Theme
Gum Bichromate
Cyanotype
Platinochromy
Chemigram
Calotype...

Alternative and historical processes

Edito

The history of photography is often told as a succession of technological innovations, with each new process seemingly destined to replace the previous one. Yet many techniques developed as early as the nineteenth century continue to inform contemporary photographic practice. Cyanotype, calotype, platinum-palladium printing, cliché-verre and the Fresson process reflect a different approach to image-making, in which materials, chemistry and manual intervention play a decisive role.

Long associated with traditional craftsmanship and the aesthetic experiments of Pictorialism, these processes have attracted renewed interest in recent decades. Their appeal lies as much in their distinctive visual qualities as in the possibilities they offer for experimentation. The choice of paper, chemical reactions, variations in light and unexpected results during printing all contribute to the creation of an image whose final form bears the traces of its making.

In Carlos Barrantes’s darkroom, Odile Bernard Schröder’s experiments, the Fresson family workshop and Sara Imloul’s staged compositions, these techniques become artistic languages in their own right. The films gathered in this focus examine the persistence and reinvention of historical photographic processes at a time when the increasing dematerialisation of images is profoundly transforming our relationship with their production.

  • 9 films
  • 3 h 46 min
  • Edito, 3 min read
Carlos Barrantes | Artist and artisan - cover 16:9
movie category
26’
Carlos Barrantes | Artist and artisan
France - 2014 fr en

The gum bichromate (and more) by Carlos Barrantes

In his laboratory in Perpignan, Carlos Barrantes has perfectly mastered the art of historical photographic processes, all those monochrome techniques that require incredible precision, specific tools, and a knack. The printer's know-how does not stop there. Carlos also reveals his photographic work, closely linked to the processes he uses. And by observing these variations, we can see how each method tells its story.

The cyanotype (with maté) by Carlos Barrantes - cover 16:9
movie category
34’
The cyanotype (with maté) by Carlos Barrantes
France - 2022 es en

Maté and UV: a recipe for success

Carlos Barrantes, master of printing and historical processes, takes us step by step through cyanotypes. From his Perpignan laboratory, he carefully explains his preparations and manipulations, giving an artist's perspective on his choices and decisions. Artist and artisan, he is as visually sensitive as the paper he uses is to light. And he sublimates each photograph into a unique print.

Platinum-Palladium printing by Carlos Barrantes - cover 16:9
movie category
27’
Platinum-Palladium printing by Carlos Barrantes
France - 2022 es en

Go Platinum!

In this third encounter, Carlos Barrantes, a master of printing and historical processes, gives us a step-by-step guide to platinum/palladium printing....

The Platino-Chrome by Carlos Barrantes - cover 16:9
movie category
28’
The Platino-Chrome by Carlos Barrantes
France - 2022 es en

A Perfect Match

From his workshop in Perpignan, France, Carlos Barrantes is not just preserving ancient photographic techniques; he is reinventing them with the precision of a master jeweler. This last installment in our series dedicated to his craft immerses us in the world of Platinochromie, an innovative method that combines color digital printing with platinum-palladium printing, resulting in creations of remarkable depth and longevity.

The Chemigram by Odile Bernard Schröder - cover 16:9
movie category
14’
The Chemigram by Odile Bernard Schröder
France - 2012 fr en

Chemistry, Nothing But Chemistry

One day in 1995, photographer Odile Bernard Schröder decided to leave her camera in the cupboard and instead devote herself exclusively to her research, exploring the vast world of alternative photographic processes. Using various techniques, she multiplies her experiments with light... Part one of a three-part encounter, this film sees her tackle the chemigram, a technique invented by Pierre Cordier in 1956, which uses both painting and photographic materials to create its images.

The Cliché-Verre by Odile Bernard Schröder - cover 16:9
movie category
8’
The Cliché-Verre by Odile Bernard Schröder
France - 2012 fr en

Forget The Camera!

Part two of a three-part encounter, this film sees her tackle the Cliché-verre, a printmaking process invented by Grandguillaume and Adalbert Cuvelier and practiced by Corot, Rousseau, the Barbizon painters and later by Man Ray.

