After Exposure

Histories of Photographic Development and the New Theory of Photography

A website dedicated to the links and gaps between photographic exposure and development at the science-industry nexus, inspired by a multi-stage account of photography
Stills from The Alchemist in Hollywood, 1940.
Page from Berg, W. F. Exposure: The Fundamentals of Camera Technique. London / New York: Focal Press, 1950.
Hans-Joachim Vogel; Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), Farbfotos am Laufmeter, Antenne, Antenne Wilhelm Tell Film, DRS, 1970-08-19, aus: Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Fernsehbestand Antenne, 9500503, 3'20, Memobase.
Anonymous. Undated (c. 1940s). Silver gelatin print on postcard.
Agfa und Max Müller, Kleinmechanik, Affoltern am Albis, 02.06.1965, inversed silver gelatin negative, 13 x 18 cm, ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Bildarchiv / Com_F65-05452.
Page from Küster, Alfred. “Elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen an entwickelten photographischen Schichten.” In Veröffentlichungen der Wissenschaftlichen Photo-Laboratorien. Agfa, edited by Filmfabrik Agfa Wolfen, VII:268–76. Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1951.
Gebr. Photo-Bischof, Zürich: Photographie: Entwicklungsraum & Untitled, 1920-1940, glass slides, 8.5 x 10 cm, SGV_02D_00661 & SGV_02D_00658, Fotoarchiv der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde (SGV).
Kodak industrial laboratory in Renens (Switzerland), 1997, 5'48, no sound, Collection of the Musée suisse de l'appareil photographique.
Page from Lüppo-Cramer, Henricus. Negativ-Entwicklung bei hellem Lichte: Safraninverfahren. 2nd ed. Photographischer Bücherschatz 18. Leipzig: Ed. Liesegangs Verlag M. Eger, 1922.
Detail from Geigel, Joe, and F. Kenton Musgrave. “A Model for Simulating the Photographic Development Process on Digital Images.” In Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques - SIGGRAPH ’97, 135–42. ACM Press, 1997.
event_note
Workshop on December 6 and 7, 2022 at ETH Zürich
With papers by Dawn Wilson (Hull), Kelley Wilder (Leicester), Martin Jähnert (Berlin), Stephan Graf (Zürich), and Omar Nasim (Regensburg)

info
View program

Tuesday, December 6

9:45
Welcome (Stephan Graf)

10:00
What Is a Photographic Register? (Dawn Wilson)

11:30
Development in and Out of Sensitometry. Photographic Science and Practice Circa 1890 (Martin Jähnert)

14:00-17:30
Joint discussion of key sources focussing on the notions of (i) registering and (ii) rendering

Wednesday, December 7

10:00
Silver Germs. Multiplying the Stages of Latent Image Formation in the 1920s (Stephan Graf)

11:30
What or Who Makes a Photograph? Chemistry and Collaboration in Sir John Herschel’s Photographic Experiments (Kelley Wilder)

14:00-15:30
Round table discussion to isolate questions for a history and philosophy of photographic development

16:15
Photography in the History of Science: Rethinking the Image (Omar Nasim)
Paper will be discussed at the colloquium of the ETH Chair for Science Studies in room IFW D42, Haldeneggsteig 4, Zürich

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This project is led by Stephan Graf and was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Chair for Science Studies at ETH Zürich.