This week I (Ian Phillips‑McLaren) had the pleasure of teaching a Salt Printing masterclass in London at The School of Art, Architecture & Design, part of London Metropolitan University.

Salt printing — invented by Henry Fox Talbot in 1839 — is the foundation of photography as we know it today. Unlike the single‑image Daguerreotype, Talbot’s process allowed photographers to create a negative in‑camera and produce multiple prints. Salt printing is a contact printing process, meaning the final print is the same size as the negative.

It was fantastic to see the students immersed in making their own salt prints — all of which turned out beautifully. Some even returned to the darkroom the next day to keep experimenting, which says it all.

I’m grateful to work in a department that values these historic processes. Thanks to the team at The School of Art, Architecture & Design, BA Photography students now have a wider creative toolbox and visual language for expressing their ideas.

Today, digital technology has given new life to salt printing. By creating digital negatives in Photoshop, we can achieve the contrast and tonal range needed for this 183‑year‑old process, producing salt prints with a richness that was once thought impossible.