Historical Processes Spring 2017 @historicalsp17-blog - Tumblr Blog

(re-post) Artist Interview With Susan Abrams, Lauren Brahn

I interviewed Susan Abrams for my artist interview. She makes her own paper in addition to the historical photographic processes in her work.

Susan Abrams’ Website:

http://www.susan-abrams.com/S_Abrams.html

Another link to her work:

https://inliquid.org/artist/abrams-susan/

When did you begin taking photographs? 1996 on a trip to New Zealand

When did deicide you were interested in using historical processes of photography and mixed media? A few years later, my son gave me a bottle of Liquid Light. We have a darkroom which my husband built. I had not done black and white photography, but after experimenting with some of my husband's negatives, I taught myself how to develop film and began really print on my handmade paper as my main focus. I found other emulsions that were much better than liquid light, but the companies kept discontinuing them. That what got me doing more digital work and trying platinum/palladium which is quite expensive.

Did you begin as a papermaker or as a photographer? Would you say that you are primarily interested in either process? I began as a papermaker. Photography has become more dominant but I am still interested in both.

How/when did you learn to make paper? Do you make your own paper for your photographs? I took a workshop one summer at Art New England, at Bennington College and then was hooked. Took other workshops from time to time. I have no formal training in either art or photography. Most of my silver prints and all of my platinum/palladium prints are on paper I have made. I have also printed with silver emulsion on silk.

Did you receive a formal education in photography? Only a continuing ed semester course.

If not, how did you learn these photographic processes? My husband and reading taught me darkroom basics, followed by a night course at U Arts in Philly. I taught myself alternative processes by experimenting and figuring out techniques that work with my paper etc.

What are the photographic processes that you use? Applied silver emulsion & platinum/palladium . I have tried salt and albumin printing but have not been very successful with the handmade paper. Lately I have been doing more digital printing and experimenting with different papers and post printing coatings (encaustic, varnish etc)

Were you influenced by any particular artists, movements, or styles of art? I'm fairly omnivorous- love many different photographers and other artists.

What is your favorite/least favorite series that you made? I think my older botanical work using silver emulsion on my paper has a quality that is unique. It is not immediately obvious that it is photography. I do also love my series "abiding ephemera" - platinum/palladium print on my paper of night blooming cereus plant. I have been working on an inkjet series "train ride Reveries" taken in different seasons commuting between Philadelphia and NYC that I am excited about.

When using cameras, chemicals, and different processes, do you have a specific desired outcome of the photograph? Or do you let the chemical process determine how the photograph turns out? Serendipity definitely plays a large part but the photographic image directs how I use the materials- what paper or other substrate to print on, technique etc. . I do have an idea in mind but I am flexible.

What is your favorite method of photography? I love film but for various reasons have been concentrating on digital. I make the negatives for platinum/palladium prints digitally.

Do you experiment with other artistic media? Collage with my paper, found objects etc. I used to weave and still do some fiber arts.

Do you find that, because you primarily use non-digital methods, it was more or less difficult to break through into the art world? Or was that an asset? I think when I first started to try to get my work out the "non-photographic" quality of my work was an asset, but moving past a certain level I do think that the work I tend to do, regardless of whether it's digital or not, is not what is hot right now. For the past few years I have been less active artistically for family reasons.

Are you currently working on any projects? I just completed a project of five large prints for an office in NYC all printed on aluminum which was the first time I had the opportunity to do that kind of thing. I'm continuing to develop my train ride series and will try to find an opportunity to show it or perhaps get it out in some other way.

Rachel Ruston

Here are collected images and words from the past couple of years that were taken in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. In this series I am piecing back together particular moments that have long since faded and evolved into seemingly distant memories. Whenever I return home to Anchorage, I almost obsessively document my visits by taking notes and constantly shooting with my camera. I have extracted a few of these notes to go along with my images, meant to make the story behind them a bit clearer. Many of the images are of moments I spent with my younger sister, Erica. I chose to use Palladium printing because I wanted a process that would make the photographs look older as well as give them a dreamlike quality, which I believe Palladium printing does through the fogginess of the image quality and the way this process tends to make white glow.

