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Left: 5am on the Bayfront — handmade ammonium bromide ("AmBr") negative

In 2006, I started to learn how to make silver gelatin emulsions. At that time, it was conventional wisdom that “film was dead.’ Most black and white printing papers had been discontinued, so the idea that film was next wasn’t irrational. Nevertheless, it was depressing how the photographers who had already replaced their analog workflow with digital were often hostile to photographers still using film. I couldn’t begin to speculate on a reason.

Researching and using handmade silver gelatin materials was an act of historical preservation. Other historical processes had already led the way. Platinum printing was an early success. More followed. When I was studying historical processes at Arizona State University in the early 1980s, simply getting an image on paper was considered an outstanding achievement. Today, the quality of alt-process art is superlative.

We all live by a personal mission statement, whether or not we can articulate exactly what it may be. Twenty years ago, I wanted to be part of a movement to save silver gelatin. Today, Ilford (Harman Technology) is as strong as ever in its long history. Even Kodak has returned from the dead. Time for a new mission statement.

We all know how much photography has changed in the last twenty years. It’s not just the technology. If the history of photography is anything, it’s a history of changing technology. AI is different, whether in our cameras, in our post-processing tools, or stand-alone artificially generated images. How much of our agency as artists do we give away?

Is your photography necessary? Of course not. Almost everyone has a camera with them at almost all times. So why? Why be a photographer? For me, it’s because I can’t not be. Since I was shown how to use my first camera, I’ve been a photographer. But I’ve become altogether too aware of how swiftly time is passing. I want to slow it down. Need to slow it down – slow enough to see and feel and remember each moment. For me, right now, that’s a deep dive into ammonium nitrate plain silver emulsion (“AmBr”).