Film and Alternative Processes Resources
Books
“The Print”, by Ansel Adams, Little Brown and Company, 1983. Excellent writing. See also the first and second volumes in this series on “The Camera” and “The Negative”.
“Basic Techniques of Photography” by John P. Schaefer. Little Brown and Company, 1999. An outstanding two-volume set that very nicely complements Ansel Adams’ series. The second volume covers altertnative processes. Excellent writing with photographs from Ansel Adams and Alan Ross (Ansel’s last assistant).
“The Art of Photography: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression”, 2nd ed, by Bruce Barnbaum. Rocky Nook, 2021. Excellent coverage of silver photography and printing with photographs that rival the work of Ansel Adams. There is extensive discussion of the development of a personal style.
“The Photographer’s Master Printing Course” by Tim Rudman. Focal Press, 1997. One of the best books on silver gelatin printing.
“Changing Moods: Sixty Years in Black and White” by John Dersham, New South Books, 2021. A beautiful collection of black and white photographs from John Dersham, now living near Fort Payne. Details on camera, film and processing are provided for every photo, a valuable addition that we should see more often.
“The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes”, 3rd ed, by Christopher James. Cengage Learning, 2016. An excellent, huge (849 pp) book covering the history and methods for nearly all the “alternatives” including digital (except for daguerreotypes).
“Silver Gelatin in the Digital Age” by Douglas Ethridge, Routledge, 2024. The most recent book on hybridizing digital and analogue methods.
“Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking”, by David Bayles and Ted Orland, The Image Continuum, 1993. An excellent book. Art and Fear explores the way art is made, the reasons it often doesn’t get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up. If you hit a wall, this is the book for you.
Videos
Todd Korol – a nice collection of videos demonstrating photography using 35mm, medium and large format cameras: https://www.youtube.com/@toddkorolphoto/videos
Bill Schwab’s instructional videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3bPSmAt8jg9BExikgT9tBQ
Websites
Film resolution compared to digital cameras.
John Finch: Exellent website (and YouTube videos) with details on how to use a wide range of silver film developers: http://www.pictorialplanet.com/
Bruce Barnbaum (excellent author, photographer and teacher): https://www.barnbaum.com/
Alan Ross (Ansel Adam’s last technician): https://www.alanrossphotography.com/
Christina Anderson (the guru of alternative processes): https://www.christinazanderson.com/home/?showSplash=false