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A Clear Place in the Woods

A "free form" Gum Print made from two transparencies: one positive, one negative.

More information . . .

The traditional photography processes that are familiar to photographers use metal salts, dyes, or inks to make prints. Black and white gelatin silver photographic paper, (the standard black and white process we are all familiar with from high school darkrooms), uses a silver salt suspended within a gelatin coating on paper.

This and many other processes allowed for photographs to get into the newspapers quicker and prints to be made in less then an hour for a few bucks down at the drug store. These standard processes of the mid 1900s were so efficient and quick, they replaced historical photography processes of the late 1800s which took a bit more patience and craft.

Today, in the 21st century, the pattern is repeating. Digital photography has quickly surpassed and mostly replaced the chemical darkrooms of the 20th century.

Gum Bichromate photography is one of many of these forgotten "alternative processes" (or "historical processes") and is perhaps the most versatile of them. It is a medium which allows the photographer to print with color and tonal values in anyway he desires. It is a blend of the mechanical constraints of light in photography and the freedom of expression in painting or drawing. This expressiveness of gum bichromate printing has allowed for the technique to survive among artists interested in printmaking and photography, such as myself. It gained much of its popularity among photographers trying to establish photography as a unique form of art in the early 1900s.

Of course, you are not limited to printing just one layer. This is the beauty of the process. Multiple layers of emulsion can be printed, one at a time, for drastic or subtle effects. Multiple colors or tones can be printed on top of one another for a richer print then you could achieve with a single layer of pigment.

One method is to make color separations, either while shooting using red , blue and green glass filters over the lens, or using your computer. The color separations can then be recombined using cyan, yellow, magenta, and black pigments. If done carefully, one can achieve rather remarkable full color gum Bichromate prints.

Layering also allows you to print a rich and full scale from subtle light grays right down to black, or maybe even some other colors for a toned effect. Some layers can be quite opaque while others are transparent, depending on the amount of pigment you use. Most full color prints that I make now have between 5-12 layers.

New layers are very delicate when they are developing allowing you to use a brush or your finger to wipe away areas. Working subtractivly, one can brush out colors in certain areas, or breathe life into an otherwise dull image with sweeping marks and strokes!

The Gum Bichromate process is difficult to master. It can be used to make photo realistic images, or even abstractions of reality. It is a versatile instrument of the photographer's or the artist's tools.

Making a gum print requires a meticulous balance of many variables. This will require great patience and craft. You should realize first and foremost that it is next to impossible to have complete control over every aspect of printing that you will encounter.

The best part about gum printing is the accidents and imperfections that can occur, will occur! Although quite discouraging at first, (see my first gum print) in time you can learn to steer the accidents however you desire. Soon, the accidents become tools in your hands. Like any other artistic endeavor, learning this process takes uttermost patience, plenty of mishaps and mistakes, experimentation, and an artist's drive to create!

A Full Color Gum Bichromate Print made using color separations