Photography, art, and whatever else.
Today I managed to get the lumens I mentioned in the last post digitized.
I’ve posted this one before, but this is a better reproduction, so I thought I’d post it again:
These next two are from color paper, fixed in regular black and white photo paper developer. Next round, I’m going to give blix fix a shot:
The rest are all from enlarging lith film and measure 16″ x 20″:
It’s been a while since I posted any new work. It’s not for lack of not creating anything new, because, frankly I should be shot if, being in grad school, I’m not creating anything new. It is, however, a matter of being lazy with updating the blog.
I’ve been doing a lot of Lumens on film. Most of them have been on enlarging lith film, and as soon as I can get some half decent digital reproductions of them I’ll get them up here. I’ve also done some on color print paper, which, again, when I get them digitized, I’ll get them posted.
One big benefit to doing these Lumens, is that people are giving me lots of old paper and film to use. A little while ago I was given some color slide film and some flashed black and white print film, all 4×5. I used a few sheets to create a couple Lumens, and the results were pretty exciting:
This is one of the Lumens made from the black and white print film, scanned, and tonally inverted. I really liked what the scanning software thought the tones “should” be, so I left it that way. I thought the luminance, the blues, and the greens and pinks in the stems were all really quite lovely.
These two are from the same “negative.” The top one is sort of close to what the negative looks like, and the bottom one has been tonally inverted.
What is fun about bringing these into the computer, is that a whole new world opens up to me, where things become even more expressive and lyrical. You do lose the tactile qualities, of the “parent print,” which leaves me with mixed feelings. But at the same time, I now have the option to print enormously large.
These next three are from color slide film, and have not been in any chemical bath at all; they’ve had the plants removed, and been allowed to dry, and then placed in a black bag to prevent further exposure until I decide how I want to process them, whether it be in black and white fixer, or color print film fixer, or color slide film fixer. The first one is my favorite.
Monday I finally had a pretty big and very exciting breakthrough with the Lumen prints I have been doing for the past four years.
Ever since I saw Jerry Burchfields Lumen prints four years ago, I’ve been following that same vein all along. I’ve never been truly satisfied with that, as it wasn’t truly my work. I might as well have been Burchfields’ apprentice. So I’ve been trying to find some way to spin the process in my own way. Add to that the pressure (it’s positive pressure) of coming up with a project for my thesis, and that desire to make my own Lumens has been even greater.
My friends Darren, Jon, and Scott have all given me suggestions; some I’ve tried, other’s I haven’t simply out of laziness. Two of the ideas one or the other of us had come up with during the past couple years were to use color paper, instead of the black and white that I have been using, and to try using film.
Until now, the largest pieces of film I’ve had were 5″x7″, and it’s very difficult creating decent compositions on something that small. I also never had access to color paper. Now that I’m in grad school, people have given me lots of new papers to try, including color paper, and 20″x24″ enlarging film.
Monday I decided to give them both a shot, and was very excited with the results to say the least (please forgive the imperfections; they’re just very crude, quick digital captures):
Film:
Kodak Supra II Color Paper:
I was thrilled with the results from both new media, but after seeing how transparent the film print went, I began to wonder at how they would be presented, if that was the direction I took. As the two prints were hanging to dry, the film was in front of the paper, and it hit me: combine the two. Here is what I got:
Film Overlaid on the Supra Print:
All this happened at about 7:00 p.m. or a little later, and until 12:00 a.m. my mind was still reeling from the excitement of just how beautiful each were separately, but how much more so when paired together.
I think the thing that excited me the most was the fact that this combination helped remove the strong reference to “plant.” They took on a fossilized character, as if a pre-historic squid, while attacking some other pre-historic, deep sea creature were instantly fossilized.
Here is the latest revision of the statement. I still have to make a few connections and make a better link between the Lumen print and the subject matter.
The Lumen process is serendipitous, unpredictable and liberating. Some plants record their leaves’ vein structure on the photographic paper with great detail and exactness, while others wither very rapidly from the solar heat, leaving ghosts of themselves on the paper as they die. I have learned what colors will be produced by certain exposure times, but something new happens every time—a new color is produced, chlorophyll from the plant is pressed into the paper—and is never again replicated. The ever-surprising nature of this process is what draws me so intensely to it. I escape the exact, precise nature of working with the conventional camera. Choosing plants to create these prints, I find my place in Nature, and the plants’ place in art.
