Susan Chainey Photo

I am a photographer living in Berkeley, California. I can be reached at schainey@sonic.net

(note outdated photo above)

I began my photography work in the early ’70’s, concentrating on portraits, using traditional film and darkroom processing techniques. In the mid 70’s I began working with  alternative photographic processes —mostly cyanotype, Van Dyke and Polaroid Transfer. At that time, the development of large negatives to make the  necessary contact prints for the alternative process required developing negative and litho film sheets in special trays in total darkness. It was time consuming, challenging but fun!

 When I moved to California several years later I had no spare room or studio room for the messy world of cyanotype and no darkroom for processing film. My alternative photography work was only with Polaroid Transfer, teaching classes in that process occasionally at the Davis Art Center, and the UC Davis Art Center. I also continued traditional darkroom processing for portraits.  But when Polaroid stopped making the film required for the transfer process in the 1990’s and digital photography was displacing traditional photography I left the darkroom, tried to master the basic photographic elements of Photoshop hoping to return one day to the world of alternative emulsions. 

This became possible when I found a studio at the Sawtooth Building in Berkeley, California,. New developments in digital printing made alternative process contact printing so much easier, as did portraiture. Many of my cyanotypes and Van Dykes rely on digital transparencies or negatives, using my own photographs or ones from vintage sources. Also on occasion I collaborate with embroidery artist, Laura Reyes who hand stitches images on a cyanotype linen print.