and the positive pictures are printed in pigments, not
developed with chemicals. Pigments, traditionally
used in artists��� paints, are more permanent than silver
based photography. It is undeniably a substantial step
forward in the evolution of images made with light.
While the new is always destined
to overtake the old, ironically it
is only by the miracle of digital
imaging that pictures made
with Talbot���s original photogenic
drawing process can be exhibited
for the first time, as the originals
were destroyed by the very light
that created them. Nineteenth
century examples from the dawn
of photography reveal a surprising pallet of colors,
the result of chemical treatments used to reduce their
light sensitivity. Even so, they remain fugitive and are
never exhibited. By 1841 Talbot had settled on a
more permanent technique that left his photographs
a brown hue that remained the print aesthetic until
long after the turn of the century.
T
Sun Sketches
hese prints were made at Lacock Abbey
from paper negatives exposed within small wooden
cameras���identical in design to those used by Talbot
HYLAND