Pinhole Poses

The Disappearing Self by Yuka Lou

The idea of time consumes me. We are here for just a small and brief moment. We are fleeting - just passing through. The Disappearing Self is an exploration of the fragility of time. I have taken self-portraits as I view myself as an object of time, just like any other thing in this world. I chose to work with the collodion wet-plate process and chose to keep the photographs as ambrotypes. I love the idea that an ambrotype is a one of kind object, which also becomes susceptible to time. I made the deliberate decision not to varnish the collodion wet-plates, as I am interested in seeing the process of deterioration and decay. The peeling away of the image, the disappearance, and the unpredictable results are all an integral part of the project. I am interested in not only the image as seen in the present but also seeing the image change over time. In a few of the images I have introduced flowers and petals of flowers directly on the plates. I wanted to see how the delicacies of the flowers spoke to the delicacies of the collodion process. The trapped flowers have transformed with the chemicals, resulting in haunting and almost unsettling objects.

#collodion #historical process

Artist Statement

Melanie Miller UT.1214 Nichole Frocheur Artist Statement Twice Removed This sequence of images were originally shot on 120mm film with a Yashica TLR, in lieu of creating a portable collodion dark room. Most images are of reflections taken in the glass of storefront windows, with a few deviations from the norm. These collodions are actually positives, as the images they shot – scans on a computer monitor – had been inverted. This concept of glass on glass was experimental, and its inception was basically that straightforward and simplistic. In retrospect, however, it is no surprise that I took the images I did. It has always baffled me that New York City can be incredibly expansive, yet have so little to do. Each of the storefronts I photographed require for their patrons to spend money to enjoy the experiences they offer. On a street level, New York City appears to be just a long series of storefronts, where every experience or exchange has a price tag. The constant bombardment to buy something is inescapable. I personally try to avoid stores as much as possible, and as such, my main experience with them is one of a spectator, always on the sidewalk, looking in to the stores through the windows that have been designed to entice us all to buy things. For me, the stores move me to engage in experiences and adventures that are free, rather than their intended use. These images are also an unsurprising creation when considering how introverted I am. Growing up, I was quiet, and even today, I prefer to observe people, rather than engage with them. The visual generation loss – from film negative to digital image to collodion plate - that is apparent in the final images is fairly representative of how much of my social interaction with my peers tends to feel. My girlfriend and dog are present in most of the sequence – these are two beings that I do not feel that ‘generational loss’ with. Often, because we go on walks with my dog, even if I wanted to go into a store, I wouldn’t be able to. So not only is the my interior world given a visual representation, but the literal reality is also reflected (get it?) in the images. The one box that holds an image is representative of how I would choose to show this work as a set. (In reality, I would have the boxes fabricated, rather than cut out of foam – consider this foam box to be a mockup.) The depth between the front of the frame and the back – the little sliver of space between the plate and the back foam core – is intended to create depth and allow the reflection to have a more three dimensional quality, as a storefront would. In the future, if presenting something like this professionally, I would figure out a way to back light them in their display cases.

#melaniemiller #artist Statement

A Body Work, Final by Olga Ushakova

I never felt confident about my body in front of the camera, I always thought of it as too personal and too intimate to be photographed and then displayed to public. With pinhole camera’s blurry, obscure focus and long time exposure, however, I felt unusually comfortable photographing my and my significant other’ bodies. The pinhole made the intimacy of nakedness less private and detailed for me. The work also challenges the viewer to distinguish certain parts of bodies in some of the images, whereas some other ones are more obvious in their content.

While doing this project, I was reading my favorite soviet actor’s, Evgeniy Leonov, letter to his son, in one of them he wrote: “Oh son, is there a person in your life in front of whom you are not afraid of being small, unarmed, in the whole nakedness of your revelation? This person is your protection.” These words lead me to another idea: A Body Work project isn’t just a challenge of mine, but also it is a challenge for my partner, whom I worked as a collaborator with. It challenged us to feel comfortable working with each other in these unusual conditions: standing still naked for 5 minutes together or sometimes directing each other and controlling the camera.

Final Project, Lauren Brahn

This series, entitled “Transient Beings”, was created using the salt print method, one of the earliest methods of photography. I was inspired to combine this photographic method with modern digital images because I wanted to incorporate elements from different eras of photography. I achieved this aesthetic by creating digital negatives on Pictorico paper and exposing them on traditional salt prints. All of the prints were created using the “float” method, as opposed to using a brush, to ensure a more even coat with rich tones.

All of the portraits in this series were unstaged street portraits from New York and Los Angeles. The images were all taken from different photographic series that I have made over the years, because I wanted to create something new out of what was “old.” This ties into the theme of using the “old’ salt print method and combining it with newer technologies. I wanted to use a more flawed and impermanent method to emphasize the transient moments on the street. While my original goal was to have more controlled and even-toned images, hence the decision to use the floating method, i was pleased to see that each image ended up having a very unique look. What would be considered an “imperfection” using other methods, such as fingerprints and variations in tonality, actually completed the images and gave them more character. The unpredictable outcome mirrors the unpredictability of what or whom you will encounter on the streets of New York and Los Angeles.

