A yen for paper —hearing the call

I used to do photographs printed on Rives BFK where I coated with a silver nitrate solution called Van Dyke Brown. I found the formula while researching the early development of photography. As you might imagine, it was a laborious process with 20x24 inch contact negatives, mixing dangerous chemicals, coating with glass rods, 1 hour exposures in the sun and so on.

I'm no longer doing this work in my own practice but am heartened to see others who have picked up the baton in this digital age. Check out the artist, Su Blackwell as well as the the Alternative Photography website. They have old formulas, pracitioners and more. In addition I may be returning — I've got that yen again and I've been experimenting with Golden's Mix More Media. I love digital—no darkroom need apply. But paper? It sings a siren song.

2007-beringer-wine-spot-w-video from Su Blackwell on Vimeo.

Source: Youtube

From the Sublime? to the Ridiculous

This morning I was meditating on how life gets switched from track to track. While I struggle with my painting (yesterday I spent two hours trying to paint a pepper), photography runs along on its own parallel art train. Yet even this has a multitude of tracks.

Take these two images, one created with an arduous process of hand coating, life-size negatives, sun exposure and a physically demanding development, the other a digital snap, pixels transfered from camera to computer. One is a portrait, the other a self portrait.

At least it would make a great title for a memoir, Self Portrait with Rotisserie Chicken.