Praise for The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes
The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, Third Edition
What People Are Saying About the Third Edition
– Lyle Rexer - Author, Educator, Critic, Historian Author of The Antiquarian Avant Garde, The Edge of Vision: The Rise of Abstraction in Photography October 2014
"It's a phrase that's used too often but in this case it applies: every photographer -- everyone who cares about photography — should have this book. Even if they never open it to check a formula. Not just because this is the bible for alternative processes or that it represents the fruit of a lifetime of study, teaching and practice by a master. This is also a document of great cultural significance. In an essential way, it shows us where we are - photographically, artistically — in relation to our past and future. It casts an entirely new light on what it means to be "contemporary."
– Susan Bright - Author, Educator, Assistant Curator of Photography National Portrait Gallery, London Author of Art Photography Now, Auto Focus, and Home Truths
"The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes: 3rd Edition is extraordinary. Not only in its scale, depth of research and richness of information, but in the way it is written. It makes complex information about chemistry and process spellbinding and weaves social and photographic history into a captivating read that is simultaneously entertaining, accessible and richly informative. This is no mean feat. As somebody who does not take photographs it has given me even more of an appreciation for those who used (and continue to use) these methods and to fully understand the beautiful magic of traditional and contemporary alternative processes of photography."
– Keith Carter - Photographic artist, scholar, author of 11 books including Fireflies, A Certain Alchemy, Ezekiel's Horse, and Keith Carter Photographs: Twenty-Five Years.
"What a wonderful book! Clear and concise, with all the secrets of the dark arts in one volume. Call it the King James."
– Dick Sullivan - rtist photographer, author, chemist, entrepreneur, and founder of Bostick & Sullivan
"Without a doubt this is the ultimate book on alternative photography. The 3rd edition is like meal in a Michelin 3 star restaurant... the courses keep coming, getting better and better. This is a book not only for a photographer making photographs with these processes, but an essential book for anyone concerned with photography. It should be in a handy reach of every, curator, photography dealer, art critic, and photo historian. And lastly, it's just a good read, sit back and enjoy.”
– Dan Estabrook - Photographic artist, scholar
"Christopher James' new edition has expanded right alongside the boom in interest in older techniques, as more and more contemporary artists reach backward to look forward. Covering processes from the first discoveries of the 1830's to the latest inventions and re-inventions, the book includes an astonishing breadth of work and a wide range of artists that show just how rich this field has become. If you need any proof that handmade photography is alive and well in the digital age, here it is, in spades."
– Mike Ware - Author, photographic artist, chemist, scholar
“Throughout the twelve years spanned by three editions of this book, we have watched Christopher James's manual grow - at the forefront of its subject in authority and comprehensiveness - in historical content and anecdotal humour - to the point where this third edition should now enjoy the status of a magnum opus: a unique sourcebook for practising the arts of 'alternative' photography, which have recently also taken the silver-gelatin medium under their wing. Paradoxically, this renaissance of arcane analogue skills draws strength from the contemporary revolution in digital imaging technology, as James shows us, due to the ease of picture manipulation by computer and the making of large negatives by ink-jet printer. Whether your chosen photochemistry for analogue imaging is based on salts of silver, iron, or chromium, or on plant dyestuffs or on photopolymers, natural and man-made, you will find here all the pertinent instructions that you need, pleasantly enlivened by the author's charismatic style and entertaining digressions, and richly illustrated by the work of artist-practitioners, both historic and contemporary."
– Luis Gonzalez Palma - Photographic artist, scholar, and author of three monographs including, Poems of Sorrow and El Silencio de la Mirada
"Christopher James displays in the third edition of this amazing book all of his knowledge on "alternative processes," and offers the reader its cultural history, formulas and process, and visual examples from past and present, all explained with preciseness and clarity. The most interesting feature in this new edition is that it opens perspectives for creative events, encourages the desire to explore techniques that are part of the history of photographic representation, and articulates and confers meaning on the desire of generating images in the present. Christopher's new edition allows us to visually explore existence and helps to understand the development of contemporary subjectivity."
– Xtine Burrough - Scholar, photographic artist, and author of Digital Foundations and Foundations of Digital Art and Design
"Christopher James is a master of alternative photographic processes, and a magician at illuminating the role of the photographic image in contemporary society. Readers will be sure to enjoy James' insight, knowledge, and personable and authentic writing style."
– Dr Fionnbharr Ó Súilleabháin
"Christopher James shares his over 40 years' experience as a practitioner and teacher to bring us this third edition of his magnificent opus, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes.
Greatly expanded since the second edition, this is the definitive reference guide to the genre. The book includes a comprehensive chapter on the increasingly popular wet-plate collodion process, a detailed chapter on calotypes, hand-coated gelatin emulsions and other ways of making negatives together with detailed chapters on the entire range of printing processes, all in sufficient detail to keep any practitioner busy for a lifetime.
The Little History sections, providing the historical contexts of each process, are as thoroughly researched as the detailed practical descriptions that follow. This book is Beaumont Newhall meets William de Wiveleslie Abney. If it doesn't leave you burning with desire to try an alternative process, then nothing will".
Praise for the Second Edition
“The first edition was a stunning achievement, and one I felt that was not likely to be superceded. Five short years later Christopher James has created a very new work and a new standard. The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes: 2nd Edition is, by far, the best alternative photographic process book ever!”
-Richard Sullivan, Founder and Co-Owner, Bostick & Sullivan
“As bit strings take over our photographic being – if not our lives – we need, more than ever, this playful and inspiring manual. James cheerfully and effectively instructs us, whether we are novice or adept, in the alchemical arts of transmuting our expressive photographic images, both digital and analogue, into hand-crafted prints which will forever bear our individual marks.”
