The Bromoil process starts with a normal silver bromide print. This is then bleached and tanned until the image is no longer visible. This is now called a matrix. The matrix is then soaked in water with the result being a wet print whose highlights as saturated with water and hence reject ink and shadows that are dryer and accept ink. A lithographer's ink is applied with a Bromoil brush in an vertical up and down motion until the image is visible. Putting the ink on the print is a long and slow process, but the results are unlike any other photographic process.
Low Country Barn - © Kenneth F. Barry
Bromoils were very popular in the 1920s and 1930s but didn't have widespread popularity much after that. The number of modern Bromoilists is increasing.
Into the Fog - © Kenneth F. Barry
Mourning Sun - © Kenneth F. Barry
Sayer's Dog - © Kenneth F. Barry
Mystic Morning - © Kenneth F. Barry
Alice O - © Kenneth F. Barry
Moored- © Kenneth F. Barry
And finally a picture of me inking a Bromoil.
