For anyone engaged in conventional or alternative photographic processing in the UK.

For many practitioners, particularly anyone engaged in the more obscure alternative processes, finding materials and chemical supplies these days is getting harder all the time. The restrictions placed on many items by health & safety concerns make mail order supply difficult and the range available gets shorter by the year.

I am listing here those suppliers in the UK – or that will ship to the UK – that I have found during my search for some of the more obscure compounds. I have not ordered from them all, but from quite a few. They are not listed in any particular order, just added as I discover them. They include the general suppliers of conventional photographic film and processing supplies, as well as the more obscure companies dealing solely in chemicals, many of which have uses in photography.

If you know of others then comment or message me and I will add them to the list.

Firstcall Photographic

https://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/ – general suppliers, with a good range of raw chemicals.

AG Photographic

https://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/ – general suppliers of a wide range of conventional items, including some materials for cyanotype production.

Analogue Wonderland

https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/ – supplies & processing services

Wolfgang Moersch Photochemie

https://www.moersch-photochemie.de/ – German suppliers with an option to display website in English. Extensive range of materials for lith and other alternative processes. Ships to UK.

Freestyle Photographic Supplies

https://www.freestylephoto.biz/ – an American company, but included here because they supply many items which it is impossible to find in the UK. Will ship to the UK, but with many caveats and at a price.

HD Chemicals

https://shop.hdchemicals.co.uk/ – not specifically a photographic chemical supplier, but many items are used in processing. I have used them for borax and oxalic acid, as well as a source for empty chemical bottles in a range of sizes.

Wet Plate Supplies

http://www.wetplatesupplies.com/ – many materials for both Wet Plate Collodion photography and a number of other popular alternative photographic processes.

Labshop41uk – Ercan Tekes Bercin Medikal

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?me=A3I6KU2JKFIC63&marketplaceID=A1F83G8C2ARO7P – the Amazon UK storefront of a Turkish company that can supply many obscure chemicals used in alternative processes (amongst many other obscure things!). I have dealt with them and they ship reliably to the UK.

Sigma Aldrich – Merck KGaA

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/united-kingdom/ordering.html – if you are lucky enough to be able to register a company account then you can get pretty much any chemical here. I used to have such an account and obtained many processing chemicals that it was impossible to obtain anywhere else.

Re-Agent

https://www.chemicals.co.uk/ – I have not used this company, but they would appear to be worth investigating as their range includes many pure chemicals used in photography.

Still Photographic

https://www.stillphotographic.com/shop – able to supply limited range of items from Photographer’s Formulary in the US.

Alternative Photographic Supplies – Poland

http://alternativephotographicsupplies.com/ – an interesting selection of items for alternative photographic applications, plus a range of films and accessories. Not used them, but worth investigating.

Nik & Trick Photo Services (NTphotoworks)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/ntphotoworks – eBay shop listing many chemicals and a whole range of film, cameras, paper and other photographic items.


If all else fails, then just do a search for the chemical you require. I’ve usually managed to find all but the most obscure items.


Comments

Photographic Chemical Suppliers — 2 Comments

  1. There seems to be an acute lack of availability of collodion suppliers in the UK, which I suppose that it makes me a very rare species as there will not be many of us. Norman.

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