Pictorialist Group
“Pictorialism (is) a means of creating an image rather than simply recording it”
Lynne Warren, in the 2005 Encyclopaedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, states that Pictorialism explores
“the artistic possibilities of photography. Influenced by … traditional arts, such as Impressionism and Symbolism, photographers … arrived at a pictorialist aesthetic often characterised by soft focus, a massing of highlights and shadows, and highly manipulated printing techniques”
The Norwich and District Photographic Society Pictorialist Special Interest Group build on this with the idea of photography as craft.
The group embraces a wide range of experimental and craft based techniques including paper making, wet photographic processes, infra-red; x-ray; vintage equipment and lenses, alternative lenses, and alternatives to lenses, such as pinholes or even alternatives to conventional cameras!
All in the interests of creating something beautiful, interesting or both.
In its start-up phase the group has:
made paper in a member’s paper making workshop
Set up and used cyanotype processing, which can be adapted for other contact printing processes, we are hoping to try Argyrotype in the near future
begun the process of adapting a space in a member’s garage for the group to use as a darkroom
held a shoot in the Rosary cemetery using ‘non-standard’ equipment
Some events, such as an outside shoot only carry a minimal charge to cover the society’s insurance. However, others, which require materials, will carry an additional charge. For example, it costs about £2 to make a Cyanotype print, depending on the paper that’s used, producing the digital negative for that costs around £2.50; a roll of film typically costs £6 to buy and about £2.50 to develop by hand.
Will the group ever make it to platignum palladium printing, that’s another matter!
The facilities that are (presently) at members’ houses are limited in size and obviously require the member to be present and give up their time to help, so some scheduling will be needed.
This may sound a bit daunting, and you might not know if it’s for you, so every 6 months the group plans to hold a Zoom meeting to talk about what they are doing for the next six months, what facilities are available and how to access them and give a chance to ask questions.
Any ideas for further experiments gratefully received!
