Introduction to the Dry Plate Process
With Terry Holsinger
Date: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, September 5, 6 & 7
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395.00 plus $95.00 lab fee
Registration Form

With the announcement of the invention of the Silver Gelatin Emulsion by Dr. R. L. Maddox in 1871 there followed a short period of experimentation that led to Charles Bennett demonstrating and publishing his methods in 1878 and the Dry Plate Process was barn. The Dry Plate marked a fundamental shift in the photographic syntax that has continued to the present era. For the first time photographers could simply go out and photograph without having to coat their own materials and then process and print what they had photographed at their leisure. This simple process is similar (with improvements in manufacturing) to those used today to make film and printing materials. This workshop will be an overview of the process. Topics covered will include making the emulsion, hand coating the glass plate, exposing, and processing. Participants will each be able to shoot a few of their own images with the dry plate process. All the cameras and other necessary materials will be provided. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Terry Holsinger is a mostly self-taught, photographic experimenter. Holsinger has been making work with historic processes such as cyanotype and salted paper prints since his introduction to them during a Community College class he took in the late 80’s. In 2001 he embarked on learning how to make his own dry plate emulsions, so he could use an old Seneca whole plate camera he had bought but had not been able to use. After figuring out a method that worked, he later gave a couple of workshops to other members of the AAPG in 2006. Current camera formats he uses include 35mm, 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, and 6.5x8.5. With an eye for improvements in his methods, he continues to research the methods used in making emulsions, as well as the history of dry plate manufacturing.

The Salted Paper Printing Process – A Two-Day Workshop
With Brenton Hamilton
Date: Saturday & Sunday, September 13 & 14
Time:10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $350.00 plus $95.00 lab fee
Registration Form

In this workshop participants will learn how to make prints with the elegant salted paper process from the 1840's. We will investigate the rich and subtle possibilities of silver and gold metals used in this process. We will coat gelatinized paper with silver nitrate to make it light sensitize and tone with the salted paper technique. Students will learn about which negatives work best for the process. We will make negatives on instant film, and then print them onto the gelatinize paper. There will be ample time to practice coating, exposing and toning with gold chloride. Students should bring large format negatives if they have them or digital negatives. You may also bring a few small objects for a still life photograph in the studio. All other materials will be provided. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Brenton Hamilton received his MFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art & Design in 1992. He is the Certificate Program Director of photography at Rockport College and for 13 years has led summer workshops at The Maine Photographic Workshops. His teaching specialties include B&W craft and Historic Processes and the History of Photography. Hamilton’s own work is inspired by the 19th century, a principle area of research and inspiration for him as an historian and printmaker. Devoted to the cyanotype, Hamilton's embellished images are exhibited nationally and were published in the recent 2005 Columbia Journal. Current projects include OBSCURA, a magazine devoted to contemporary issues.

Instructor’s Site: www.brentonhamiltonstudio.net

Introduction to the Wet Plate Collodion Process: Ambrotypes, Tintypes & Glass Negatives
With Eric Taubman
Date: Saturday & Sunday, September 27 & 28
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: Wet Plate Studio Barn in East Hampton, NY
Price: $395.00 plus $55.00 lab fee
Registration Form

This workshop is an intensive introduction to the silver-based process that was the leading mode of photography in the 1850's and 1860's. The wet plate collodion process involves the hand-pouring of chemicals onto glass or blackened metal to produce negatives, positive ambrotypes or tintypes. The process must be completed while the plate is wet; the images are exposed, developed, fixed and viewable within minutes. In this workshop, participants will learn how to prepare the plates, pour the chemistry, and expose the plates using 4”x 5” and 5”x7” wooden view cameras with antique brass lenses. Students will be encouraged to experiment with the process and to shoot landscapes, portraits and still life images. The work of historical photographers such as Matthew Brady, Juliet Margaret Cameron and Felix Nadar will be shown and discussed as well as the works of contemporary wet plate photographers. Participants will shoot at least 4 or 5 plates each during the weekend. East Hampton NY is an ideal setting for a wet plate workshop, as participants will be able to utilize booth outdoor natural lighting and indoor studio lighting. All materials including cameras, chemicals, glass, and metal will be supplied. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Eric Taubman has been a Wet Plate Collodion practitioner for more than nine years, has taught numerous wet plate workshops and specializes in the history of early 19th Century photographic optics, chemistry, and cameras. Taubman’s own wet plate images range in size from ¼-plate to 20”x 24” plates. His work was featured in the Spring 2006 issue of View Camera Magazine. Over the past thirty years Taubman has been involved in the New York City photography scene as a fine art black and white printer, lab owner, teacher, and artist.

