<< OK, Judy.... I guess we will have to agree to disagree. From my perspective
> and way of thinking, one process you mentioned - Hand Coloring... I do not
> consider an ALT Process. This has been done since the very, very early days
> of photography. In the early days, it was almost expected to have portraits
> and landscapes hand colored. This is why I really do not consider some
> processes to be truly ALT, for they existed side by side with photography,
> not as an alternitive to them.
Bob, my take on the term is that it came into use in the '70s, the 1970s
that is, when there was a movement to overthrow the, um, let's call it
hegemony, of the F64, pure purer purest movement, which reigned over all
photography in midcentury, decreeing what was permissible and what wasn't.
I have a file of quotes from Weston and company, which I'm NOT going to
put on this list, because I have to keep something "new" for Post-Factory
-- well just one that comes to mind in this context: Weston saying in his
Day Books, that if people want to hand color they should get a paintbox
and become painters, because they weren't strong and worthy enough to be
photographers. I swear. You could look it up.
In mid-century, hand coloring was despised, tacky, verboten -- until the
rebels, or post modernists, or whatever you call them of the late 60s,
early 70s, came along -- defiantly revelling in gum printing, hand
coloring, and MARKING on photographs, which was the theme of several shows
in the early '80s that gave critics conniptions. Bea Nettles book, the
first of the many, was titled "Breaking the Rules."
That, as far as I know, was when the term "alternatives" came into use.
Of course nothing is PEFECTLY new, in fact Stieglitz used the term
"crooked photography" (predating me) in 1905. But I don't recall seeing
the term "alternative" used before the 1960s.
>>
I 1969 Ed Romney and friends created an organization called " The New
Pictorialist Society" The purpose was to keep alive and bring back alive the
early pictorialist processes which we refered to as "alternatives". By
alternatives we ment alternatives to straight silver bromide photography as
practiced and preached by the f-64 and Monterey purists. All those other
processes mentioned by Bob were fair game for revival. We knew some workers
were still doing them. We wanted to find out who they were, learn from them
and encourage them to keep working. We encouraged our members and non members
to learn these process and teach others. To us "alternative" processes meant
anything but silver bromide. By the way many of the members did not work in
anything but silver and that was ok too. Alternative to us ment alternative to
the big yellow box. Lius Nadeau was an early and very supportive member.