Barry Thornton runs the Fine Print Photographer’s Workshopwhere for many years
he was a professional monochrome printer making thousands of prints for clients. His first book, ‘Elements’, was a response to the fact that the vast majority of negatives sent to him were not of good quality – wrongly exposed and processed. As he often says, "you can’t make a fine print from a coarse negative". The book took readers through the logical camera and darkroom steps of achieving the fine monochrome photograph. It was illustrated with his own landscape pictures, but it interlaced the technical detail with personal feelings and anecdotes. These struck such a chord with readers that the book was an instant hit and there have been constant demands for the follow-up. ‘Edge of Darkness’ is just that.

Barry very strongly believes in the inherent power of the direct clean clear monochrome photographic print. "Another feature of many clients’ negatives", he says, "was that most were not really sharp, or even well graduated. The potential power of the photograph simply could not be realised. Many photographers resort to ‘prettifying’ by toning, tinting, colouring, lith, diffusion, coarse grain, infra red, and , now, digital filter effects to try ‘massage’ a fine picture from a coarse slightly unsharp negative. It might occasionally be fun, but it rarely produces the great picture. Not only that, but the photographer is robbed of that deep satisfaction stemming from an original rich image visualised and directly realised". In ‘Edge of Darkness’, Barry takes you, step by illustrated step, through the logical process of releasing the power and satisfaction of the ultra definition direct statement fine monochrome photograph. He discusses too some of the special developers he has designed to achieve that special ‘look’ in the print. More of his stunning pictures reveal him as no mere technician, but as a sensitive artist in monochrome silver.

But, just as in ‘Elements’, Barry’s stories and insightful feelings make this highly readable, and far far more than any technical guide.

The book is availible the shop area or from a new publisher, Argentum, part of Aurum Press, 25 Bedford Avenue, London, WC1B 3AT. Telephone 0171 637 3225; Fax 0171 580 2469. International distribution should be more comprehensive than that applicable to ‘Elements’.