Arcadia, by Eugenia Efstathiou

I spend all my summers in Leonidio, a small village in Arcadia located on the Southern part of Greece. Knowing that all my four grandparents grew up in that place and that my parents met in that same land, I have always felt a strong, deep connection to the village. For me, Leonidio has always been an escape, a place full of memories and a symbol of my childhood that has created a personal, strong bond with nature. Similarly to the symbolic meaning of the land Arcadia - that represents an earthly paradise - Leonidio for me represents complete freedom and eternal, carefree happiness.

The goal of this project is to immortalize traditional buildings of Leonidio, a place that has managed to remain unaltered through time. By making palladium prints, the most durable photographic process, I aim at making these structures last in time. On an abstract level, through the preservation of these structures, I also aim at preserving my evanescent memories of my childhood that exist somewhere inside those buildings, in their stories that my grandmother told me, in the walks that I took as a kid.

Conversation with John Dugdale, by Eugenia

I had the chance to visit John Dugdale’s studio on the West Village. During our almost 2-hour conversation, we had the chance to discuss a plethora of topics. Even though we didn’t discuss much about the reason that John uses historical processes - I think he just told me that using these processes “makes sense” - we had the chance to talk more about our lives and the way that our diseases have altered the way that we think and function as people. John has lost his sight for the last 20+ years. Nevertheless, he continues to produce work. He told me that the way he makes photographs is by drawing the composition on the glass surface of a large format camera; his assistant helps him frame his photograph and achieve the result that he wants. John wanted to learn more about myself and my disease: at the age of 18 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that affects my optic nerves, resulting in the slow decline of my vision. John was interested in my story and wanted my to tell him about my experience with my disease and the way that I was handling it. We shared a lot about each other, experiences with our families, friends, memories of our days at the hospital, dreams that we had. He was also interested in the way that I make art. He wanted to me to talk about my greek background and the way that I use this background to make images. He told me that even though it is ok to not know where a project is supposed to go by the time you finish it, it is very healthy to express what is inside every person and what feels right in expressing. He told me that in his work, he expresses the different way that he sees his surroundings. He regards his “blindness” a gift, a blessing for the way that it has enabled him to see the world. He told me that once, a blind friend of his, wished to him to become blind. Even though he wasn't able to understand at that moment, he know knows what his friend was talking about. We started talking about greek mythology. I told him that in my poetry class we talked about how ancient prophets were blind in order to gain insight. He answered that during a trip to Europe he literally stumbled upon a statue of an old man with a lamp on his hands that has supposed to lead him the way, the statue was representing blind prophet Tiresias, his favorite prophet as he said. Then we started talking about the unwillingness of people to discuss serious subjects such as diseases and death. He told me that the way he dealt with that was to ignore what people were saying and also trying to prove everyone wrong, by keep making photographs. The he talked about his influences in photography. He said that when he was at school he tried to make photographs that resemble those that Stieglitz took of O’Keefe’s hands. His teacher told him that he was never going to be a good photographer. Then he said that in his later work, he draws a lot of inspiration from Julia Margaret Cameron and the way she portrayed people. He talked about how he finds pleasure in different things or scenes and how everyday moments have a very deep impact on him. His memory is something very powerful that he owns but at the same time he perceives his surroundings in a different way. He focuses on sound and voices, he sees things but not in the way that others do. He said that this is not a disability - he hates that word - it is a different kind of vision. I left his studio thinking about everything he told me, not being afraid of the future even if in the future there is a chance that I will lose my vision. He said that there are always ways to improve ourselves and invent ways to express ourselves and survive. Our conversation was definitely the most emotionally powerful encounter that I had ever had in my life. It is amazing to learn how people cope with different life experiences and I definitely think that if you can you should go to his talk on May 18th to learn more about him and his artistic practice. He also told me that the most important thing for an artist is to expose himself to different art forms and media, to go see exhibitions and to read literature. I think that everyone has something to gain from meeting John Dugdale!

monumental by Rebecca Arthur

My work has continuously incorporated myself as the subject, using my body to address the strength of my womanhood by surveying my figure in all its forms. While working with the collodion process, I fell in love with its ability to arrest the subject within the glass plate, making them monumental. This word, monumental, stuck to my brain the first time I heard it, and it reflected my feelings as a powerful woman with force, strength and stamina. Through this small series of work, I use my body and gaze to interact with the viewer and perform a representation of power.