The Cyanotype by Odile Bernard Schröder - cover 16:9
movie category
11’
The Cyanotype by Odile Bernard Schröder
France - 2012 fr en

Let The Sunshine...

In this third and final part of our meeting, she shares with us her vision and her practical experience of the cyanotype, one of the oldest photographic processes, which has very much come back into fashion in recent years.

The Workshop | The Fresson Process - cover 16:9
movie category
50’
The Workshop | The Fresson Process
France - 2013 fr en

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About The Fresson Process

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.

Sara Imloul | Das Schloss - cover 16:9
movie category
25’
Sara Imloul | Das Schloss
France - 2015 fr en

Did You Say Calotype?

On the ground floor of a vast family home, a young photographer shuttles between an antique view camera and a laboratory overflowing with dangerous chemicals. She seems in a state of uncertainty. One shot follows another. Each is a disappointment... Sara Imloul's discovery of the calotype sparked the idea for her first photographic series. Reappropriating this historical process by combining it with personal experiments, she explores a world both mysterious and poetic, which illustrates all the richness of today's photography.

Documentaries about photography, and about the people who make it. 
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What you’ll find

Portraits of photographers, names everyone knows and others you’ll discover here. Films about street photography, war, fashion or portraiture, about printing and historical processes. About the trades of photography too. And then suggestions for going further, with Focuses, articles, interviews, bibliographies.

A small independent team

Documentaries about photography were rarely shown on television, and hardly at all on streaming platforms. We created The Darkroom Rumour to give them a place of their own. We are a small team, and we choose every film ourselves, with no school to defend.

Inspire your photography

In these films, you see photographers at work, in the field as well as in the darkroom. If you take pictures, you’ll often come away with an idea to try. If you simply like looking at images, you may start to see them differently.

How it works 

You can watch the films online, anywhere in the world, on a computer, tablet or phone, and on TV by mirroring your phone’s or computer’s screen. Every film is available in French and English, with no ads. New releases come out on Saturday or Sunday. The trial lasts 7 days, and if you stop before day 8, you pay nothing.

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Linked Articles

The Fresson process
André Rouillé - portrait by André Rouillé

The Fresson process

linked to The Workshop | The Fresson Process

From the film's opening frames, Thomas Goupille plunges us into another world and another time: the workshop of the famous Fresson dynasty, master printers of photographs since 1899. The enlarger and the wooden frames from the nineteenth century, the Roberval balance, now only found at antique deale…

Bernard Plossu on Printing
Bernard Plossu - portrait by Bernard Plossu

Bernard Plossu on Printing

linked to The Workshop | The Fresson Process

Bernard Plossu isn't usually very forthcoming. Each word reveals the coherence of a reasoned worldview, studded with aesthetic references. DK2R had the opportunity to ask him about printing, and his answers extend this central subject of the photographic act. *** Emmanuel Bacquet: Bernard Plossu, wh…

Sara Imloul: The Calotype Today
Sara Imloul - portrait by Sara Imloul

Sara Imloul: The Calotype Today

linked to Sara Imloul | Das Schloss

In this interview, Sara Imloul shares with Emmanuel Bacquet her creative journey since the Das Schloss series. Exploring metaphysical and ancestral themes, she invites us into her artistic process, where calotype and large format reveal a profound visual poetry, rooted in a timeless attachment to ph…

Further exploration

Selected bibliography

Carlos Barrantes | Artist and artisan

• Rétrospective, Carlos Barrantes, photographe et tireur, Éditions Trabucaire, 2014 (in French).

• Oliva María Rubio (ed.), Diccionario de fotógrafos españoles: del siglo XIX al XXI, La Fábrica, 2014 (in Spanish). Publisher · Libraries

• Carlos Barrantes, Un jour partons, Mai-Photographies, 2014 (in French).

• Carlos Barrantes, Par delà l'horizon, Lunwerg Editores, 2009 (in Spanish).

• Carlos Barrantes, Mouvement, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, 1999 (in Spanish).

