Printing

"Michael Kenna has been photographing on film and making silver gelatin prints in his own darkroom for over 50 years. In the first of a series of five chapters sharing extracts from Kenna's Darkroom Diaries, we are reminded why prints made in the traditional analogue process, printed from original film negatives by hand in the darkroom, are so special.  Michael will discuss his process of photographing on film and will explain the patient and painstaking work of making prints by hand in his darkroom which has allowed him to produce the distinct images that are celebrated for their rich blacks, luminous highlights and a grainy aesthetic that compliments the ethereal lighting his work is best known for."  Luke Whitaker

Before an artist makes an edition of prints, they must first make an Artist Proof. Artist Proofs are typically printed before the numbered edition and are used as a way for the artist to make final adjustments to the photograph or to experiment with different combinations of tone or colour. A simple way of understanding an Artist Proof is to think of it as a finalised print that the photographer approves to sign off the production of the Limited Edition.

Hengki Koentjoro makes all of his archival pigment prints himself personally, at his studio in Indonesia.

In order to make silver gelatin photographs today using the original glass plate negatives in the Beken of Cowes archive, which are over 130 years old, first the glass plate negatives needed to be cleaned and then scanned to produce a digital file. Here's how the arduous task of digitally restoring the Beken of Cowes photographs was completed by Paul Brett in 2015, by way of an example using Alfred John West's iconic photograph of Meteor II Aground in 1899.