JOHN DUGDALE LECTURE 5/18

John Dugdale is a photographer specializing in historical processes including cyanotype, platinum and albumen. He has invited our class to his talk at The National Arts Club on Gramercy Park on 5/18 at 8:00pm. He specifically said that he would like to meet all of you! Let’s all be un-lame and GO!

Artist Interview with Annie Lopez

Rachel Ruston

Hi Rachel:

Cyanotype is my favorite alternative photographic process to use. I learned cyanotype in the mid-80s. I began by making contact prints of my larger negatives. The prints were individual images. From there, I combined images, then added text. In 2011, I began to print on the paper used to wrap tamales. Those prints were attached to watercolor paper and displayed as 2-D prints. In 2012, I sewed those prints on tamale wrapper paper together to create a "fabric" which I then used to make dresses-my current 3-D sculptural pieces.

The most exciting part of working with a historical processes, for me, is that it is historical. My work is about my own history. Using cyanotype helps me connect with the family I never met and their stories. I use their photographs and imagine their care in telling a story with their poses and captions. I feel I don't connect with photography unless I actually take the time to mix the chemicals and apply the solution and spend the time out in the sun to make my prints. The sun is also an important part of why I chose cyanotype. I live in Arizona (born and raised) and my family has been here for over 140 years and the sun was a factor in their lives-for work, laundry, etc.

Knowledge of historical processes benefit the understanding of photography because it helps a person appreciate what came before their camera phone and computer printout. It helps to understand the thought and preparation that went into (and goes into) making a print using the time-intensive methods. New photographers should know that someone experimented over and over to find a process that could capture an image.

I think I have tried most of the methods out there. Cyanotype is my favorite. I do try other methods of making prints and will never say never to learning more.The photographer that inspired me the most is W. Eugene Smith. I grew up with Life Magazine in the house and loved his photo essays. I still drive to Tucson on occasion to see his work at the Center For Creative Photography. My favorite cyanotype artist is Bea Nettles. Reading her books early on in my learning about cyanotype inspired me to mix processes and experiment more.

I enjoy teaching cyanotype because it is so simple, anyone can make a print. That simplicity encourages new artists to continue to create. I love everything about cyanotype-the water (rinsing and soaking), the sun (the exposure), playing with the timing for a different look, applying the solution in different ways and experimenting with new materials to print on.

The challenges I faced when I began to use alternative processes? My work was not accepted as photography. I still have that challenge. The film photography purists do not understand that cyanotype is a hands-on printing method and it is actually historical. I learned that the process was considered for the lower classes of people long ago because anyone could use it. Using cyanotype does force me into a limbo between printmaking and photography. I believe it is both, but I've had artists in both categories question my work's inclusion in shows!

I learned the technique at a local community college. I grew tired of straight black and white and color photography, and wanted a new way of telling my story. After that single semester class, I sought out all the books about cyanotype I could, so I could learn more about the subject.

What I hope for the viewers of my work is that they will ask questions about the technique and the subject matter. I want the viewer to be encouraged to go out and have their say in their own art form and to do it in a method that they find significant.

I think that's it! I hope I made sense. If you need clarification, please just ask.

Sergey Levitsky is considered the patriarch of Russian photography and one of Europe’s most important early photographic pioneers, inventors and innovators. “Levitsky used Charles Chevalier-designed lens, known as the "Photographe à Verres Combinés" as it combined two cemented achromats; reduced the time needed to capture an image as it improved the camera's focusing ability.”

In 1845 Levitsky took a course in chemistry and physics at the Sorbonne in Paris and met the leading daguerreotypists, including Daguerre. Levitsky knew him personally, who later helped him to introduced the term ‘light painting’ to Russia. Levitsky also worked with salt prints, and since they weren’t that good at transmission of light and shadow, Levitsky learned how to paint on photographs.

While being in Paris, Levitsky became proficient with the daguerreotypes. One of the first major photographic studios in Russia was owned and operated by Sergei Levitsky, who on his return from Paris in autumn 1849, opened a daguerreotype photo studio called “Light painting” in St. Petersburg on October, 1849.

On his next trip to Rome, Sergei photographed a group of prominent Russian painters and writers, including one of the most famous writers of that time, Nikolai Gogol. Levitsky’s portrait of Gogol is now believed to be the only known portrait of this great personality.