The cyanotype (with maté) by Carlos Barrantes

• Rétrospective, Carlos Barrantes, photographe et tireur, Éditions Trabucaire, 2014.

• Oliva María Rubio (ed.), Diccionario de fotógrafos españoles: del siglo XIX al XXI, La Fábrica, 2014 (in Spanish). Publisher · Libraries

• Un jour partons, Mai-Photographies, 2014.

• Carlos Barrantes, Par delà l'horizon, Lunwerg Editores, 2009 (in Spanish).

• Carlos Barrantes, Mouvement, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, 1999 (in Spanish).

Platinum-Palladium printing by Carlos Barrantes

• Rétrospective, Carlos Barrantes, photographe et tireur, Éditions Trabucaire, 2014.

• Carlos Barrantes, Par delà l'horizon, Lunwerg Editores, 2009 (in Spanish).

• Carlos Barrantes, Mouvement, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, 1999 (in Spanish).

The Chemigram by Odile Bernard Schröder

• Pierre Cordier, Le chimigramme : The Chemigram, Racine Lannoo, 2007 (bilingual edition). Libraries

• Pierre Cordier, Chimigramme - Pierre Cordier, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 1988.

The Cliché-Verre by Odile Bernard Schröder

• Elizabeth Glassman, Cliché-Verre, Hand-Drawn, Light-Printed: A survey of the medium from 1839 to the present, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1980. Libraries

• Alain Paviot, Le cliché-verre : Corot, Delacroix, Millet, Rousseau, Daubigny, Paris-Musées, 1994 (in English and French). Libraries

• Stéphanie Deschamps-Tan and Barthélémy Jobert, Gravure ou photographie ? Une curiosité artistique : le cliché-verre, Gourcuff Gradenigo, 2007 (in French). Libraries

• Bernard Dufour, Les cliché-verre, Léo Scheer Editions, 2001 (in French).

The Cyanotype by Odile Bernard Schröder

• Christina Z Anderson, Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice, Focal Press, 2019. Publisher · Libraries

• Peter Mrhar, Cyanotype: Historical and Alternative Photography, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. Libraries

• Brenton Hamilton, A Blue Idyll. Cyanotypes and Dreams, Schilt Publishing, 2020.

The Workshop | The Fresson Process

• Francis Hodgson, Bernard Plossu : Western Colors, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2016. Publisher · Libraries

• Dolorès Marat, Edges, Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1996. Publisher · Libraries

Sara Imloul | Das Schloss

• Sara Imloul and Philippe Pollet-Villard, Passages, de l'ombre aux images, Filigranes, 2021 (in French and English). Publisher · Libraries

• Sara Imloul and Michel Gaillot, Das Schloss (Le château), Filigranes, 2015 (in French and English). Publisher · Libraries

• Sara Imloul and Jean-Kenta Gaultier, Négatifs, Sara Imloul / Angélique Delabre, 2012 (in French). Publisher

Online

Carlos Barrantes | Artist and artisan

• Carlos Barrantes, artisan, website.

The cyanotype (with maté) by Carlos Barrantes

• Carlos Barrantes, artisan, website.

The Chemigram by Odile Bernard Schröder

• Pierre Cordier, website (in French).

• The Chemigram, AlternativePhotography.com.

• How to make chemigrams, Photography Project, 2018.

The Cliché-Verre by Odile Bernard Schröder

• Le cliché-verre chez Camille Corot, un procédé photographique au service d'une expérimentation graphique en gravure, Hiatus (in French).

• Cliché-verre, Virginie Pouliquen (in French).

The Cyanotype by Odile Bernard Schröder

• Introduction to the cyanotype process, blog, National Science and Media Museum.

• Cyanotype: the classic process, AlternativePhotography.com.

• Cyanotype et virage, Carlos Barrantes (in French).

• À la découverte du cyanotype, La photo argentique, 2015 (in French).

The Workshop | The Fresson Process

• Atelier Fresson, website (in French).

Sara Imloul | Das Schloss

• Sara Imloul, website.

• Elles x Paris Photo, Sara Imloul, interview, Paris Photo.

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The Focuses

Check all focus