Preserving history in platinum

A deep dive into the meticulous art of platinum printing, and the collaboration between the Royal Geographical Society and Salto Ulbeek. Mike Crawford explores how they brought historical photographs to life with enduring beauty and precision

- Mike Crawford

The Royal Geographical Society was founded in London in 1830, just nine years before the announcement of photography in 1839. Despite the limitations of early processes, the role of photographer would become an important part of 19th-century geographic expeditions. While initially regarded as scientific documents and records, much of the work held in the Society’s photographic collection would later be appreciated for its historic and aesthetic values.

With over 750,000 items; from Daguerreotypes, glass plate negatives, lantern slides and travel albums, up to contemporary digital field work, the archive functions as an academic research facility and commercial image library. For several years, the Society has collaborated with Georges Charlier of Salto Ulbeek Publishers in Belgium, on limited-edition prints using the 19th-century platinum printing process. These include photographs from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic exploration (1914-18) and the 1921 and 1953 Mount Everest expeditions.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Georges Charlier about his collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society.

Georges Charlier, publisher, photographer and printer Georges Charlier is a photographer, publisher and photographic printer, based in the town of Ulbeek. He has specialised in platinum printing for over 35 years. As a photographer he has worked internationally, and through his firm Salto, published many fine art books for artists and photographers. ‘I was always fascinated by printing,’ Georges tells me on his start in publishing. ‘I decided to buy a second-hand offset litho Heidelberg press. I put it in one of my studios and in the evenings, taught myself how to print.’