Riney Fine Arts Gallery - Analog & Alternative Photography

Photography just might be the most easily accessible art form available. We all have a camera in our pocket, purse, or backpack and can take as many pictures as storage will allow, totaling hundreds if not thousands of images. Even with the convenience of our digital cameras and camera phones, or with the seemingly never-ending possibilities presented to us with AI, there is a certain allure to analog and alternative photography. If digital photography is all about instant gratification, then analog and alternative is all about the process, the tactile experience of creating an image by hand, made successful through patience, dedication and skill. For many analog and alternative processes require time, necessitating any photographer to capture images which are carefully considered.

Analog, commonly described as film photography, is a term often applied to photography that uses chemical processes to capture an image, typically on paper, film or either metal or glass plate. Alternative photography encompasses a wide range of historical, experimental, non-digital and even cameraless techniques, all of which have the possibility to produce truly unique and unpredictable results.

The Analog & Alternative Photography Invitational is an exhibit celebrating all things analog and alternative in photography. This exhibition features both regional and national artists who display not only a variety of photographic techniques, but their incredible skill.

Special thanks to all the artists who participated in the exhibition.

Images Copyright of the Artists

Contact Print - a photographic print made by placing a negative (or in the case of camera-less photography, objects such as flowers) directly onto sensitized paper, glass, or film and exposing it to light.

C-Print - also known as a chromogenic print, is a photographic print made from a color negative, or transparency, and developed using a chromogenic process.

Cyanotype - a photographic printing process invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, which involves coating paper, fabric or glass with a light-sensitive solution. Using the contact printing method, an image is created with exposure to UV light, then development in water. The result is a distinctive cyan blue print.

Lumen Print - a camera-less photographic technique that uses sunlight to create an image. This process involves placing an object on photographic paper and exposing it to direct sunlight. The areas of the paper that are shielded from sunlight remain white, while the surrounding areas darken.

Multiple Exposure - a technique in which the camera shutter is opened more than once to expose the film multiple times, usually to different images.

Negative - an image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest.

Polaroid Emulsion Lift - a technique that separates the image layer from the plastic backing of a Polaroid and transfers it to another surface.

Silver Gelatin Print - a black-and-white photograph made by coating paper with a light-sensitive silver emulsion and exposing it to light.

Solarized - a photographic technique that reverses the tone of an image, making light areas appear dark and dark areas appear light. It’s achieved by overexposing photographic film in the camera or re-exposing photographic paper during development.

Toned Cyanotype - a cyanotype print that has been altered in color through a chemical reaction with a toning agent rich in tannins, such as tea or coffee. The toning process can give the print a vintage or sepia appearance, or other colors like green, blue-black, or brown.

Ziatype - a printing process that uses palladium to create black and white images. It’s a variation of the traditional palladium process.