i don't think there's anything particularly more or less ordinary using silver, versus iron/platinum/palladium/gold/etc. other than their relative cost and popularity. obviously in today's digital age of imagining, all analogue processes are special in their own way.
in contemporary art colour rules, and the prints are either distinguished "chromogenic print" for C41 or "fine art archival print" (giclee) or "color transparency" or much less commonly "cibachrome." hybrid process and lightjet printing are assumed.
for black and white contemporary, it's either "lightjet print" or "fine art print."
these distinctions don't excite me very much to emphasize the wholly analogue nature of production to distinguish work that i (or any of us) may produce.
so i suggest something simple to understand, and easy to apply to all analogue processes:
"[process/object description], made by hand with [sensitive metal] and light."
thus, "B&W photograph, made by hand with silver and light." or "gum print, made by hand with dichromate and light." or "platinotype, made by hand with platinum and light."
obviously light is essential in capturing a photographic image, but when it is the only medium of informational transfer i feel it takes on a place of privilege in producing the photographic object.
in contemporary art colour rules, and the prints are either distinguished "chromogenic print" for C41 or "fine art archival print" (giclee) or "color transparency" or much less commonly "cibachrome." hybrid process and lightjet printing are assumed.
for black and white contemporary, it's either "lightjet print" or "fine art print."
these distinctions don't excite me very much to emphasize the wholly analogue nature of production to distinguish work that i (or any of us) may produce.
so i suggest something simple to understand, and easy to apply to all analogue processes:
"[process/object description], made by hand with [sensitive metal] and light."
thus, "B&W photograph, made by hand with silver and light." or "gum print, made by hand with dichromate and light." or "platinotype, made by hand with platinum and light."
obviously light is essential in capturing a photographic image, but when it is the only medium of informational transfer i feel it takes on a place of privilege in producing the photographic object.
