Dan Hermouet in his "kitchen“

Cooking photography – sustainable alternative photographic processes by Dan Hermouet

Why would an artist be concerned with ways to make photography more sustainable and how could such query transform one’s artistic practice? Curious writer Miglė Markulytė interviews photographer Dan Hermouet to reveal how he cooks photography by distilling pigments from a river, scrubbing off the rust from old tools, and mixing special photo-sensitive solutions with curds. Writer / Miglė Markulytė Photography / Dan Hermouet “A good chef can not only … Read more

Photograph developed with seasweed by Melanie King

Bladderwrack seaweed developer for black and white film

Seaweed developer offers an alternative to using store-bought developer and is very similar to the Caffenol-C film development process. This developer is designed for black and white film, with 400 ISO. Melanie King developed this recipe as part of the Sustainable Darkroom online residency, with the London Alternative Photography Collective. Writer and photography / Melanie King Developing with a seaweed developer is more sustainable than shop-bought developer. As with all foraging, … Read more

Chlorophyll printing and pigments

Chlorophyll printing is a sustainable photographic process using plants and pigments to develop a print or a cameraless photogram. We are looking for someone to write a new step-by-step how-to. You? Email talk@alternativephotography.com Writer and photography / TBD   In the meantime, here is some reading for you: The chlorophyll process Chlorophyll prints – nature expresses itself How to preserve Chlorophyll prints And also be sure to see some great … Read more

Herbal developer density test strip

Herbal developers

Plant-based developers have been used for many years, in this article General Treegan shares 3 different herb and plant-based developers that can be used to develop silver gelatin negatives. Writer and photography / General Treegan [born as Andrés Pardo] Herbalism is botany applied to medicine. It comprises the extractive use of medicinal plants or their derivatives for therapeutic purposes, often for the prevention or treatment of pathologies. Herbalism holds a … Read more

Organic photography floribunda

Organic photography

Clive Heritage-Tilley describes some unusual photographic applications using chemistry pioneered by Sir John Herschel.