I make fully handmade 1840s Adamson-era calotype paper negatives and ammonio-nitrate of silver (ANS) salt prints at a single vintage window, using only natural light and 19th-century chemistry to speak about grief and endurance.
Learn why my artwork starts with grief and ends with endurance.
I follow John Adamson’s 1843 St Andrews-era calotype and ammonio-nitrate-of-silver (ANS) salt printing method. Each sheet of paper is first acidified, then treated with potassium iodide and silver nitrate to form silver iodide, dried, and later sensitized with a silver aceto-nitrate solution just before exposure. I load this paper in the camera and expose it, then develop the calotype in a dilute gallic acid developer and again in a gallo-nitrate solution to build the final density, before fixing and washing the negative. From this calotype paper negative, I make contact prints on salted paper sensitized with Adamson’s ammonio-nitrate of silver solution—100% analog, no digital steps, only light and chemistry. Every piece in Pictorial Whispers is made by hand, start to finish, just like it was in the 1840s.
As of November 1, 2025, I now work exclusively with the St Andrews-era calotype: iodized paper, excited with aceto-nitrate of silver (no gallic acid in the exciting bath), and developed in gallic acid. This is the chemistry John Adamson employed in the 1843 to stabilize and make the process repeatable.
On April 3, 1843, John Adamson read W. H. Furlong’s letter to the St Andrews Literary & Philosophical Society describing the single-solution iodizing method. That improvement entered the Adamsons’ practice immediately after. By 1846, Adamson was advising photographers to exclude gallic acid from the “exciting” bath and use aceto-nitrate of silver alone—advice that others then adopted “after 1846.”
Why this matters:
- Historical fidelity: This is the core, mid-1840s calotype—not the later French waxed-paper variants. It reflects what St Andrews photographers actually practiced.
- Stability over speed: Removing Talbot’s gallic acid from the exciting solution and diluting the excitant reduced fogging/embrowning and made results reliable, even if exposures stayed long.
- Connoisseurship clarity: Collectors and curators can clearly place the work in the Adamson/Hill lineage, distinct from later evolutions of the paper negative workflows and the Le Gray-style waxed paper negatives.
What “calotype” means here (and what it doesn’t)
In Talbot’s original practice, the gallo-nitrate (aceto-nitrate + gallic acid) was widely recommended but chemically fussy: it could embrown and demanded quick use. In the mid-1840s, workers at St. Andrews transitioned to diluted solutions and—crucially—omitted gallic acid from the exciting bath, using plain acetonitrile to sensitize and gallic acid only for development to achieve stability.
By contrast, later paper-negative workflows on the Continent emphasized stronger solutions and waxing (notably Le Gray, 1851) to manage stability, chemically and historically a different branch.
How I work (Adamson-calotype, chemistry-true)
Paper preparation
- Iodize by brushing a silver-iodide–forming solution into the paper fibres, then wash thoroughly to remove soluble by-products and dry/season the sheets. This follows the St Andrews line of practice that prized stability from the support up.
Exciting (sensitizing for exposure)
- I use aceto-nitrate of silver (silver nitrate + acetic acid) at a measured dilution for controllability, omitting gallic acid from the exciting bath. This mirrors Adamson’s approach and the general post-1846 shift.
Development
- I develop with gallic acid and, when needed, strengthen with a gallo-nitrate developer during image build-out—keeping gallic acid out of the pre-exposure stage where it causes instability. This addresses the original issues from Fox Talbot and those that plagued the original calotypists.
Fixing (historical awareness)
- My practice uses sodium thiosulfate. Analytical studies of Hill & Adamson and their contemporaries reveal that potassium bromide and thiosulfate were commonly used during the period, which informs my conservation-minded choices.
Printing (notes)
- For salted paper printing, I finish with the tonal character I want; my printing workflow is optimized for permanence and tone.
Why collectors and curators should care
- Attribution and scholarship: This workflow anchors the work in the St Andrews tradition (Adamson/Hill), not the later Le Gray waxed-paper school—important for cataloging and provenance.
- Material integrity: The chemistry choices (no gallic acid in the excitant, controlled dilution) reflect documented period practice that sought predictable, durable negatives.
- Conservation foresight: My approach aligns with the findings of analytical studies on surviving objects from the 1840s, supporting long-term stability. The washing time for the calotype and ammonio-nitrate of silver salt print is over 16 hours with agitation and water changes every 30 minutes.
What changed in my studio
- I retired later paper-negative/waxed-paper variants.
- I standardized on Adamson-calotype: iodize, aceto-nitrate (dilute) excite, gallic develop, thorough wash, and thiosulfate fix. This is the most coherent and historically supported way to achieve the look and permanence I want.
Collectors & Curators
- If you collect 19th-century processes, this series offers chemically faithful calotypes made with an Adamson-aligned workflow.
- Curators: I’m happy to provide full technical notes with each piece for your files, including formulas, paper lots, and treatment records, mapped to the scholarship cited above.
If you enjoy slowing down with film, darkroom printing, and meaningful photography, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. I share new videos each week focused on simple tools, timeless techniques, and the quiet joy of analog.