Considered as the best of Russia’s portrait photographers, Levitsky four generations of the Romanov dynasty. In 1877, he was awarded with the title of Photographer of their Royal Majesty.

Levitsky was awarded with the order for making a significant contribution to the iconography of Russian writers, artists, public figures.

Between 1859 and 1864 Sergei Levitsky operated a photographic studio at 22, rue de Choiseul in Paris formerly the address for American daguerreotypist Warren Thompson Warren-Thompson and joined the Société Française de Photographie. In May 1878, Sergei Levitsky was one of the founders of Russia's first Photographic Societies, part of the Imperial Russian Technical Society; which saw him work alongside Dmitri Mendeleev (the inventor of the periodic table) and other scientists experimenting with photography using artificial light.

His collodions are still kept in the Russian Pushkin Museum, but they have never been displayed since they are too fragile to be showed for public.

S. Levitsky

BIBLIOGRAPHY (The sources of the images used) Hannavy, John. Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century photography. New York, N.Y: Routledge, 2008. Print. p.853

The year-book of photography and photographic news almanac for .. London: Piper & Carter, n.d. Print. p. 145

Cyanotypes

Rachel Ruston

The photographer, artist, art historian and educator Constanza Martinez has worked with photography from a young age. She has studied its history and experimented with various styles/processes, all which has led her to making the materiality of the print the central focus of her work. She developed a series titled “Prussian Blue” which utilizes the cyanotype process. She describes “the process of making as central to the meaning of the work”. In this series, Martinez creates images of various shapes and sizes that include no tangible forms. The subject matter is simply the process itself. There is no drawing, photograph or text included, and no discernible shapes are found. Personally, I find them reminiscent of the study of cells or perhaps unidentifiable micro-organisms. They are toned to include various shades of blue, with multiple white sections stretching and seeming to erode into lighter and then further, a darker blue. While staring at these images I feel as though I can sense there textures, smell fresh chemicals atop the damp paper, and I patiently await the mixture to continue to drip out of frame. These images are beautiful, simply put. Whether they are seen individually or as a series, I find them extremely compelling. One could wonder whether they are the result of paint and a curious hand, or trimmed fabric that’s dye has crawled and spilled from edge to edge. Untitled Image 2, from her series “Prussian Blue”, feels the most scientific to me. The circular shape and various textures appearing to erode are mesmerizing. Untitled Image 2 focuses on the many shades of blue that can be created by this process and remind me of the dropping edges of my own cyanotype pieces I have created in the past. Both works feel as though movement has been paused and we are left to reflect on how these have been created.

The color blue, eliciting the burden of sadness, the feel of cool water, hinting at a nostalgia for times long gone. When an image is made from the cyanotype process, it is strikingly blue- bright, beaming and left with a soft blur. The effect of light on iron compounds produces images that speak to viewers about memory and the beauty of nature’s many forms. The process is often described as quick and relatively easy. Cyanotypes are not limited to photography, one can transfer drawings as well as text to paper and/or fabric. Photograms were widely popular with the cyanotype process, some well known examples made by the mid-19th century botanist Anna Atkins.

The process itself was created in the 1840s by the British scientist Sir John Herschel, and by World War I the popularity of the process was largely replaced by black and white images. And yet now, over 150 years later, the artists Annie Lopez and Constanza Martínez have both made various works by utilizing the cyanotype process. And neither of them have produced what one would describe as a “typical image”.

Untitled Image 2, taken from the series “Prussian Blue”

Untitled Image 1, taken from the series “Prussian Blue”

Martinez explains that she is exploring “the expressive potential of the photographic medium through a thorough investigation of its most basic elements: light, chemicals, and substrate”. We as viewers are left without a subject, instead free to comprehend the surface of a photograph. To study the beauty of the medium itself, lacking a negative or any true illustration of the material world. I admire Martinez’s bravery to not include a subject, and am grateful for the chance instead to focus on the alluring features of the cyanotype process itself. Martinez is fascinated by photographic processes and the history behind them, and by creating these works, she allows the viewers to experience why. The idea that the process behind resulting images can stand alone becomes a reality. I am left awestruck at the beauty that awaits within a mixture of chemicals.

