Spirits of Silver



Well 5 years later I can report that I have successfully made my first albumen print this afternoon. A few months back I coated a sheet with the albumen that I had mixed in 2014 and tried to apply it with a puddle pusher. Didn't work out and I tossed that batch of albumen. Then, a few weeks ago after reading the new Tyler Green Carleton Watkins book and pursuing Carleton Watkins: The Complete Mammoth Plates, I decided to give the process another try. This time, instead of extracting the albumen from fresh eggs as before, I bought a carton of liquid egg whites (about 500mL) and prepared the coating according to the accepted formulas. However not paying careful attention to the instructions I added the optional photoflo to to the mixture before blending with an electric blender. But I didn't think this would be a problem since the photoflo would be more evenly distributed throughout the mixture then if added after the blended mixture is poured into its final storage bottle for use.

After a week in the refrigerator the albumen was ready for use and I bought a Pyrex casserole dish especially for the process (~$6.00 at Walmart) but the dish is contoured and an 8x10 sheet of paper does not lay flat on the bottom so 1 sheet of paper was wasted. I transferred the albumen to a flat-bottom Cresco tray that I had originally planned to use and folded up the sides of the paper to make a boat for floating but that ultimately turned out not to be necessary. Five sheets of paper were floated for 3 minutes each and then lightly dragged over the smooth edge of the Cresco tray and hung but an uneven coating resulted. However those 5 sheets taught me that making a boat wasn't necessary and how to lay the sheet flat on the albumen. The bubbles that appear after each sheet are easily moved to the side of the tray – I used a wooden coffee stirrer stick like they have at Starbuck's or Peet's.  As before I lightly dragged the sheet over the edge of the tray but this time I squeegeed the coated paper with the puddle pusher to even out the coating. One pass is sufficient. Before hanging I left each sheet upright for several minutes to allow the albumen to sink into the pores of the paper and the last sheet I left upright without hanging.  Upon drying no difference was discernible.

The next week was rainy but a favorable weather forecast was for today. The negative that I choose was of a view off of Stage Coach Road in San Gregorio that I had photographed on and off for more than 20 years. Due to its proximity to the coast with the attendant water vapor issue and its expansiveness encompassing about 20 miles  of rolling landscape and valleys, obtaining a “sharp” photograph throughout is probably impossible. I had closely monitored the local weather forecast and chose the day and time when the relative humidity would be at it lowest which also coincided with the best lighting which was during the afternoon when the sun provides for frontal lighting from the west. The view was captured on Ilford 5x7” FP4+ film with a 610mm Apo-Nikkor lens on a Toyo 810MII field camera fitted with a 5x7 back. I first printed that negative a few year ago as a Kallitype toned with a Gold Thiocynate toner and in comparison the Kallitype has the greater Dmax but the coloration of the Albumin print – which I didn't tone – is much more pleasing to my eye. But this is the first print with this process, which was single coated with albumen and without adding a contrast enhancing agent to the sensitizer,  so a print with greater Dmax is certainly possible.   I have since acquired a 760mm Apo Nikkor lens which should enable the same view being placed on an 8x10" sheet of film so a revisit seems likely for the future.

In summary, the albumen silver print is a viable process capable of producing both unique and aesthetically pleasing images and is now in my toolbox.  Below is a scan of the print from my 20 year old Epson scanner which fails to adequately show the actual coloration - probably due to my limited scanning ability.