Silver Gelatine Prints – An Exclusive Cultural Asset.
Classic black & white silver photography is neither pure nostalgia nor a technical anachronism, but rather a conscious aesthetic or archival decision. The primacy of analog black and white photography is the special image that should be preserved as a cultural time capsule for future generations. They compare to historical photos, which are time capsules from the past. When you look at historical photographs you immediately become a time traveler. This is the unique power of photography. Preserving memories for the long term has always been an important (albeit a bit forgotten) task of photography.
A family treasure that has been passed down from generation to generation: this photo gallery (click on image above) of Mark Brandenburgh’s ancestors provide an insight into their lives in the time period from around 1898 to the first decades of the Federal Republic of Germany. Please mind that the oldest photographs presented in this gallery survived two world wars. After the World War II some of these family photos were smuggled from the GDR into the Federal Republic of Germany. As authentic time capsules, photographs preserve visual memories of people and events for future generations.
Silver Gelatin Prints – Archival Quality Photos since 1866.
The last 150 years have impressively proven the durability of silver gelatin photographs and are therefor highly apprechiated by art investors and collectors, gallery owners and upscale private clients. In the age of digital photography, few professional portrait photographers are able to create hand-made photos in their own wet darkroom. As in the last century, gelatin silver prints have once again become a very exclusive cultural asset – difficult to commission.
Historic Background
The silver halide-based baryta paper used in the manual production of black and white photographs was introduced in 1866 as a fundamental process by Martinez-Sanchez and J. Laurent: it is a fiber paper coated with barium sulfate on which the light-sensitive image emulsion (silver halides embedded in gelatin) is applied. Without the barite coating on the paper support, the image emulsion would sink into the paper felt and its surface structure would become visible in the photo. Because barite is lighter than paper white, barite also acts as an optical brightener. The barite layer also increases light absorption in the blacks of the image. Handcrafted silver gelatin prints are characterized by bright light and rich blackness. Basically, all baryta papers still manufactured today and still used by Mark Brandenburgh reaches back to this historically proven process from 1866.
Committed to the Cultural Heritage of Photography.
Original Vintage Prints – Artwork handmade by Mark Brandenburgh
As a portrait photographer I am looking forward to hearing from very special clients willing to commission silver gelatin prints in archival quality. Created by myself in my own state-of-the-art darkroom. If you wish, your portrait photos can be created with means of analog photography across the full production chain neither with the use of a computer nor the internet. This workflow allows me to guarantee my customers strict confidentiality.
My original vintage prints are hand dated, numbered and authorized by my signature on the back. The capture date of the photo and the printing date are also noted .
By definition, a Vintage Print is an original photographic print that was printed by the photographer himself or according his art directive (assistant, a service lab) within 5 years after the photo has being taken. Vintage prints are usually strictly limited edition and authorized by the photographer’s signature.
If there is a longer period of time between the image capture and the print these images are called a Periodic Print (5-10 years) or a Lifetime Print or Modern Print (more than 10 years). A Posthumous Print or Estate Print is a print that was commissioned after the photographer’s death. These definitions of the terms can be found in the book Das Foto − Kunst und Sammelobjekt by Michael Kötzle.