The following interview with Norman Gryspeerdt was published in PQ Magazine in 1997:

Norman Gryspeerdt first came across Bromoil printing when, at the age of sixteen, he visited the Croydon Camera Club. "There I met a man called Jarvis who produced a Bromoil. I was very taken with it. From then onward, I never did anything else." That was over sixty years ago, during which time Gryspeerdt served as a photographer in the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. Implacable and worked as a stills photographer for the film studios of J. Arthur Rank and Universal, working on films such as The Dirty Dozen and Zulu.

But what is it that appeals so much about Bromoil? "It's the ability to manipulate things. You can add so much to the picture to suit yourself. You end up with an interpretation of what you want the picture to be." The onset of arthritis means that Gryspeerdt no longer produces any Bromoils, but previously he always worked on 16 x 20 inch prints - which were unusually large for the medium. "I felt that they needed large prints," he explains. As a result, inking was a painstaking process that used to take between forty-five minutes and three hours.

Gryspeerdt's original negatives were almost entirely taken during week-long dedicated photographic trips abroad, mostly in Italy. "I walked the best part of The Pyrenees one year," he recalls. Perhaps surprisingly for an 'old process' practitioner, Gryspeerdt exposed many of his later images on 35mm film (using a Canon EOS 600). "On 35mm, you can get quite a nice image, but not the quality of a five-four or a ten-eight." Of course, if you're spending a week walking across The Pyrenees, the portability of a 35mm kit (or Gryspeerdt's other favourite, an old Super Ikonta 645 rangefinder camera) is of greater importance than the ultimate quality of a larger format.

On the other hand, Gryspeerdt does lament the decline of traditional photographic skills caused by the advent of ever more sophisticated technology. "With modern cameras, you just look through the viewfinder and do what it tells you to do. The days of photography are really over. It's a shame people don't bother any more. It's a great pity."

When on tour, Gryspeerdt would shoot eight or nine rolls during the week. "I always used Ilford film, which I found softer than Kodak. I suppose I would over-expose by half or a full stop, but not more than that. I'd rush back and develop them. Sometimes I didn't bother with contact prints. If I got more than four decent prints in a week that was good." Such a low hit rate might sound unimpressive, but it is easily explained by the high standards to which Gryspeerdt aspired. His efforts were rewarded with a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society and membership of the exclusive London Salon.

Gryspeerdt's Bromoil technique started with the production of a soft negative with plenty of shadow detail. This was then printed onto a suitable paper. "The old Bromoil papers were made specially for Bromoil and were as thick as cardboard, but they all faded out after the war." Today, the paper Gryspeerdt recommends is Kentmere Document Art, which is particularly suitable because it is non-supercoated. (Supercoating is used to avoid stress marks on unexposed papers: unfortunately, it can also hinder the Bromoil Process.) After development, the print was fixed in plain (non-hardening) hypo, then washed as usual. "Normally I was in such a rush to get things done that I would ink the very next day, but I did once ink a print that was about thirty years old," Gryspeerdt confesses.

Prior to inking, prints were bleached (using a cupric solution), tanned (using dichromate), fully washed, then soaked in clean water. Easy though it is to get carried away with the merits of different chemical compositions, Gryspeerdt emphasises that the most important part of the Bromoil process is the inking. This in turn requires both the right type of ink and the right brushes. Inks must be hard - not in the least bit liquid. Traditionally, the best brushes were made from fitch (polecat hair) and hog hair - for inking small details and large areas respectively. "The French make a nylon brush now that can be used. It gives quite a nice effect but a fairly coarse grain." At this point, Gryspeerdt is referring to the effects that different brush materials have on the quality of the final image, and the fact that low (print) grain is preferred by many Bromoil workers. "If the grain is fine enough, a lot of people won't be able to tell it's a Bromoil."

As to the inking techniques themselves, apart from knowing the best (chisel) brush shape and the 'dabbing' styles that apply and remove ink, everything comes down to practice. "You more or less have to teach yourself," Gryspeerdt warns. There are, however, a few tips - one of which is to tape the print to a flat, non-absorbent surface such as a sheet of tough glass. This provides a rigid support and helps to prevent the print from drying out.

Another tip is to work slowly and to be patient. "The whole secret of Bromoil is not to put on too much ink," Gryspeerdt reveals. To remove ink - not because of over-inking but to highlight small areas - a hard rubber should be used. In extreme cases, the ink can be rubbed away completely, and the area retouched using brushes or artists' stumps.

Finally, as far as Bromoil Transfers are concerned, Gryspeerdt recommends the use of an etching press, with etching papers as receptor sheets. Obviously, the original print must be made in mirror reverse if the transfer image is to be the right way around.

Gryspeerdt's other passions are for his wife of more than fifty years and for growing Bonsai trees. Whilst talking about the latter subject, Gryspeerdt made a comment that seemed particularly appropriate to what had gone before. "Age isn't important," he observed. "It's the way the tree is grown that matters." Much the same could be said of Norman Gryspeerdt himself.