Alternative Process

Lucien Clergue experimented with different printing techniques, although most of his prints were made by himself, or under his supervision, in his darkroom in Arles. In the 1980’s, he tries the direct carbon print.  …the “carbon” process attracted the pictorialist photographers, because they tended to approach photography to painting. Robert Demachy was an expert in this sort of printing which his friend Fresson had perfected for him. The improved process is still used by his descendants in their atelier at Savigny-sur-Orge.  This technique has remarkable conservational qualities. The Fresson process is handed down in secret from father to son.  Lucien Clergue also used the Platinum/Palladium process. Patented in 1875, it uses platinum and palladium salts which are much more resistant than silver salts. All Clergue’s platinum prints were made by Sal Lopez, in Boston, USA.