Want to Buy Albumen Prints & Workshops

[Staggerlee]

Am new to print photography and want to learn the process of making contact prints, particularly albumen. I have purchased digital negative info and other works on the process, but would like a hands on experience.

The workshop at Kodak-Eastman in Rochester looks good but the timing is not the best. Anyone here willing to teach this process, hands on, to me or know of other workshops?

Regards,
PMK

 

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[David A. Goldfarb]

The Center for Alternative Photography in New York sometimes has Albumen workshops--

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[Fragomeni]

I would second the Center for Alternative Photography in NY.

Also just as a friendly disclaimer, if you are new to printing, Albumen would really not be the ideal place to start. It is not the most simple of processes and there are very few people practicing it with mastery. I've been looking for an Albumen mentor for quite some time now to no avail. I have extensive printing experience in silver and some experience in other alt processes and Albumen is like anything else with a learning curve. I have all of the materials and will likely do some experimentation on my own but it is inevitable that I will need to seek out instruction (perhaps Osterman or the Center workshops) if I wish to work efficiently with the material.
Also, digital negatives are well suited for some alt processes but not all. Albumen is not one that digi negs are known for working well with. Through experimentation you may find a working formula but I would suspect you'd see much better results working with large negatives either form a LF camera or enlarged film negatives. Don't get me wrong, digi negs might work for Albumen but it is just not something that I've heard many people praise as a good combo (digi negs work exceptionally well for Pt/Pl, Cyanotype, Gum, etc).

I would highly encourage you to spend time learning and mastering the basics of printing in silver before you tackle Albumen. If silver is not your cup of tea, there are alt processes that will be much better suited to a new printer. Cyanotype would probably be the best alt process to start with because of its ease of use, low cost, and flexibility. And don't be fooled, you are not limited to blue prints with Cyanotype. Extraordinarily detailed and beautiful black and white prints can be made from Cyanotype and toning in tannins (tannic acid). You can also come very close to the tonality of Albuman with controlled toning in Cyanotype.

Best of luck on your journey!