WORKSHOP: Salt Printing & Creating Digital Negatives

Saturday, October 3rd, 12pm – 5pm & Sunday, October 4th, 10am – 5pm, 2026
$350  Non-Members
$315  VCP Members
(Register online below)

Salt printing, invented in the 1830s by Englishman Henry Fox Talbot, is the original method for making photographs on paper. The process is deceptively simple but yields wonderful prints. One begins by soaking paper in a solution of salt. The dried salted paper is then coated with a solution of silver nitrate, thereby forming silver chloride in situ. The paper is dried a second time and then exposed to ultraviolet light through a negative. Salt printing is a printing out process thus one can see the image appear as the exposure progresses. The exposed paper is processed through several solutions to remove any unreacted silver nitrate, resulting in the final print.

Since salted paper is a contact printing process, one needs a negative the same size as the desired final print. Fox Talbot used paper negatives. For most of the late 1800s and the bulk of the 20th century, photographers used glass plates or film negatives for salt printing. These days, although analog negatives are still used, many photographers now use digital negatives printed on clear plastic sheets with an inkjet printer.

This workshop consists of two sessions. On Saturday afternoon, participants will learn to make digital negatives starting from either digital images or scans of large format negatives. We will also prepare salted paper for use the following day. The full day on Sunday will be spent in the dark/dim room making prints.

 

About the Instructor

Since retiring from a career as a chemistry professor, Frank Gorga has devoted his creative energies to photography. His main photographic interests are wildlife, especially odonta (dragonflies and damselflies), and the landscape. However, he makes photographs of many other subjects as he wends his way through life. In addition to hand-coloring prints, Frank produces salted-paper prints, platinum/palladium prints, cuprotypes, anthotypes, and cyanotypes (both untoned and toned). His website is www.frg-photo.com.

 

Find a complete list of upcoming workshops and events at VCP here. 

 

Online Registration