Alternative Processes: Handmade

Juror's Statement

I made my first platinum/palladium print in 1984 and continue to practice this sensuous medium today. I’ve seen a lot of alternate process prints over the ensuing years. This visual history provides an awareness of why we make alt process prints and what separates the good ones from the less successful. There is no magic bullet in photography. No one camera, lens, technique or printing process will guarantee success in terms of image excellence or appreciation. The most successful images in this exhibition match the process to the subject matter, creating a total that is greater than the individual parts: process and subject.

When jurying exhibitions I ask, “Is there something arresting about this photograph?” Not shocking or off-putting, but rather a unique quality that elevates it above the glut of photographs that appear on our phones, tablets, monitors and televisions every day. Did the maker create something special? Instead of asking, “is this a fine alt-process photograph,” the better question is, “Is this a good photograph that successfully uses an alt process to convey its message and elicit the proper emotional response from viewers?”

When a printed image steps beyond the process, beyond the subject, and beyond the approach, you know the maker has done something special. You might have heard that “It’s not a true photograph until it’s printed.” I’m not sure if this is true or even relevant in the digital age but I can tell you that this exhibition includes some of the finest true photography you’ll find anywhere.

- Dan Burkholder

About the Juror

Dan Burkholder was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, USA, an agri-industrial community in the Appalachian Mountains. He attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, where he received his BA and Masters Degrees in Photography.

Dan was one of the first photographic artists to embrace digital technology in the early 1990’s. Melding his unique vision with mastery of both the wet and digital darkrooms, his platinum/palladium and pigmented ink prints are included in museum and private collections internationally.

Dan has taught at the International Center of Photography (New York), The Royal Photographic Society (Spain), The School of the Chicago Art Institute, The Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops (California), Santa Fe Workshops and at his studio in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Active with the Texas Photographic Society for many years, Dan is currently an advisory board member.

Pioneering the digitally enlarged negative process in 1992, Burkholder has helped open doors for all black and white photographers interested in moving into the new electronic technologies. Dan's landmark book, Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, has become a standard reference in the digital fine art photography field and was awarded “Best Technical Book” by Photo Eye, the world's largest distributor of photography books. Dan’s book, The Color of Loss; An Intimate Portrait of New Orleans after Katrina, (2008, University of Texas Press) presents a stunningly hyper-realistic study of the destruction suffered by the city and its residents. His book, iPhone Artistry (Pixiq Press, 2011) is the essential how-to guide for photographers who want to make fine art photographs with their iPhones.

Dan lives in Palenville, New York, with his wife, Jill Skupin Burkholder and their three cats and one dog.  Learn more about his work by visiting his website:  http://www.danburkholder.com/

Call for Entries

As beautiful as a fine inkjet print can be, one thing is missing: the hand of the artist.

For this exhibition we’re asking for hand-made images, made on a traditional silver emulsion or any substrate that has been hand-coated with light-sensitive material. This includes platinum/palladium, cyanotype, Vandyke, salt, Kallitype, photogravure, tintype, Daguerreotype, Polaroid transfer, encaustic … the list goes on. The “print” can be on paper or any other substrate that brings life to a photographic image. The key is not so much the process, but the involvement of the hand of the artist.

As usual, submission is by JPEG, but work selected to hang in the gallery must be an original handmade print. Photographers of those images will have the opportunity to describe their process, which will appear of the gallery label.

"Employing an alternative process in your photography isn’t a magic bullet to recognition or success. But if your heart is in the process and your images are complimented by the treatment, there is room for magic to happen before your eyes. 

I’m so looking forward to witnessing this magic when jurying the exhibition!" 

- Dan Burkholder