The DARKROOM COOKBOOK, Third Edition

PMK: Thirty Years On
Gordon Hutchings
The PMK formula has been around for almost thirty years and fully described in The
Book of Pyro published in 1992. I never imagined that the resurrection of the antique
developer pyrogallol would create such a fuss nor serve as the basis for an almost cult
following.
It was never my intention that PMK, or any pyro formula, should be looked upon as a
social cause. Pyro is just a tool, a good one perhaps, but just a tool nonetheless. The potential
usefulness of it should come from a straightforward analysis of one’s own prints. Fortunately
the furor is dying down, and pyro is beginning to be looked upon as a standard developer,
which is all to the good.
I encourage those who want to try pyro to ignore the hype and mystique. Instead, proceed
in a workmanship manner and you will be rewarded with a fi ne printable negative. Be
patient, it takes several years to fully understand the dynamic range of printing qualities of
stained pyro negatives. Most photographers are held back by their own working knowledge
of the limits of conventional negative printing. It often takes a serious mistake or extreme
shooting conditions of light and contrast to push them into the far reaches of the capabilities
of pyro negatives.
In my opinion, it is much easier to make a “fi ne-art” print that really “sings” by using a pyro
negative rather than a negative from conventional fi lm developers. I have a fi le cabinet stuffed
with letters collected over the last two decades from all over the world praising the PMK
developer. A great advantage of a staining formula like PMK is that it masks the grain to a large
extent and thus makes pyro an excellent developer for roll fi lm as well as traditional sheet fi lm.
I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that a pyro negative seems to have a
“magic” quality to it. When laid on a light table they glow with light and promise. Even after
thirty years I am still excited to see a new pyro negative on the light table. By comparison,
conventional negatives just seem dead.
Printing pyro negatives is, for me, always exciting and exploratory. Often the working
prints lead me in a direction I did not anticipate. These self-propelled excursions often
result in a print more expressive than my original thought and I willingly go along for the
ride. Serendipity is alive and well in my darkroom.
On the other hand (and allowing for personal bias), conventional negatives usually
do not have this quality. Printing these negatives just seems to be straight ahead bricksand-mortar
work.
These comments may be an overstatement, but excitement and passion for the
material, tools, and craft is an essential element of our art. I look upon a negative as a living
thing, something that was formed by the fusion of light and silver. It is my job to coax
the image, the tale, the truth, from out of the murky depths of the stained pyro negative.
This blending of human spirit and materials by the craft of photography keeps me alive and
excited.
What started out thirty years ago as a lone effort by John Wimberly, with his WD2D
formula, and me, with the PMK formula, has grown into many branches. There are several
pyro formulas introduced recently and pyro development now has a life of its own.
In the introduction to my book, Morley Baer said it best: “PMK puts force behind
subtleties and nuances and makes available to all photographers the opportunity to speak
with conviction.”