The In-Sight Photography Project

New In-Sight Class: Alternative Processes

Cyanotype image by Zachary P. Stephens

Five returning In-Sight students this summer joined up this summer with co-teachers Erin Barnard and Nora Zale to embark on the sometimes frustrating, yet ultimately rewarding process of experimenting with new techniques for creating the photographic image.

The Alternate Process class started off in the darkroom, using liquid emulsion to create enlarged images on different kinds of art papers. The group then moved on to enlarging their 35mm negatives onto sheet film in preparation for contact printing with the antique processes cyanotype and kallitype. Making negatives in the dim light of the darkroom can be a tedious endeavor. However, the time and patience were well worth it for students like Farrin Soffeild, who smiled as extra chemicals washed away to reveal the “spectacular blue” of the cyanotype print as the final result of her work.

Several students attended an artist lecture at the local Flat Street Center for Photography, where the exhibit of cyanotype solar photograms inspired students and teachers alike. This sun printing process proved to be the highlight of the class for most participants. Many were excited to try out various materials and to extend their experience with photographic printing into the bright sun of August afternoons.

The class was certainly a commitment, requiring students to attend two three-hour sessions a week. Yet, as one student puts it, “there is this devoted crew that always shows up.” The discovery of these new techniques proved deserving of such dedication in the long run. “I feel much better about photography than when I first came into this class,” says one student. “Before I was in a lull, and now I am here four days a week.”

At In-Sight the benefits are never limited to students, and this summer was just as enriching for the Alternate Process instructors. Having discovered some of these processes for the first time as part of the class, Nora says, “that’s what I love about this classroom – students and teachers collectively constructing our knowledge and understanding of the art of photography.”

As the last chance to work with some of the students before they leave for college in the fall, this class was a time for growing close with some of In-Sight’s most dedicated faces. As everyone leaves the summer behind, all have hopes to bring these new techniques to their future work at In-Sight and beyond.