Last week we looked at our artist statements in class, and edited my statement down to this:
The Lumen process is serendipitous, unpredictable and liberating. I never know exactly what the results will be—some plants record their leaves’ vein structure on the photographic paper with great detail and exactness, while others wither very rapidly from the solar heat, leaving “ghosted” images of themselves on the paper as they shrink. Through experience, I’ve learned roughly what colors will be produced by certain exposure times, but something new happens every time—a new color is produced, chlorophyll from the plant is pressed into the paper—and is never again replicated. The ever-surprising nature of this process is what draws me so intensely to it. I am allowed to put off the very exact, precise nature of working with the mechanical camera, and completely let go. By going out and collecting plants to create these prints, I am able to find my place in Nature, and discover the plants’ place in art.
Today we went over our revisions/edits and clarified them even more. Unfortunately I left my print out of my statement that has all my edit marks on it in my darkroom. I’ll post that revision tomorrow. Please feel free to edit and comment about this revision in the meantime.
I’ve been meaning to write an artist statement for my Lumen Prints for ever, and I’m finally getting to it (an assignment to come up with an artist statement for my Graduate Seminar class certainly helped me get my butt in gear). I’d very much appreciate feedback, and edits, so please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Oh, and the assignment is due Wednesday, so no pressure.
An Artistic Study of Southeast Idaho’s Aquatic Vegetation
One of my first experiences in photography that I remember is of making photograms, where various objects such as plants, fabrics, pencils, paper, hands, are placed directly on photographic paper, which is then exposed to light. After development, areas where the objects were blocking the transmission of light are left white, or turn varying shades of grey, depending on how translucent the object is, and areas void of any object become black.
The Lumen printing process expands on the principle of the photogram, but skips the development step. Plants and other organic materials are placed on black and white photographic paper, then left to be exposed under sunlight. The sun’s intense UV light and solar heat react with the paper and plant, and the chemical make up of the plant and paper all combine to produce various colors (development after the exposure would eliminate these colors and render everything in black and white and various shades of grey); papers from different manufacturers react differently from one to the next, and varying exposure lengths affect the vibrancy of the colors produced.
It is a very serendipitous, unpredictable and liberating process. One never knows exactly what the results will be—some plants record their leave’s vein structure on the paper with great detail and exactness, while others wither very rapidly from the solar heat, leaving a “ghosted” image of itself on the paper as it shrinks. Through experience, one gets to know very roughly what colors will be produced by certain exposure times, but there is always something that had never happened previously—a new color is produced, chlorophyl from the plant is pressed into the paper—and is never again replicated. The ever surprising nature of this process is what draws me so intensely to it. I am allowed to put off the very exact, precise nature of working with the mechanical camera, and completely let go, and I find great joy and relaxation in that.
Tuesday morning I got a call from Craig Law (the head of the photography program here at Utah State), wherein he asked me if I would assist in teaching a group of Korean teenagers who are here for a brief study abroad program. I was more than happy to accept the offer.
The little crash course went four days: Tuesday through Friday (today), and it was a good experience for myself, and I’m sure it has been for the kids, who still have a few more weeks of sculpture/ceramics, I think graphic design, printmaking, etc… The whole program runs the whole gamut of the Visual Arts.
The first two days Craig and I spent time helping them create photograms and lumen prints, and the last two days were spent on computers printing out photographs they had made with their digital cameras. They all did really well, despite language barriers and never having considered photography as Art. They made some very interesting photograms and some gorgeous lumens (which were made on Agfa RC paper, which I had previously shunned, but after this week, I’ll be using more often…the colors were simply stunning).
Anyway, here are a few photos of the students, and their work:
Photograms and Lumen Prints Drying
Lumens Exposing
I even managed to make a few Lumens myself (these are just digital captures; as soon as I get access I’ll get them scanned and posted):
Craig Giving a Printing Demo
Students Making Prints
Last night I went for a ride up Logan Canyon. I had originally planned on only going to the Canyon Entrance Park to make a few photographs, but once I got there I decided to continue up into the canyon and collect some plants to do some Lumens.
A little ways up the trail I found some Thimble Berry plants and pulled over to snack on some of the berries, and ended up making this photograph:
While I was here I gathered a few Thimble Berry leaves, as well as a few twigs from the trees in the left side of the photograph. When I got home, I started exposures on a couple of the plants. I’m not sure how long I’ll let them go. They’re both plants I’ve never used before, and I can’t decide if I want to let mold grow, or fix them out sooner.