The Platinum / Palladium Print
First patented in 1873 by William Willis, the platinum/palladium process produces images made from platinum, palladium, or a blend of the two, among the rarest and most chemically stable metals used in photography. Like other noble metals, they resist oxidation, giving these prints exceptional archival permanence: under proper conditions, a platinum/palladium print can endure for over a thousand years, limited only by the longevity of the paper itself.
Regarded as the finest of the traditional photographic printing processes, the platinotype produces a distinct aesthetic unlike any other. Rather than sitting on the surface of the paper in a binder, as with silver gelatin printing, the image is absorbed directly into the paper fibres, producing a matte, velvety depth. The process is also prized for its extraordinary tonal range, silver gelatin typically renders around 12 steps of tonality; platinum/palladium renders closer to 24. To hold a finished print is often described as holding a jewel.
Visible here is the hand-coated border that reveals the nature of the process, each print's border is slightly different, acting as a unique fingerprint for that image. You may also notice subtle brushstrokes or other nuances within the print itself, part of its handmade character.
Each print is a singular, hand-made object. The photosensitive emulsion is hand-coated onto the paper, and the chemistry is sensitive to a wide range of variables — humidity, temperature, exposure, meaning no two prints are ever quite identical. Test prints are essential before a final exposure, given the cost of the materials involved. The image is developed by exposing the coated paper to UV light, which precipitates the metal directly into the paper; the result, and its subtleties, depend in part on the paper's relative humidity at the time of exposure.
Platinum/palladium prints are contact prints, the negative must match the final image size exactly, which is why these works are typically modest in scale, and why larger prints become significantly more difficult and costly to produce.
The process is exacting and unforgiving, but it yields something no other medium can: a wholly unique, handcrafted object, born from a slow alchemy of chemistry and light. Lived with over time, the prints reveal a luminosity and tonal subtlety that rewards close, sustained looking — qualities that are difficult to convey in reproduction, and best understood in person.