Standing in a darkroom and dipping one’s hands in chemicals to print photos might seem like an unnecessary ordeal for photography enthusiasts in this shoot-and-upload age, made possible by digital cameras and multifunction cellular phones.
So there must be an explanation why some decided to spend a sunny Saturday learning how to print photos using a century-old technique instead of simply taking their memory cards to a photo studio or adding their shots to an online portfolio.
Anton Ismail, the founder of the Kelas Pagi free photography class, said learning how to print photographs in a darkroom was important to “develop an understanding of the process.”
“It is to offer something that is not ‘instant’,” he said.
Kelas Pagi, which translates as “morning class” has been giving free photography lessons since 2006. It currently has around 250 “students”.
One of the class’ subjects is a salt printing technique that uses a number of substances, including a special salt, to coat various surfaces to enable those surfaces to be used as a photo-printing medium.
Kelas Pagi held a week-long exhibition in August titled “Beauty is Pain(t)” featuring the salt print works of 28 students. During the week, several discussions on subjects including stage photography and underwater photography were also held.
Last on the agenda before the official closing was a workshop held by two of the artists who had their works on display.
According to http://www.alternativephotography.com, salt printing was invented by William Henry Fox Talbot, an Englishman renowned for his photographic inventions in the 19th century, during his honeymoon.
The method allows one to recreate images from a film negative and print those images on a variety of surfaces, including watercolor paper, wood and even unpolished marble.
“This is gelatin, usually used to make jelly. This is combined with sodium nitrate and NaCl,” Sigit Wijaya, one of Kelas Pagi’s student instructors, explained to four youths who signed up for the Saturday workshop. The combination of ingredients is used to coat watercolor paper on which the images are to be printed.
The gelatin mixture is essential to “lock” the silver nitrate mixture, which is to be added to the paper afterwards.
Yohannes Yudha, another Kelas Pagi student in charge of the lesson, explained how the paper – already brushed with the silver formula and dried – should be stacked on a negative and squeezed between two glass sheets before being placed in the sun to develop.
“When we are ‘playing’ with the sun, if it is between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., around five to 10 seconds should be enough before we take it out of the sun … we don’t want [the photo] to be too dark, but it really depends on one’s taste,” he said.
Yudha explained how one could be creative with the paper by tinting it with tea, watercolors or coloring the finished image.
“Don’t forget to paint or cover the container to mix the silver solution with black paint or black duct tape,” the teachers said.
The four participants – two male and two female – were eager to learn and remained in high spirits despite the lengthy time it took to completely process their photos.
“Oh, I forgot to dry the paper,” Rido, one of the participants, said with a grin inside the darkroom. Thus, the watercolor paper was still wet when squeezed with the negative between the glass plates and his first try failed to develop properly.
Another participant had to try three times to get the results she wanted. However, after five hours of soaking, drying, soaking again, washing and drying again, the four each finally had a work they were proud of.
Due to the absence of their own negatives, the participants used negatives from the “Beauty is Pain(t)” exhibition. The photos in the exhibition focused on people’s often painful efforts to make themselves look more beautiful. Those efforts ranged from traditional headwear to diet pills and tattoos.
Salt print enthusiasts have comrades in other photography techniques that also demand extra pain beyond the convenience offered by digital technology.
For instance, there’s the Indonesian Pinhole Camera Community, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The pinhole camera technique allows one to create a camera using various containers such as powdered milk cans and cigarette tins.
A photo-taking session using a pinhole camera usually involves opening a black adhesive tape covering a small hole in the camera’s body to let in light and let the photo paper capture the image.
Ifan F. Harijanto said those who practice the art of pinhole cameras should be familiar with the ordeal of darkroom developing.
The usage of two glass plates to sandwich the developed negative and plain photo paper is similar to the method used in salt prints. “After [assembling the paper] is the light exposing process, which might use an enlarger like in the past, or a flashlight,” he said. After the light exposure, another chemical process is required to develop the photo.
Ifan said that the pinhole picture-taking technique could be combined with the salt print method. “But we must use ortho paper to take the picture … to be directly used as the film for salt printing,” he said.
Ortho paper is rather rare and expensive in this day and age when even photo studios are reluctant to print black and white film rolls, he said.
According to the Kelas Pagi students who taught salt printing, the silver nitrate for the process is also expensive, at around Rp 400,000 (US$47) for 25 grams. The exhibition itself cost over Rp 10 million.
“If you don’t cover the container [for the silver nitrate] with black paint or adhesive tape, then say bye-bye to tens of thousands of rupiah,” Yudha said.
Anton said that the substance could only be found at certain chemists. “When I hear that there is a stock of NO3 [nitrate], I grab it fast. It’s like someone who hasn’t eaten for a month,” he said, grinning.
Despite the high cost and the extra effort it requires, the pre-digital and even pre-lens methods of photography still draw certain individuals.
Anton said several Kelas Pagi students were won over by the salt print technique’s results, which resembled portraits from long ago, and the fact that the images could be printed on a variety of surfaces.
“It’s really fun. It sparks your curiosity,” Yudha said.
