Silver gelatin process used to be one of the most common black and white photographic processes of image-making. A talk and a workshop on photography and silver gelatin will be held at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and Noirfoto on April 13 - PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ORGANIZER

In the history of photography, the silver gelatin process is known as a method which makes use of the light-sensitive quality of the materials including films and printing papers coated with a layer of gelatin mixed with halogen silver salts, according to The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre.

This process was one of the most commonly used black and white photographic processes of image-making in the 1890s. Nowadays, as less photographers work in dark rooms due to the advance of digital printing, the silver gelatin process has become a very specific process only used for artistic photographic works.

During the talk on photography and silver gelatin material, which will take place at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre from 10 a.m. until mid noon, Pham Tuan Ngoc, founder and director of NoirFoto, will share briefly about the history of light-sensitive materials, with a focus on the silver gelatin process, as well as the overview of photography as an art.

The talk will also focus on the silver gelatin process in relation to other photographic printing materials, as well as well-known photographers who used this image-making material.

The talk will be followed by a workshop on silver gelatin process, which will be held at Noirfoto Darkroom-Studio-Gallery from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Pham Tuan Ngoc will engage participants directly in the silver gelatin process at Noirfoto, equipped with a dark room and a studio dedicated to a community of photography lovers in HCMC.

Participants will tour around the darkroom and be introduced to equipment, material, chemicals as well as the processing normally taking place at Noirfoto. In this workshop, three participants will be selected randomly to directly take part in the process of developing black and white negative films.

The talk and workshop will be conducted in Vietnamese with English translation.SGT