An Introduction to the Cyanotype Printing Processes
With Peter Nappi
Date: Saturday & Sunday, October 4 & 5
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395.00 plus $25.00 lab fee
Registration Form

This workshop is an investigation into the expressive possibilities of the Cyanotype. This process involves an iron-based chemical formula that creates a light sensitive emulsion. This emulsion is then painted onto art paper and exposed by placing a negative on the emulsion and making a contact print with a UV light source. This workshop will cover and demonstrate the techniques and procedures for making these aptly named blue-toned prints. Different chemistry formulas, emulsions, coating methods and paper choices will be discussed. Students should be prepared to bring in several of their own images in negative form. Medium and large format B&W negatives, paper and acetate negatives and digital negatives are all appropriate for this workshop. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Peter Nappi, a Brooklyn-based photographer, recieved a B.A from Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY. He has been a fine art photographic printer for over twenty years. He has printed black and white prints for Klass Photographics in Brooklyn, the New York Historical Society, and Kelton Labs. He produces his work with many of the non-silver photographic process such as the cyanotype, platinum and palladium, albumen and the wet plate collodion process. Nappi has studied with Joel Sternfeld and noted wet plate photographer John Coffer.

Introduction to the Platinum & Palladium Printing Process
With Carl Weese
Date: Saturday & Sunday, October 11 & 12
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395.00 plus $55.00 lab fee
Registration Form

In this course, participants will learn to make photographs by direct contact printing with Platinum and Palladium emulsions using a coherent, unified approach from shooting to final print. This introductory workshop will give an overview of the process beginning with the visualization of pictures for the platinum process, exposure and development to create a suitable negative and the procedures for hand-coating, exposing and processing platinum prints. Participants will execute the entire process from subject selection to the creation of final prints. One goal of the workshop is to demystify the process. Contact printing in Pt/Pd is direct and simple, though learning to create masterful prints can take years of practice. Students will finish the weekend with a basic understanding and experience of the process, ready to improve their skills through practice on their own or in later workshops. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Carl Weese was born in 1949 and grew up in New Jersey. From 1972 to the present, Weese has worked as a freelance photo-illustrator for editorial and corporate clients. His personal photographs have been widely exhibited in group and one-person shows and he is represented by galleries in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington and Virginia. Weese is a contributing editor to PhotoTechniques magazine. He is co-author of the 1998 book The New Platinum Print, an instruction manual on modern approaches to the classic platinum/palladium photographic printing process.

Instructor's site: www.carlweese.com

An Introduction to Printing with the Wet Plate Collodion Process
With Keliy Anderson-Staley
Date: Saturday & Sunday, October 18 & 19
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (with a 1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395 plus $95.00 lab fee
Registration Form

This printing workshop is for photographers and artists who have already shot a lot of great images on chrome or film and want to see how their images would look as tintypes or ambrotypes. The class will not be a shooting class; rather, we will cover the entire process of printing from slides, chromes and digital positive transparencies onto wet plate collodion tintypes and ambrotypes in the darkroom. We will use conventional black and white enlargers to print positive images onto blackened metal or glass. We will make glass and metal sheets light sensitive by coating it with collodion and a silver nitrate. Prints will be developed immediately after exposing in the darkroom. Participants who have used the wet plate process in camera will be well prepared for this class, but we photographers who have not yet experimented with the wet plate collodion processes or who have not been in a darkroom for years are also welcome. Everyone in the workshop will be able to print multiple images on a variety of plate sizes. This is a great class to take if you want to make artistic tintype and ambrotype prints or beautiful holiday gifts. Registrants are asked to bring in 35 mm to 4x5 slides, chromes, or digital negatives. All other materials will be provided. Limited to 6 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Keliy Anderson-Staley received a BA from Hampshire College and an MFA in Photography from Hunter College in NYC. Her ambrotypes and tintypes have been shown at the Bronx Museum for the Arts, NY; Safe-t Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; John Cleary Gallery, Houston TX; 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland OR; Tilt gallery, Phoenix, AZ; and at Zero Station Gallery, Portland, ME. Keliy is a recipient of a 2008 New York Foundation for the Arts photography fellowship. Her work can be seen in the 2008 Fall/Winter issue of Camerawork Magazine and the August 2008 issue of RiseUP magazine. She has taught wet plate collodion classes at Hampshire College and the Bakery Photography Collective in Maine.

Instructor's site: www.andersonstaley.com

An Introduction to The Bromoil Printing Process
With Joy Goldkind
Date: Saturday & Sunday, October 25 & 26
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395.00 plus $25.00 lab fee
Registration Form

The Bromoil Process offers a unique way to make your images more expressive. With brushes and inks you will learn to expand your vision. Bromoil is a process which transforms a black and white silver gelatin print into a one of a kind pigment print. The print is bleached to remove the silver and harden the gelatin coating. After soaking in water, the bleached image will accept lithographic inks applied by gently pounding a stiff brush into the print. At this stage in the process practitioners can make prints of any color and as dark or light as they would like. This historic method is the only alternative process where you can use small format (35 mm) negatives to create enlarged painterly prints. This soft, emotive style of printing is wonderful for portraits, landscapes and still life images. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Joy Goldkind is a fine art photographer who has studied at the International Center for Photography as well as Palm Beach Photo Center in Delray Beach, Florida. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Joy’s work is represented by some of NYC's most prestigious galleries, and her work has been shown in museums and galleries across the country. Helen Harris has reviewed her work for the NY Times. She has also been published in View Camera, Photographer's Forum and B&W magazines.

