Alternative processes are methods of photographic image-making that are non-commercial, non-practical, and non-mainstream by today’s standards. They typically involve mixing light-sensitive solutions, coating these onto paper or some other substrate, exposing this to light and most often in contact with a negative, and processing accordingly. Most of these processes were common at some point in history, but were supplanted by newer, “better” methods. “Alternative” and “historical” are generally used interchangeably, but there are alternative processes that have been around for a relatively short period of time though their roots are firmly based in historical formulas and procedures.

This catalog is the document of a 2015 juried photography exhibition at Gallery 136½ in Connecticut, an exhibition of images made by various alternative/historical photographic processes.