movie category

The Workshop | The Fresson Process

  • France
  • 2013
  • fr
  • en
  • 50'

In the secrecy of their workshop, a real time capsule that takes us back to the 19th century, the Fresson grandson and great-grandson are at work. Guardians of a legendary photographic process, they can spend up to two weeks on a single print. An intimate film that offers insight into a technique, but also into a family of craftsmen who have been part of the history of photography for more than a century. A rare documentary that reveals the difficulty of preserving an art that is slow and fragile in a world addicted to speed, where digital and inkjet printers reign.

The Workshop | The Fresson Process
Watch the trailer

Synopsis

In the secrecy of their workshop, a real time capsule that takes us back to the 19th century, the Fresson grandson and great-grandson are at work. Guardians of a legendary photographic process, they can spend up to two weeks on a single print. An intimate film that offers insight into a technique, but also into a family of craftsmen who have been part of the history of photography for more than a century. A rare documentary that reveals the difficulty of preserving an art that is slow and fragile in a world addicted to speed, where digital and inkjet printers reign.

What you will learn in this film…

A unique printing process • Direct charcoal printing • The stages of a four-colour print • An entirely artisanal photographic printing workshop created by a carpenter • Seeing an image appear with Fresson know-how• Seeing retouching by hand • The Fresson workshop archives • Preparation of a colour based on pigments • Founder Théodore-Henri Fresson's great inventions • A craftsman-printer's tips

At the start, I have a fairly precise idea of what I want to do. Then you have to give way to the process. The process has its own personality too.

Film Chapters

00:00 Colour separation 

03:11 Blue and yellow

21:36 Archives and red

29:12 The Fresson kitchen

36:14 Purple, black and finishing off

Every month, a selection of reference documentaries,
articles and exclusive interviews...

Photography at 24 images per second!

Discover the world of photography through a selection of reference documentaries, original creations, unpublished articles and exclusive interviews.

New films and new articles every month.

Films in an original magazine…

The Darkroom Rumour is a new kind of editorial encounter that invites you to discover an art that has become a daily practice. it's a video platform designed to inspire and to cultivate its practice and its photographic world.

Articles and interviews relating to the films

The Darkroom Rumour introduces films, identifies content, proposes themes and focus, links and references, so that you spend more time watching films than choosing them…

Accessible on all your devices, whenever you like

The Darkroom Rumour is available anytime, via streaming, anywhere in the world, on your connected TV, computer, tablet and mobile.

Accessible on all your devices, whenever you like
Start your free trial

Linked Articles

Further exploration

Bibliography

Materiel used

Instagram

• BERNARD PLOSSU : WESTERN COLORS - author: Francis Hodgson ; 2016 ; Thames and Hudson Ltd 

• EDGES - artist: Dolorès Marat ; 1996 ; Dewi Lewis Publishing

Wood enlarger • pigments • 90° alcohol • Dichromate • Sawdust • Pans • Fans • Gas lamp