photography • historical photographic processes • research • publications
Radosław Brzozowski is a photographer, Doctor of Arts and researcher specialising in historical photographic processes. For many years, he has worked with early photographic techniques as an artist, practitioner and researcher. His interest lies not only in reconstructing historical recipes, but above all in understanding how photographs were made, how photographic materials and technologies evolved, and how historical processes can function in contemporary photography.
He works with wet plate collodion and ambrotype, gum bichromate, carbon printing, oil printing, resinotype, salted paper, albumen printing, platinum and palladium printing, as well as other historical negative processes. His practice combines hands-on photographic work with source research and experimental reconstruction of historical technologies.
He is a full member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers (ZPAF). His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Poland and abroad.
From Practice to Research
Radosław Brzozowski’s many years of work with historical photographic techniques gradually also became an area of academic research.
His doctoral dissertation, prepared at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, is entitled “The Development of Silver Photographic Processes in the Nineteenth Century. Characteristics of Individual Processes and Their Modifications.” The research that formed the basis of the dissertation was carried out as part of the PRELUDIUM 20 project funded by the National Science Centre, Poland, with Radosław Brzozowski as principal investigator.
The research focused on nineteenth-century non-industrial silver photographic processes and on methods for their reconstruction and identification. As part of the project, 164 photographic reference models were produced, following historical technologies as faithfully as possible.
This approach makes it possible to examine early photography simultaneously from historical, technological and practical perspectives. It is relevant both to those researching and conserving historical photographs and to contemporary photographers working with historical processes.
Scientific and Conservation Publications
In 2025, two extensive articles by Radosław Brzozowski and Izabela Zając were published in “Notes Konserwatorski”, the conservation journal of the National Library of Poland.
“The Collodion Method in the Production of Photographic Negatives” examines different variants of negative collodion processes, methods of development, intensification and fixing, as well as issues related to identifying individual variants of the process.
“Methods of Developing the Silver Photographic Image in the Nineteenth Century” discusses historical methods of developing negative and positive photographic materials, together with the development of physical and chemical development in nineteenth-century photography.
Conferences, Research and Institutional Collaboration
Radosław Brzozowski participates in conferences, symposia and projects devoted to the history, technology and preservation of photography.
During the conference “Destruction and Rescue of Cultural Heritage and Their Impact on Social Identity” at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, he presented the paper “Issues of the (Im)permanence of the Photographic Record” in a panel devoted to the protection of cultural heritage.
In 2016, he participated in the conference “The Black-and-White Image of the World. Problems in the Protection and Conservation of Historical Photographs” in Toruń, devoted to the preservation and conservation of historical photographic materials. The post-conference publication included his paper “Difficulties in Reconstructing Gelatin Silver Emulsions.”
In 2024, during the 8th Conservation Conference “Preservation of Archival Materials – Current Challenges” at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, together with Izabela Zając he presented the paper “Nineteenth-Century Silver Processes – Selected Techniques”, devoted to the reconstruction and identification of historical silver processes.
He also participated in the International Symposium of Historical Photographic Technologies at the Photography Museum in Šiauliai, Lithuania. There he conducted a seminar devoted to the reconstruction and identification of nineteenth-century silver photographic processes and a workshop on carbon printing.
During the 2022 edition of the symposium, his exhibition “A Survey of Nineteenth-Century Photography” was also presented, comprising forty works made using historical photographic processes.
Photography as Practice
For Radosław Brzozowski, a historical process is not a way of automatically giving a photograph an old-fashioned appearance. He treats the process as a tool — just like the camera, light or the way the image itself is approached. Historical technology can serve both as a means of studying the history of the medium and as a tool for creating entirely contemporary photography.
One project in which the process became an integral part of the narrative is “Kashubian Wedding According to I. Gulgowski.” The project was created in collaboration with the Kashubian Ethnographic Park Museum in Wdzydze Kiszewskie, and all photographs were made using the ambrotype process.
In 2023, his exhibition “Beyond Time” was presented at the ZPAF Small Gallery of Photography in Toruń, bringing together his photographic practice, long-term work with historical processes and research into photographic technology.
Books
Radosław Brzozowski is the author of books devoted to traditional photography and historical photographic processes:
"Fotografia obnażona"
Ambrotype. A Practical Guide
Albumen Print. A Practical Guide
The Analogue Darkroom
Carbon Printing. A Practical Guide
Cyanotype. A Practical Guide
Kashubian Wedding According to I. Gulgowski
The publications devoted to historical processes grew directly out of many years of practical work and experimentation with early photographic techniques.
Radosław Brzozowski is also the author of a chapter on handmade silver-gelatin printing-out papers (POP) in Denise Ross’s book “The Handmade Silver Gelatin Emulsion Print: Creating Your Own Liquid Emulsions for Black & White Paper”, published by Routledge.
Education
For many years, Radosław Brzozowski has combined artistic and research practice with teaching photography. He conducts workshops, lectures and consultations on historical photographic processes and collaborates with photographers and institutions interested in the history, technology and conservation of photography.
On this blog, he shares knowledge drawn from practical photographic work, historical source research and decades of experience with photographic materials.