People Use Alternative Photographic Processes To Create Beautiful Images, And Here Are Some Of The Best Examples (91 Pics)

The ‘Alternative photographic processes’ Facebook group was founded in 2009, and has gathered 48.3 thousand members over the years of its existence. It is affiliated with the ‘Alternative Photography’ online community dedicated to historical photographic methods in use today.

The editor of the ‘Alternative Photography’ website, Malin Fabbri, told Bored Panda that it was started in 1999 as a result of her thesis. “To start with the focus was cyanotypes, but it very quickly expanded to include all alternative photographic processes.”

“When Facebook started and became more popular, a group was started as a way of interacting. We tried a forum first (remember those?) but it soon got littered with spam. There are now a handful of excellent moderators that take care of the Facebook group,” she added.

“The group is about sharing creative work, not pushing sales or products in people’s faces. I feel it is a go-to for getting inspiration for creative work. The website is about learning, connecting and getting inspired, and many people follow the group just for these reasons—to find articles as we publish them, connect with others and get feedback on their work or ask questions and get inspired by others who post their work,” Malin Fabbri told Bored Panda.

The description of the Facebook group reads that it’s a place for “photography as it should be: hands on, fun and inspiring”. It also expands on what are some of the alternative photographic processes that artists use, which include working with albumen, anthotype, argyrotype, carbon, bromoil, gum bichromate, gumoil, kallitype, photogravure, salt print, and temperaprint, among many others.

“Most alternative photographic processes are ‘historical’ processes, some invented in the 1840s and little has changed since,” the editor of ‘Alternative Photography’ pointed out. “There are newer ones too and they keep getting ‘invented’. What is the common denominator for all of them is to ‘get your hands dirty’. It's about mixing pigments or chemicals, coating paper by hand, exposing a print in the sun and getting really creative with the process. I think a lot of people use it to get away from their screen. They use it as a creative outlet.”

Photography as we know it is believed to date back to 1826; that’s when the arguably first photograph was taken. A French scientist named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was responsible for that, as he took a photograph of a courtyard seen from his family’s country home—which was then titled “View from the Window at Le Gras”—that is considered to be the start of it all.

He did that using a bitumen-coated plate in a camera obscura, also known as a pinhole camera. Camera Obscura (Latin for ‘dark room’) is a darkened box-shaped tool with a small hole in one of the walls, which allows light to enter and create a reversed and inverted image on the other.

The administrators of the ‘Alternative photographic processes’ group asked its members to refrain from sharing works created with pinhole and darkroom techniques. They believe there is an abundance of groups dedicated to it, which is why they prefer to focus more on other, likely less popular, processes, such as gum bichromate, for instance.

National Gallery Of Art explained that this process is based on coating the paper with a solution of gelatin or gum arabic, potassium dichromate, and pigment and exposing it to light through a negative. This allows the light-sensitive dichromated gum to harden to some extent, depending on the amount of light it receives.

The same principle as that which is used for gum bichromate prints is also used with the carbon ones. National Gallery Of Art pointed out that unlike silver and platinum printing methods, which rely on the light-sensitive properties of metal salts, carbon prints also depend on the light sensitivity of dichromated gelatin.

Gumoil printing is another unique alternative photographic process that typically results in some quite impressive artwork. Writer and photographer Terri Cappucci expanded on the method in an article for ‘Alternative Photography’, where she explained that, in short, “It is a photographic printing process that uses a sensitizing gum arabic mix and oil paint, to create a handmade photograph”.

Introduced by the American photographer Karl P. Koenig in 1990, the gumoil printing process can be frustrating because of how challenging it is, Terri pointed out. However, due to the authenticity of the craft, no two pieces are the same, which allows artists to create unique works and show off their personal style. Terri Cappucci mentioned a fellow artist, Anna Ostanina, as one of the best when it comes to gumoil printing.

The alternative photographic processes are—as stated in the group description—hands on, fun, and inspiring; however, they can also be a lot of work. Most of them require time and patience, as they usually consist of quite a few steps.

Take argyrotype, for instance, an iron-based silver printing process, which results in brown images on plain paper. According to ‘Alternative Photography’, it derives from the argentotype, kallitype, and vandyke processes of the 19th century, but has greater simplicity. Be that as it may, it comprises six steps, all of which have to be carefully executed, as any mistake made during such processes can seriously damage the end result.

Quite a few processes require working with chemicals, which is another reason every step has to be carefully considered. (That’s also why it’s important to use necessary safety measures, such as wearing gloves and respirators, for instance.) Those who want to work with alternative photographic methods have to be familiar with certain chemical elements and how they work together.

Malin Fabbri suggested that anthotype, where you use plant pigments to set your photograph in, or cyanotype, which uses iron compounds, are some of the easiest ones to start with. “Both are mostly non-toxic (some plants can be very poisonous and there are certain chemicals that don't mix too well) but being careful they can be done at home, and even with kids. Good beginner processes, but trust me, you can be doing them for years and still learn new things.”

When it comes to the most difficult ones, she pointed out the Mordançage process as one of the most complex. “I would not start with this, since it requires a mask and gloves and a proper darkroom with good ventilation,” Malin said.

If pictures shared on the ‘Alternative photographic processes’ Facebook group got you interested in such processes, familiarize yourself with the glossary of terms on the topic, shared by the New York Public Library. And if you’d simply like to see more photography-related content, visit Bored Panda’s photography section and delve deeper into the beautiful world of visual art.