If you ask a large group of photographers what is alternative, you will get a sense that the underlying theme to alternative photography is historical or traditional ways of creating and producing a photographic print. Many photographers do not consider cellulose film a historical because it is still used by many photographers today.
In historical photography, there are two categories of papers used that the final print will be on. Printing out and Developing out.
Printing out
“Printing-out paper requires strong levels of actinic light, which is abundant in sunlight, to bring out a visible image, rather than the chemicals required by developing-out paper. It is usually associated with nineteenth-century photography, when contact printing was the principal method of producing a print. The printing-out technique is required for the low sensitivity of silver chloride in gelatin or collodion emulsions, and for processes based on the light sensitivity of iron salts, such as platinum, palladium, and cyanotype processes, as well as bichromates. Because the artificial light from enlargers is too weak for this process, photographers continued to use printing-out papers almost exclusively for contact printing in sunlight, into the twentieth century; enlargements on printing-out paper were made by contact printing from an enlarged negative. Artists with limited means or photographic expertise relied on economical and ubiquitous gelatin silver printing-out paper.”
Abbaspour, Mitra, Lee Ann Daffner, and Maria Morris Hambourg.
Object:Photo. Modern Photographs: The Thomas Walther Collection 1909–1949 at The Museum of Modern Art. December 8, 2014. moma.org/objectphoto
Some of the processes that use printing out paper are; Cyanotype, Salt Prints, Gum bichromate, platinum prints, palladium prints, albumen prints, Anthotypes, and Vandyke brown prints.
Developing out
“The most commonly used photographic paper of the twentieth century was developing-out paper, which contains silver bromide emulsions that react quickly when exposed to light, even at very low intensities and brief exposures. Unlike the slower silver chloride printing-out papers and silver chlorobromide “gaslight papers,” this paper requires the controlled environment of a darkroom for handling and printing, and it is well suited to the dim levels of light produced by an enlarger (natural light is a great deal brighter). There are numerous variations on the chemical composition of image materials in developing-out papers, but all of them require chemical development to bring out the image in the print.”
Abbaspour, Mitra, Lee Ann Daffner, and Maria Morris Hambourg.
Object:Photo. Modern Photographs: The Thomas Walther Collection 1909–1949 at The Museum of Modern Art. December 8, 2014. moma.org/objectphoto
Some of the historical processes considered developing out are; Daguerreotype, Tintype, and Ambrotype.
There was a time that many of these historical processes were lost, and there are countless other historical processes that others came up with but never were known to the greater public.
In the year 2020, where digital photography Is the common known form of photography, and as the years go by, many people might start to view film photography as an alternative process. One thing for certain though, is that from the beginning of photography photographers have pushed to find ways to create an image quicker and safer. The one thing that has been lost, is the patients and appreciation to have the final physical image in hand, to display for people to see.
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