Local photographers are exhibiting their photos using salt printing or platinum printing at an exhibition at Luohu Art Museum. Entry is free.
William Henry Fox Talbot worked out how to do salt printing in 1839, by soaking paper in silver iodide salts to register a negative image which, when photographed again, created permanent paper positives. It was one of the earliest ways of creating a photograph. He called it “salt print,” which spread across the globe, creating a new visual language of the modern moment.
A photo by Liu Zhimin. Photos from Luohu Art Museum’s WeChat account
This revolutionary technique transformed subjects from still objects, portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily life into images with their own specific aesthetic: a soft, luxurious effect particular to this photographic process. The few salt prints that have survived are seldom seen due to their fragility.
Patented in 1873 by the Englishman William Willis, platinum printing was immediately embraced at the turn of the century by photographers. This entirely hand-made process exceeds all others in its physical beauty and longevity.
A photo by Yang Junpo.
An image made in platinum will vary in color and intensity from warm dark browns to cold neutral blacks depending on the proportions of the metals used. Because it is composed of pure metal, the platinum process is one of the most stable and archival of any in photography. Unlike other processes in which the image is printed on a surface applied to the paper, the platinum image is literally embedded in the paper itself.
Dates: Until Aug. 16
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Mondays
Venue: Luohu Art Museum, Nanji Road, Luohu District (罗湖区南极路罗湖美术馆)
Metro: Line 2 to Hubei Station (湖贝站), Exit A