At Voyages en Photographie, our photographs are produced according to strict archival guidelines, creating museum-quality prints suitable for display in even the finest gallery.
Below is a Q&A pertaining to our photographs and the photographic process we use.
Are the photographic prints you produce silver prints?
Yes. We work with a professional photography lab to create silver prints called Digital Chromogenic Prints (or Digital C-prints for short).
What is a Digital C-print exactly?
Digital C-prints are photographic prints made by exposing type-C photographic paper (paper that contains three emulsion layers of silver salts sensitized to one of three colors: red, green or blue) to light. While exposed to light, the type-C paper is placed in a bath containing dye couplers that join with the silver particles to produce a color image.
What type-C photographic paper do you use?
Fuji Crystal Archive.
What is the difference between vintage prints and the prints available from Voyages en Photographie?
Vintage prints are original photographic prints that were produced in the past. The most common types of 19th and early 20th century vintage prints are Salt, Albumen, and Silver Gelatin prints. These prints are rare and those of high quality can be extremely expensive.
The prints available from Voyages en Photographie are modern prints. Modern prints are original prints produced in the present.
There is a date (or an approximate date) listed for each photograph in your collection; what does that date mean?
The date listed next to each photograph is the year that the photographer took the photo or the date the first print of a specific photograph is known to exist. For example, the first known print of this photograph was created in 1880.
Many of the images on your site are not black and white, but have subtle colorations: light yellows, violet tints, etc. Why is that?
The reason behind this is that Salt, Albumen, and Silver Gelatin printing processes of the 19th and early 20th centuries often produced prints with subtle colorations. For example, Albumen prints are characterized by the whites of an image appearing light yellow. Or, Silver Gelatin prints often had slight violet tints.
At Voyages en Photographie, we feel that these color nuances are part of the heart and soul of a 19th century image so we have taken great pains to ensure they remain in our prints.
Some of the photographs from your collection, specifically the Japanese images, have more than subtle colors. How was this possible for a 19th or early 20th century photograph?
Practical color film was not invented until 1907, but vintage positives and negatives were sometimes hand-painted by an artist under the direction of the photographer; if the vintage print was hand-colored, we ensure that the hand-coloring is not lost.
The words Voyages en Photographie are written across the photos on your website. What is that and why is it there?
This is the digital “watermark.” This is used to protect the image from digital theft. Please be assured that it is not part of the photograph that you purchase.
Are photographs available in different sizes than stated on the website?
Depending on the quality of the image, we are able to produce photographs in a variety of different sizes (up to 180 cm x 240 cm). This is a custom order. Email us at contact@voyagesenphotographie.com or call +33 (0)1 44 07 19 82 between the hours of 11am and 6pm Paris time (GMT +2) and we will respond to your request.
Do you have photographs that are not posted online?
Currently, our collection consists of over 20 000 images, so we literally have thousands of images that have not been added. We are, however, constantly adding new images to the site, so each time your return, you will be able to see all of the new prints. Additionally, if there is a particular theme or imagine for which you are looking, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will let you know if it is in our collection. Finally, we work with photography collectors, museums, and photography archives around the world to add new images to our collection so it is possible that if we don’t have the image right away, we could obtain it in the coming weeks or months.
Is there someone who I can talk to in order to get more information about a photograph or your photographic process?
Yes. If you find that your question is not answered here, please don’t hesitate to contact us by phone at +33 (0)1 44 07 19 82 between the hours of 11am and 6pm Paris time (GMT +2) or by email at contact@voyagesenphotographie.com. We will be more than happy to provide additional information or answer any of your questions.