-Dr. Mike Ware, Author of over 50 books and publications on alternative process, history, process and preservation.
“Expert alternative printers I know call Christopher James' first edition "the Bible." Now it's an even more lushly illustrated Bible, with clear and complete directions for every process in history. Christopher James has been leading, inspiring, and teaching delighted students for years, in every medium in the field. We are so lucky… he knows everything in the world about all of it.”
-Judy Seigel, Publisher/Editor of World Journal of Post-Factory Photography
"Among the things people grab first when fleeing a burning building are children, pets and family photographs. Photographers should probably add Christopher James' book, definitive now in its second edition. It is the one indispensable text for mastering a full repertoire of alternative techniques in photography. At a time when photography is threatened by digital blandness and terminal consistency, this book contains the creative antidote."
-Lyle Rexer, author of Photography's Antiquarian Avant-garde: The New Wave in Old Processes
“Christopher James has taken the most thorough book on the hand-made photograph and made it even more complete. It's full of every technical detail, historical anecdote and experimental idea he’s found over many years of research, practice and teaching, without sacrificing an ounce of his familiar enthusiasm and good humor. Even if you weren't interested in alternative photographic processes, you could read this book for pleasure alone.”
-Dan Estabrook, Artist, NYC
Recent Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A Photography Classic by Christopher James | December 11, 2011
By Regis (Remy) (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
This review is from: The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes (paperback)
”The second edition of Christopher James' classic book is a tour de force. A massive work of over 600 pages and hundreds of images, James covers almost all alternative processes (with the exception of gravure and daguerrotype) such as calotype, cyanotype, gum bichromate, argyrotype, albumen, platinum/palladium processes and so on, in an intelligent and readable manner. It is a witty, quirky, literary and amusingly written book that tantalizes the reader, befitting a scion of the famous pragmatist William James. But James does not merely describe alternative processes. He provides a deeper insight into the early history of photography, its later development, its impact on thinking about art, and on society. He also references photography's effect on observers of this puzzling meld of science and art such as Charles Baudelaire. In a trenchant criticism of photography in the Salon of 1859, Baudelaire famously called it (among other things) "squalid", "a cheap method" and "a fanatical madness" . Two aspects intrigue me about this book. First, Chapter 5, "The Digital Options", is new since the 1st edition. It is a rumination on the impact the digital world has had on photography, on perception and on the audience. It is worth reading as a stand-alone piece. Second, James' book revives the discussion about "Imperfection" and its artistic merit. Every alternative print is unique and often imperfect. For the ancient Greeks, perfection was a prime requisite for high art and beauty, and this concept was revived during the Renaissance in art and in architecture. The question is whether artists today WANT to achieve perfection. The very beauty of alternative processes is its imperfection and unpredictability, and therein lies the beauty of such images. And each image is unique and irreproducible. There is also the great appeal of a haptic approach that is missing in digital photography and in so many other high technology fields. The tactile nature of alternative processes (and traditional film itself will probably become "alternative" very soon) gives great pleasure to some of us who strive to make images that takes effort. It is rather like the exhilaration of hiking up a mountain, rather than being carried up to the summit by bearers.”
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, can't put it down | January 1, 2012
By D. Hanson " D" (Chicago)
This review is from: The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes (paperback)
”If you are interested in alternative photo printing techniques this book is a must. Most of the major techniques are covered in individual chapters with some history and other interesting information. In some ways this book is a cookbook and in some ways not. It recognizes the tremendous variability in most of these processes. Using this book I went from failure to success in making gum bichromate prints. I am looking forward to trying each and every one of the processes for a long enjoyable future of print making.”
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential key to any darkroom printer's library | August 29, 2011
By Matthew
This review is from: The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes (paperback)
If you have ever had any interest in alternative printing or working in the non tradition of wet darkroom work this is a must have. To think of giving a brief historical background, a full chemical proprieties list, and than giving in depth instruction of how to make the physical print of more than 10 process's is simply amazing to pack into one book. While reading you can really appreciate Christopher's passion for the hand made craft. He is able to explain these often complicated chemical prints in a easy and non intimidated manner. In a fully digitized world it is so refreshing to see a man fully dedicate himself to something alternative than the norm.
What I loved about this book is how nothing is left to the imagination, often times while reading technical instructional books there is always that little something that is left out that can really make the world of difference while in the studio. With James's book nothing is left to the imagination, anything that could go wrong or may go wrong he warns you off, and gives you insight on how to avoid that. I was amazed to see that he was able to top himself with the first edition, I very much look forward to the third edition.
As I write this review I look to the book case fondly at my battle tested personal copy stained all over with various shades of browns and blacks from chemistry and smelling like lavender varnish.
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book on Alternative Processes | June 10, 2011
By BjornR
This review is from: The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes (paperback)
I started to explore the alternative (historic) photographic printing techniques approx. a year ago, and have learned lots of stuff by searching the net for information. I have also bought several books on the theme, but only this book had the information level I was searching. It is a thick book, and very structured. Great read too. So far I have only explored a few of the techniques described in the book, but it is a joy to read about all the other techniques. The author brings the techniques into perspective by starting each chapter with a historic overview. In this way, I have got a much better understanding of why and how the different techniques evolved. But most important: I get a much better understanding of how to make beautiful images printed in alternative techniques. Highly recommended.
I am running a blog on my personal experience with these techniques, and had to make a short review of the book on www.retrofoto.dk. Off course I gave it top score, which I also do here.
-Bjorn