Introduction to The Albumen Printing Process
With Daniel Levin
Date: Saturday & Sunday, November 1 & 2
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395 plus $55.00 lab fee
Registration Form

This course offers an introduction to the dominant printing process from the 1870’s to the 1890’s. The Albumen process is done by coating drawing paper with egg whites and then making it light sensitive in a silver bath. A large digital, film or glass negative is placed on top of the coated paper in a contact frame and exposed with UV light. Its many finicky steps become well worth the effort upon success. The results are handmade prints that rival platinum in tonal range and the use of egg whites produces a glossy surface sheen. The print color is variable from warm sepia to slate gray with gold toning. Participants should be prepared to bring medium or large format glass, film, or digital negatives with them to contact print with the Albumen process. All other supplies will be provided. Limited to 8 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Daniel Levin, a Manhattan-based photographer, received his BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. Levin is a master albumen and cyanotype printer employed by fine art photographer John Dugdale. His fine art prints have been exhibited and published across the United States and Europe.

Pinhole Photography: Making a Camera and Shooting
With Harvey Stein
Date: 3 Days: Saturday & Sunday, November 8 & 9, and Sunday, November 16
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30 Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $395 plus $75.00 lab fee
Registration Form

Pinhole cameras enable the photographer to work intuitively and with refreshing spontaneity, leaving high-tech equipment behind. Their simplicity frees us and makes photographic vision more immediate and direct. Pinhole photography presents opportunities to express our vision even more creatively than we could with conventional cameras. There is a magical, dreamlike, often surreal quality to photographs made with these cameras. The range of visual effects that can be produced is limitless—whether the image is meant for commercial, personal, or fine-art purposes. Students will build their own 4x5 pinhole cameras and explore distinct pinhole qualities—ultra-wide angles, infinite depth of field, long exposures, reciprocity, blur and movement, great distortions and multiple exposures—and will incorporate these qualities to make meaningful photographs. Students will calibrate pinhole apertures and place special emphasis on the issue of long film exposures while photographing people, places and things in the New York area. Looking at our results will provide critical feedback and is an important aspect of the workshop. Darkroom procedures and use will also be a part of the workshop. This three day workshop is for those who wish to explore a rich and satisfying area of photography that is aimed at producing new ways of working, thinking and looking at the world. There will be new stimulations and a change from the usual way of making photographs. All materials will be provided. Limited to 10 participants.

Instructor Bio:
Harvey Stein is a professional photographer, teacher, lecturer, and author based in New York City. He currently teaches at the International Center of Photography and has been a member of the faculty of the New School University, Drew University, The Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Bridgeport. A recipient of a Creative Arts Public Service (CAPS) fellowship and numerous artist-in-residency grants, Stein’s newest book, Movimento: Glimpses of Italian Street Life, was published in December of 2006 by Gangemi Editore (Rome). Stein’s first book of photographs, Parallels: A Look at Twins, was published by E.P. Dutton in 1978. This was followed by Artists Observed, published by Harry Abrams, Inc. in 1986, and, Coney Island, a color volume of photographs, published in 1998 by W.W. Norton. Stein’s photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States and Europe—70 one-person and 135 group shows to date. His photographs are in more than 50 permanent collections, including the Bibliotheque Nationale, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography, the Denver Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), the Portland (Oregon) Museum of Art, Museet for Fotokunst (Odense, Denmark), Musee De La Photographie (Charleroi, Belguim), the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Addison Gallery of American Art. His work is represented by the Bruce Silverstein Gallery, Throckmorton Fine Art and June Bateman Fine Art, New York City; and by the Photo Researchers Agency, New York City.

Instructor's site: www.harveysteinphoto.com

Antique Lenses & Equipment Seminar
With Geoffrey Berliner & Eric Taubman
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Time: 10:00am – 6:00pm (1 hour lunch)
Location: 36 East 30th Street NY, NY 10016
Price: $50.00
Registration Form

In this seminar, we will discuss lenses and the uses of various designs of 19th-Century brass lenses and early 20th-Century Pictorial, Special Effect, and Soft Focus lenses, especially as they pertain to alternative photographic processes. Various formats will be covered and appropriate focal length lenses for large format shooting will be described. Participants will leave knowing how to figure out what size film or plate a particular lens will cover. Participants will learn how to differentiate between lens designs such as the Petzval, Rapid Rectilinear, Wide Angle Globe, and Diffused Focus. We will discuss how lens design effects the characteristics of the final image and how best to employ different lenses. We will also look at many different 19th-Century wooden view cameras. Many antique lenses will be available for examination and for handling. Print samples will be on hand as illustrative examples of the kinds of images that different lenses produce. Limited to 20 participants.

Private Tutorials

The Center for Alternative Photography offers a number of one-to-one learning opportunities. Private tutorials are ideal for someone whose schedule doesn’t allow them to take our regularly scheduled workshops. We offer private tutorials in almost any of the processes listed above. Some of our past students who have come for private tutorial have had a specific problem or project that they are working on. Most two day private tutorials are $1000 and a one day tutorial is $500