About historical processes

When you go to museums or view prints in historical collections you are looking at photographic processes that have stood the test of time, and for good reason. In the old days, the inventors of these processes used very pure chemistries built around carbon and noble metals. The papers they printed on were chemically pure. They needed such control in order to create the magic of fixing a photographic image that would not fade.

Over the years as these mediums encountered the commercial world shortcuts were invented that permitted mass production and the use of inexpensive materials, the results of which has not produced photographs that stand the test of time.

What we are offering are historical process production of your images designed to stand the test of time. Some of you may want to display these images under intense lighting and not have them fade. Some of you may wish to hand these photographs down to subsequent generations. All of our processes can be displayed without worry of their fading.

Even our most economical process is printed with 100% pure carbon. It's very beautiful. It can be produced quickly. You can see how that process is done here. Our more expensive processes are done by hand over a period of several days and are therefore more expensive to produce. The platinum process uses actual platinum and some palladium which are made light-sensitive, hand applied to paper that is exposed and processed in a darkroom. You can see how that process is done here. The photogravure process is printed from a hand-inked metal plate using an intaglio press. The paper needs first be conditioned by dampening overnight and then takes another full day to dry and flatten in special press. You can see how that process is done here.