook Group. She does stress that World Cyanotype Day is a group effort and Judy Sherrod – … Read more
World Daguerreotype day is the 29th of July in honor of the late Irving Pobboravsky. Daguerreotypists are invited to shoot a plate on the day and share them online. We ask Alan Bekhuis what it is all about. How did Daguerrotype day start? A great modern daguerreotype practitioner and researcher, Irving Pobboravsky, passed away in 2018. Daguerreotype day was inaugurated in honor of him and is the 29th of July, … Read more
Jacques Kevers gives us an introduction to the oil and bromoil printing, from the history to practical application. Writer and photography /Jacques Kevers Oil prints, bromoil and mediobrome are processes that belong to a same family: all of them are based on the well known principle that oil is repelled by water. The oil print process was first described in 1855 by A. Poitevin, and put into practice by G.E.H. … Read more
The Special Edition Art Project was created to afford photographers and artists practical access to the creation of wet-processed photographic prints. This photographic processes user guide focusses instruction on classic B&W silver gelatin printmaking as well as the historic light-sensitive iron based Siderotypes processes of Cyanotype (iron), Vandyke Brownprint, aka VDB, (silver / gold), Argyrotype (silver / gold), and Ziatype (palladium / gold / tungsten / platinum). Writer and photography / … Read more
This detailed paper survey is the Special Edition Art Project effort to document how papers behave when paired with historic Siderotype processes used in our coastal California working environment. The Siderotype processes Cyanotype (iron), Vandyke Brownprint (silver) aka VDB, and Ziatype (palladium / gold / tungsten / platinum) are the focus of this survey, creating an assessment of a paper’s image density across exposure corrections, amount and type of grain, … Read more
A chapter from Laura Blacklow’s book New Dimensions in Photo Processes on how to handcolor photographs. The chapter is instructions on hand coloring using water-based methods, oil-based method and chalk-based methods. Writer / Laura Blacklow Photography / Holly Roberts, Erica Daborn, Laura Blacklow and Gabriel Garcia Román Hand coloring is a means by which you can add color to a photograph, photographic printing technique in this book, or digital print and … Read more
Jean-Claude Mougin shares his text on Palladium in 3 parts, Part 1: The Object, Part 2: The Technique and Part 3: The Recipes and Bibliography (this article). Writer and photography / Jean-Claude Mougin Read the previous article The palladium and platinum salts, Part 2: The Technique WARNING The Platino-Palladiotype process involves chemicals which should be regarded as potentially harmful. It is the responsibility of everyone who decides to work with … Read more
Jean-Claude Mougin shares his text on Palladium in 3 parts, The palladium and platinum salts, Part 1: The Object, Part 2: The Technique (this article) and The palladium and platinum salts, Part 3: The Recipes and Bibliography (coming soon). Writer and photography / Jean-Claude Mougin Read the previous article The palladium and platinum salts, Part 1: The Object Note from the author: the ✌, sign refers to a personal interpretation … Read more
Peter J. Blackburn tells the classic tale of when boy meets toy, of gossamer wings, and love at first sight. It was just one of those things. Writer and photography / Peter J. Blackburn You see, it all started at the now and then camera show held in Dallas several weeks ago. I hadn’t been to one in years. Being quite satisfied with my current working assemblage, the accumulation of … Read more
An excerpt from The Ambrotype, a book by Radosław Brzozowski who shares the first chapter with us. Writer / Radosław Brzozowski Photography / Radosław Brzozowski and Małgorzata Bardoń Let’s start by stating the obvious; making ambrotypes requires us to use a large format camera. We should, however, remember that not all large format cameras are equally suitable for the purpose; it is a bit of a paradox, that quite frequently … Read more
The summer is approaching, at least in Europe and North America. The best time for Anthotyping is almost here. Get ready! Start experimenting with Anthotypes. Get the know how of anthotyping: Start by finding plants suitable for making anthotypes and where to get them: Finding plants and pigments for making anthotypes. But, be careful, even beautiful plants can be dangerous!: Safety first – plants to watch when making anthotypes. Pick … Read more
Jordan Megyery is researching cyanotypes. If you work with cyanotypes, please help out by filling out this survey “A Dissertation On The Light Sensitivity of Artists Cyanotype Prints”. This survey will form part of the research into a Masters Dissertation on the light sensitivity of cyanotype prints. The student sending the survey is currently studying the final year of a Conservation of Fine Art MA, specialising in works of Art … Read more
An excerpt from The Carbon Print explaining the basic steps to transform pigmented gelatin into a print in the Carbon print process. Writer and photography / Sandy King and John Lockhart Carbon transfer is a contact printing process that produces an image formed by a layer of hardened, pigmented gelatin on a surface which is usually paper. The surface on which the image is printed is generically referred to as … Read more
Christina Z. Anderson spends her hard earned money ($1613) on paper research for cyanotype papers and generously shares the results. Writer and photography / Christina Z. Anderson Over the last twenty years of practicing alternative processes, good papers for alt have come and gone on the market—Weston Diploma Parchment being one example. Worse, formerly excellent papers have gone the buffered route to increase their archival properties—not good for many of … Read more