Why the bromoil?

As a starter for further discussion, why do you like the bromoil process? What made you think of starting out?

For my own part it I believe it was at first the problems I had with making enlarged negatives. After searching a lot, I found the idea of being able to make alt process prints in any size and to be able to use the normal darkroom stuff quite liberating. After looking more closely into the process, I fell in love with its expressive nature.

When I saw a certain bromoil photo, it had the wow factor. It did not look like a photo, but it was one.

It almost looked like a drawing. So the next question is why am I not going to learn how to draw....

I'm sure I've seen bromoil prints before, but not knowing what they were until I saw Gene Laughter's portfolio on APUG about 14-15 months ago as an unpaid member. From that moment forward I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was bromoil that I wanted to master. Like Willie says, Gene's works looked like etchings or paintings or drawings, not photographs, yet they were [photographs].

I've got a plan that revolves around three things:

1. Bromoil
2. Portraiture
3. Rich people

Can you make out how this plan goes? It is my passport, I believe, to divorcing the day job and to finish the rest of my life doing what I enjoy, when I want to, under the hours I want to work or play rather, and could fund trips to interesting places where I could venture off on my own, and call it work if I must, to do the other thing I love so much, which is to be amongst nature. Here I bare my soul, but in the real world I would call it work, it would have another name .. "landscape photography".

Perry, I believe it is possible to get into that spot you're looking for. Anything is possible in Bromoil!

Willie Jan, yes, I agree about the drawing quality. It's wonderful. I can't put it into words, really. It's like: when I see it I know it, by intuition.

Kirk,, I originally got interested in bromoil and pigment processes after finding a number of amateur photgrapher books from the 1920's in an old book shop the images looked like drawings or etchings and the one's I liked the best were produced in bromoil, oil-prints..and so the love affair began back in 1992 soon after I joined the Bromoil Circle of G.B. I later went on to work in oleobrom and bromtype's which are all basicly the same as bromoil...I now work in just Oil-transfer.

Kirk, what is it about the oil transfer that you find interesting? I assume you mean a dichromated sheet of paper, inked and then transfered to some other paper, as opposed to a normal oil print? Tell us more, please.

Jerevan, maybe he's talking about gum-oil print that is transfered. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I don't think so, but let's see if Kirk answers in more detail. I read a bit yesterday, trying to figure what oil transfer might be from the literature.

Hi kirk here...what I like about oil-transfer is the image is matt, when the pigment is laying on a gelatine surface if not viewed straight on then the glossy image can be distracting to some, when transfered it not only becomes matt but the pigment is absorbed into the papers fiber it take's on the paper's textures too..the image becomes part of the paper rather than just laying on top of it also the pigment image is permanet it will last forever and never fade away indeed the older the paper becomes the better it looks also an oil-print can easily be damaged, scratched the pigment can take years to dry..yes that's right years it stays tacky this is because the pigment cannot easily be absorbed into the gelatine , and the gelatine can be attacked by mould and nasty silverfish love to eat gelatine material...so really oil-transfer is the best route to take.
Coating for Bromoil...The suggestion I gave for coating matrix's for RC Paper..that's coating the dry matrix with a stiff pigment applied with a paint foam roller is based on the Oleobrom Process full instructions are on the alternative photography website under oleobrom process....kirk