Collecting

To celebrate 50 years of darkroom printing, Luke Whitaker at Bosham Gallery is publishing a series of 5 chapters from Michael Kenna's Darkroom Diaries, in partnership with Black & White Photography Magazine, to accompany an online exhibition of Kenna's Artist Proofs. The online exhibition runs from 17 July - 17 December 2025.

A collection of favourite portraits of photographer Michael Kenna...

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.

I am pleased to present an opportunity to acquire a very famous print The Roaring Lion, Winston Churchill, 1941 by Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), an Armenian-Canadian photographer known for taking the definitive portraits of the men and women who shaped the twentieth century.  This iconic photograph is widely regarded as one of the most important portraits in the history of photography. Read on to hear the amusing story behind this famous photograph, along with details of this rare signed print which is offered for sale in very fine condition.

In photography’s near 200-year history a great variety of printing processes have been used to make prints, which can be broadly divided into two categories – traditional wet chemistry prints made in a darkroom using light-sensitive paper and chemical baths, and contemporary digital prints made by fine droplets of ink deposited onto the printing paper (no chemicals). The characteristics of each printing process give the prints a distinct ‘look and feel’ in terms of how sharply defined and detailed the image content is, the print’s tonal range, its texture and the longevity of the print.

Are you thinking of buying a photograph, or perhaps starting a collection? Here are my top tips to get you started with a few examples of prints I've collected over the years...

Photographic ‘plates’ preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated onto a glass plate, typically thinner than common window glass.

A photographic magic lantern slide is a positive photograph on glass, which has been copied from a glass plate negative, for the purpose of projecting it for display using a ‘magic lantern’, the predecessor of the slide projector. Images were projected using a candle flame, and later a gas lamp. They were common in the late 19^th and first half of the 20^th centuries.

Artists use their signature and blind stamp to signify completion of the printing process and to show a mark of provenance, which allows collectors to trace the work back to the artist's studio. A blind stamp ('blind' meaning uncoloured) is often unobtrusive and you might have to inspect a print carefully to establish its presence.

Charlie Waite's colour photographs are archival pigment prints, signed and numbered with the artist's blind stamp. All prints are made personally by the artist in limited editions of 25 or 50 prints. Bespoke print sizes and frame mouldings are available for all photographs by request - please email sales@boshamgallery.com 

Michael Kenna’s prints have a distinguished provenance. Since the start of his career in the 1970s Michael Kenna has worked solely with film, and he makes every silver gelatin print himself personally, in his darkroom at his home studio in Seattle, USA.