About the Artist

Amy Sue Greenleaf has taught chemistry for 20 years.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Muhlenberg College and her Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Boston.   Greenleaf has studied alternative process photography with Christopher James, author of The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. Her research on toning the argyrotype and two of her photographs are published in the second and third edition of the book.  Amy Sue Greenleaf lives in Guilford, CT.

About the Historical Hands on Processes

As a chemist, it is natural that Greenleaf is drawn to alternative process photography.   An alternative process photographic print is a contact print that is created with a hand-applied metallic sensitizer and ultra-violet light (sunlight). Light sensitive chemicals are applied to watercolor paper. A negative is then placed in contact with the sensitized paper and exposed under ultra-violet light. The resulting image is the size of the original negative. Greenleaf produces her negatives using an array of cameras ranging from an 8x10 inch large format, a 4x5 inch large format, a medium format to an assortment of pinhole and plastic toy cameras.  Greenleaf has experience in a wide variety of the antiquarian photographic processes including cyanotype, platinum/palladium, van dyke brown, argyrotype, kallitype, tin type, albumen, salt printing, gum bichromate and silver printing.  

Antiquarian photographic processes and chemistry are undeniably intertwined and too often they are viewed as completely different entities.  Greenleaf’s love and understanding of the chemical processes allows her to control and manipulate the multiple variables involved in the different alternative photographic processes to produce the desired results in her photographic images.  Amy Sue Greenleaf seamlessly combines the art and chemistry of the photographic processes.