Historical record only
Alternative Processes International Symposium
Scotland 2004
Saturday 18th September & Sunday 19th September
Free visits to see works of benchmark quality in National museums in
Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday 17th September
and Bradford on Tuesday 21th September
The conference is to be held in a modern conference centre at Dunfermline, on the other side of the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh.
View area map with indications on how to arrive at the conference centre.
THE BEST INSPIRES THE BEST
APIS 2004 will show how the best practice over the years can inspire artists in the field today. Contemporary artist photographers will show work across the range of alternative photography including gravure, gum, ‘Niepce’ heliochromes, Becquerel Daguerreotypes and Lippmann full colour photographs. A selection will be published in black and white in the special ‘proceedings’ edition of ‘The PhotoHistorian’. A wider selection, in colour, will be published in the CD version of the magazine. Copies of the APIS 2002 special double edition of PhotoHistorian magazine and its CD version are available from John Warr at ajwarr@aol.com. There will be ample opportunity to display and discuss current work. Some will be asked to speak to the conference about their work.
The best of previous practice presented as an inspiration will include:
- Calotypes by Hill and Adamson.
- Carbon and gravures by the Annnans and Karel Klic the inventor of photogravure.
- Gums and gum platinums by Alvin Langdon Coburn.
- The full potential of platinum printing including work by the man who many consider the finest exponent of the medium, Frederick Evans.
- Work by the Getty Institute of Conservation on the first photograph still available today.
- Alternative photography in the National Museum of Photography and the RPS collections, the Scottish National Galleries. Special arrangements have been made for visits to the collections of Hill and Adamson calotypes at the Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh, and the Annan collections in Glasgow on the day before APIS and to the National Museum of Photography on the Tuesday following APIS.
The ‘How to’ or Process part of APIS will include :
- A simple full colour version of Niepce's heliochromes which delegates will be able to try for themselves.
- ‘Cyanotype Rex’ which gives better range and gradation than platinum, exposures down to seconds and which tones beautifully, but despite all that, is still cheap and simple.
- A presentation by Dan Burkholder on digital negatives for alternative processes.
- ‘Chrysotype Rex’ giving beautiful gold prints with a choice of blue blacks to browns and purples and metallic gold. This process is also cheap and simple.
- Becquerel daguerreotypes which can be made up to 20x16 and beyond.
- Polymer and traditional Photogravure.
- Cyanotype and the ‘Transit of Venus’: alternative uses of alternative photography.
The visit to the museums in Edinburgh and Glasgow will be free for those attending APIS but it will be necessary to pay the return fare to Glasgow.
The cost of APIS on 18 & 19 September will be £80. There will also be a restautrant meal on the Saturday evening.
There are places available on the day at Dumfermline. If possible telephone + 44 (0) 7958 65 77 31
Accommodation will need to be arranged individually. A large range of hotels, b&bs, hostels and self-catering accommodation can be found by feeding the words ‘Dunfermline' or ‘Edinburgh’ and ‘accommodation’ into a search engine.
APIS wishes to thank the following:
* Scottish Region of the Royal Photographic Society,
* The Scottish Society for the History of Photography (SSHOP),
* Scottish National Galleries
* Scottish National Centre for Photography
* The National Museum of Photography Film and Television
* The Getty Conservation Institute
* The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
* The Historical Group of the Royal Photographic Society
* Bostick and Sullivan
* Silverprint
The current revised programme is as follows:
APIS 2004 programme: 17-19 September 2004
Friday 17 September (optional)
10:00 Meet in Foyer of SNPG (Scottish National Portrait Gallery) for visit
to SNPG and the new Scottish Centre - Sara Stevenson & David Bruce.
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Train to Glasgow.
14:00 Visit to Mitchell Library for work by the Annans and Karel Klic in carbon and gravure.
15:30 Visit to Glasgow Print Studios with Harry Magee andRoger Farnham.
An opportunity to see a traditional printmakers' workshop, including the equipment and materials used in making a traditional photogravure plate. A plate will be will be inked-up and printed.
At will return to Edinburgh
Saturday 18 September
08:30 Registration and Coffee.
09:15 Introductions, background and domestic business.
09:30 Public pre-preparation of papers and materials for heliochromes,cyanotype and chrysotype rex
10:15 The Annans and Karel Klic: Photography, carbons and photogravure. Bill Buchanan
11:00 Coffee.
11:15 The Becquerel daguerreotype and the full colour heliochrome.David Burder
12:15 Presentation on delegates' work.
12:30 Lunch
13:45 Polymer Gravure. David Hoptman
14:30 Exploiting the full potential of the medium, with particular reference to the platinum print, relating historic practice to current methods. Terry King
15:30 Tea
15:45 Digital negatives for platinum, gum and other alternative processes. Dan Burkholder
16:30 Presentations of current work
17:00 The auditorium and a separate room will be available for continued informal discussion
19:30 Meet for Dinner
Sunday 19 September
09:00 Coffee
09:30 The First Photograph and the Work of the Getty Conservation Institute. Dusan Stulik
10:30 A radical approach to pinhole photograph. Russ Young
11:05 Coffee.
11:15 Traditional gravure and other photo-mechanocal processes. Harry Magee and Roger Farnham will describe their odyssey from printmakers to photo-etchers, via technology originally designed for making electrical printed circuit boards, to the holy grail of traditional photogravure. Harry Magee & Roger Farnham
12:00 Demonstrations of cyanotype rex, chrysotyoe rex and if appropriate, other processes.
12:15 Work of the Getty Conservation Institute including identification of historic photographs. Dusan Stulik
13:00 Lunch
14:00 The RPS and NMPF&TV Bradford with special reference to the work of Coburn and Evans.Brian Liddy
14:45 Tea.
15:00 Recording the Transit of Venus: early uses of alternative photography. Michael Maunder
15:45 A discussion of styles and objectives in alternate photography.
Monday 20 September (Optional)
A photograhic outing. Arrangements are currently being made for a visit to the birth place of James Clark Maxwell, the International Center For Mathematical Sciences, to see Maxwell’s memorabilia including the original plates for the first colour photograph. There will be a guided tour and a demonstration.
Tuesday 21 September (Optional)
A visit to the National Museum of Photography in Bradford to see masterworks from the Royal Photographic Society and the National Museum of Photography collections.
Terry King FRPS
Chairman, The Historical Group of the Royal Photographic Society