Above all Silver

Above all Silver

The 19th century was undoubtedly the most stormy and dynamic age in the history of photography. It was not just the century when photography was invented but above all the time when nearly all the photochemical processes ever used in photography were invented. It was the period during which photography covered the unimaginable distance from the daguerreotype developed in mercury vapours and the paper negative to the silver gelatine photographic film on elastic substrates and the first roll films. In the first few decades of photography, countless materials including not only silver but also iron, chromium or….. bitumen of Judea were tested in the search for the best materials and technologies to . Even though photographs were successfully made with the use of each of the above and processes such as the cyanotype, the platinotype, the oilprint, gum bichromate or carbon transfer enjoyed a considerable career and are used by artists till this day, it was silver that proved the absolute winner and its salts have been used in all of the most popular photographic processes not only of those days but also of the twentieth century when the dominance of silver based photography became absolute. This is why the longest and most intensive workshop I offer is devoted to photographic processes using silver. During the six days three participants will have a one of time opportunity not only to observe the development of photography  from the talbotype until the development of  photographic emulsions but will, above all, have an opportunity to gain an in depth understanding of all the leading processes of that time as well as to...