Re: An ALT Question
Richard Knoppow (dickburk@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 31 Oct 1997 12:46:31 -0800
At 12:46 PM 10/31/97 -0700, Bob MAXIE wrote:
>A simple question, but how can a process that
>was once widely used by thousands of
>photographers be considered ALT? I know
>several people making Tintypes and a few
>making Collodon Wet Plates and they insist of
>referring to the process as an Alt Process.
>
>Any thoughts on this?
>
>RM
>
Just a personal definition. Many of the processes now considered to be
"alternative" were once routinely and widely used. Wet plate photography
and salted paper printing as examples.
They are considered alternative now because the very large majority of
photographic work is now done with a limited group of Silver halide-gelatin
based materials.
I don't think the definition can be a rigid or distinctly limited one.
To a degree even mixing your own developers for conventional processes can
be bordering on alternative.
The currently dominant Silver halide-gelatin process is so because it is
convenient and has many good qualities and so has been commercially
promoted for generations. But many want to explore older/other ways of
working both for the artistic qualitys of those methods and simply for the
enjoyment of mastering their difficulties.
Tintype is alternative because it is not Silver halide-gelatin based and
because it hasn't been in general use for perhaps fifty or more years.
----
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles,Ca.
dickburk@ix.netcom.com