How do you make album copies?

Gast · 2005-10-11T14:37:33+00:00

Ich studiere momentan Photographie in Lüttich, und dieses Jahr muss ich mir eine analoge Technik aussuchen, diese genau beschreiben und schlussendlich eine k...

Gast

I’m currently studying photography in Liège, and this year I have to choose an analogue technique, describe it in detail and finally submit a complete project (including photos). The problem is that I know very little about albumin printing and haven’t managed to find enough information on it yet. Everything I’ve found so far is in French, and as I’m not particularly fluent in the language, I only understand about half of it. So if there’s anyone here who has ever made such copies or knows of an interesting website, please, please, please share your knowledge with me! I’d be very grateful! Kind regards, Mim

uworischki

Hi Myriam, if you speak English... http://www.alternativephotography.com/process.html ...oder if there’s absolutely no other way... http://www.edeldruck.com/Druckverfahren/albumindruck.htm just Google it, even if it takes another 300 years for all available knowledge to be accessible via Google.... Uwe

Roman

http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monogr...umen_print.html http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa012003a.htm Best regards, Roman

Gast

Hi Myriam, When it comes to printed literature, this is definitely right up there: Dr Edwin Mutter, *Compendium of Photography*, specifically Volume 3, *Positive Processes*. I’d make this compulsory reading for anyone studying photography anyway (it’s only available second-hand and, naturally, is only up to date up to around 1960). I’ll have a look at what my colleague has to say about albumin. Silly question: why albumin of all things? If there isn’t much out there, perhaps it’s worth researching? In any case, you won’t get very far with the web alone, even if you can find plenty of references there. Some material simply hasn’t been digitised yet. And when it comes to a classic process, knowledge of the ‘original sources’ certainly comes in handy. Best regards Martin

Gast

A huge thank you to everyone who replied – you’ve really been a great help! Why albumin? Well, it’s a technique I’ve heard almost nothing about so far, and I simply find it more interesting to learn new techniques rather than repeating the same thing over and over again. That said, I’m certainly not claiming to have much experience in this area yet. Of all the techniques suggested to me, this was simply the one that appealed to me most, and I really hope the initial tests will prove satisfactory. And thanks again for all the tips (especially the book)! Warm regards from Belgium! Mim

Gast

Hi Myriam, Good reason then – have fun! Just remember to find a place where the eggs can rot in peace without a disgusted flatmate or the university cleaner throwing them away. :lol: Best wishes Martin

PhilippReichmuth

Instead of cracking open loads of eggs, couldn’t you just use the liquid egg white from the 1-litre tub you get at Metro? I used to work as an ice cream chef for six months, and we were always in need of large quantities of fresh egg white.

RomanJRohleder

Philipp, Nah, the albumin content in the soup is probably too low after processing – and if I remember correctly, it’s pasteurised as well. What does work is that you can get albumin in powder form; it’s one of the ingredients in those overpriced, dubious gym shakes, after all. ;-) The only question is whether it’s worth it – I remember it being too expensive. A quick call to a chemical supplier or the chemist should clear things up. I actually wanted to run a few albumin experiments for the drf-MoselTR this summer, but I couldn’t find the time. Maybe in Steinkimmen? Martin, those things can just sit in the fridge. Miriam, a really silly question – isn’t independent research part of the core of your training? All the links posted here are just a search engine click away; you’ll find whole books there – and surely in your department library too. Answering specific questions, sure – but this is not far removed from copying someone else’s homework. Roman

Gast

@Roman , I really do hope that Miriam knows how to handle source citations properly. “Asking colleagues for sensible starting points” is still an acceptable academic method;-). If you can cobble together a whole term paper using what’s available on the web about albumin, I’d look for a university elsewhere – there’s plenty of amateurish input, but little of substance. @Miriam , if you’re starting to furrow your brow, here’s a starting point: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,378753,00.html Best regards Martin