I just received my eagerly anticipated copy of Jill Enfield’s new Guide to Alternative Photographic Processes. This book is an exhilarating ride through some of the most challenging and ancient ways of making photographic images. A lot of these processes are not for the faint of heart. You will learn about wet plate collodion, salt and albumen, argyrotype, kallitype and Van Dyke prints, just to name a few. Step by step instructions make all things possible. Enfield is a renowned photographer as well as instructor. She has taught handcoloring and non-silver techniques at Parsons The New School for Design, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York University, Long Island University and the International Center of Photography in New York, as well as in workshops throughout the United States and Europe. Her website will keep you exploring for hours.

Throughout the book Enfield illustrates the techniques with images from nearly a hundred artists and photographers. Many of these photographs take my breath away with their sense of surface and mystery. Honestly, what am I doing in front of a computer? I want to go into a darkroom and never come out. I am very happy to be included in the book with an experimental cyanotype.

To see more on my own experiences with this technique visit my blog entry “Three Days in the Sun…..”