Ag magazine | Andrew Sanderson

Negative positive
Paper negative printing by Andrew Sanderson, from Ag16

The images were not taken with paper in the camera, but from paper copy negatives, the originals being on 35mm HP5 rated at ISO400. ‘This allowed me to use longer lenses for the odd shot or two, something that would have been much more problematic if I had used paper in a 5x4 camera.

As the series slowly progressed - paper negative not being the quickest way to make photographs - some of the pictures were looking quite powerful, the odd one strayed a little too close to romanticism, but these were discarded and I decided to try to keep a strength throughout the set.

‘One thing I hadn't anticipated when approaching this project was how a few of the scenes of Manchester looked more like some American city, one or two reminding me of Chicago. This certainly wasn't intended, but I embraced it as I recognised it. This hasn't happened with the prints from the other two cities covered, so it must be something about the buildings in Manchester. The project isn't finished yet, but these are the pictures that I currently prefer.’
This explanation of the technique appears in Ag16, with more pictures by Andrew Sanderson: I first started experimenting with paper negatives in a 5x4in camera over 20 years ago when I ran out of film and money as a student. I really wanted to continue taking pictures, and I figured that if paper was sensitive to light then it should be possible to use it in the camera, having once established its relative speed. Setting the camera up at the window I used a combination of guesstimation and trial and error to arrive at a workable ISO setting. I could tell you what this was, but all papers are different and we need to conduct tests of our own. Besides, this is part of the fun! A jigsaw is no fun if someone else does it for us. Next Page >>

• Latest Issue
• All About Ag
- - - Publishing News
- - - Our Readers Say
- - - Contacting Us
• Ag Archive
- - - Back Numbers
- - - Downloads
- - - Portfolios
- - - Features
- - - Books
• Placing Orders
• Ag Weblinks
- - - Ag's Own Weblog
- - - Readers' Websites
- - - UK Photo Galleries

Page 2 of 4

CLICK TO RETURN TO FEATURE INDEX

	This website is © 2008 Picture-Box Media Ltd. All photographs are © the photographer.