The Flash and the Fixing of the Latent Image around 1890s
Dominici, S. 2025. The Flash and the Fixing of the Latent Image around 1890s . Photographica. (11).
Dominici, S. 2025. The Flash and the Fixing of the Latent Image around 1890s . Photographica. (11).
| Title | The Flash and the Fixing of the Latent Image around 1890s |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Dominici, S. |
| Abstract | This article considers the experience of visuality of the flash in conjunction with that of the fixing of the latent-turning-visible image in the negative by exploring how this synergy was understood by amateur photographers around the 1890s. By taking as its guiding thread photographers’ own words and situating the discussion in the Anglophone world, the article explores, first, how these practitioners interpreted the remarkable points of convergence between their concepts of ‘flash’ and of ‘fixing the latent image’. Second, what their engagement with these image-making practices may tell us about the combined impact of these two photographic moments on the making of an emerging visual culture around the closing decade of the 19th century. The article proposes that the technical affinity between the flash apparatus and the chemical fixer – as actions that sought to capture an ephemeral visual encounter - joined them conceptually as technological components of a new optical experience. |
| Keywords | amateur photographer |
| chemical fixer | |
| darkroom | |
| development by observation | |
| flash apparatus | |
| fleeting experiences | |
| photographic technology | |
| ‘shock’ in modernity | |
| Journal | Photographica |
| Journal citation | (11) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publisher | Éditions de la Sorbonne |
| Funder | BA (British Academy) |