The artist Annie Lopez has utilized the cyanotype process in a completely different way. Lopez creates art with intensely personal subject matter, she puts her vulnerability into the process and allows it to dry beneath the sun. Lopez uses the cyanotype process in quite an unusual manner. Often experimenting with what she can print on, Lopez began to use tamale paper to make cyanotypes. Her family always made tamales at Christmas so she thought this was an appropriate material for the personal nature of her work. Finding she could successfully sew these together, Lopez made a dress. She titled this series, “Storybook,” saying, “Another story, another dress”. Lopez stated she “wanted to sew her problems into a dress,” and thus her cyanotypes took on a sculptural form. Her dress titled “Medical Conditions,” discusses her father’s battle with Alzheimer's. She includes photocopies of medical books, medical texts about dementia and with comments made by her family members like, “you should help your mother more”.

Medical Conditions, by Annie Lopez

Lopez has made many other dresses that also discuss her family memories, such as a dress titled “Fire Took What Was Left of Us” which is a piece discussing an arson fire that destroyed her family’s business just one year after her father passed, the dress includes the fire reports from the investigation. And “C Student,” which includes copies of her report card from when she received a C in her first grade art class. Each dress is made from 20-40 pieces of tamale paper and each image she prints takes about twenty five minutes to process. While designing each dress, she subtracts and adds images as needed in order to tell her story.

Lopez’s work discusses the functional quality of cyanotypes, to print text such as the medical records, report card, and fire reports. Since there is so much detail in each dress, I find that the process becomes a minor thing to focus on when understanding the entire work. Her series becomes about the interpretation of the collection of text and images, the significance of the materiality of the dress, all accompanied by the cyanotype process.

While Martinez draws necessary and well deserved attention to the process itself, I believe Lopez is successful in producing a more conceptual image- rather than a study. For me, this results in more powerful work, one that I will be left reflecting on for a significant time after, rather than just appreciating the beauty of a piece. Both artists are experimenting with the process itself, Martinez by making that very thing her subject matter, and Lopez by bending what is acceptable to print on. I appreciate the challenging of the usual “photographic image,” and what it means to interact with the subject matter and the process that produces the final product. It becomes so much more than the click of a button.

Works Cited

Lengel, Kerry. "Annie Lopez, Pioneer of Phoenix Arts Scene, Honored at 2016 Governor's Arts Awards." Lohud.com. N.p., 25 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Apr. 2017. <http://www.lohud.com/story/entertainment/arts/2016/03/25/arizona-governor-arts-awards-annie-lopez/82235484/>.

Loos, Ted. "Cyanotype, Photography's Blue Period, Is Making a Comeback." The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Apr. 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/arts/design/cyanotype-photographys-blue-period-is-making-a-comeback.html>.

Martinez, Constanza. "Prussian Blue." Constanza Isaza Martinez. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2017. <http://www.constanzaisaza.com/galleries/prussian-blue>.

Voon, Claire. "Photography’s Blue Period Gets Its First Major Show in the US." Hyperallergic. N.p., 25 Feb. 2016. Web. 21 Apr. 2017. <https://hyperallergic.com/272915/photographys-blue-period-gets-its-first-major-show-in-the-us/>.

Sasha Manovtseva by Olga Ush

Sasha Manovtseva is a Russian analogue photographer, who only does portraiture, but also some commercial work, using collodion and albumen. In 2013 Sasha took some collodion portraiture of my family. I asked a few questions about this specific process, here is what I’ve got.

Why am I interested in collodion? I chose this process not because of uneven edges, stains and "general artistry" and not because of the decorative effect. I do not think that anything shot in this technique, immediately turns into something artistic. When I shot the rural areas of Russia for my project, I had to return to my subjects numerous of times, some people were so annoyed to stand for me. In the era of digital redundancy, collodion provides an opportunity to return to the meanings and uniqueness of each image. Collodion returns the rituality of the situation of photographing both in relation to the model and the photographer. The frankness of the collodion allows me to get rid of the pursuit of the momentary value of the moment and focus on the iconicity of the image. I want to thank everyone who posed for me and stood for this. And all the brave and patient and hardy heroic friends for help, assisting, dragging huge boxes of equipment, dirty hands, stamina with the air of ether, tolerance incredible, manifested in relation to my cries and snub!

PS: And also this process isn’t so popular in Russia, so I feel very special and this allows me to earn my living (haha).

Ambrotypes for Self-Reflection by Sosie Almasian

An ambrotype is a mirrory image made through the wet plate collodion process. The images made through this process often have an extremely shallow depth of field, high contrast, and often contain little imperfections caused by the delicate nature of the process. In order to make an ambrotype, one must coat a clean glass plate with collodion chemical so that the silver nitrate may then stick to the plate. The plate is then exposed while it is still wet and then immediately developed and fixed. The result is a one of a kind positive image.

This is a labor intensive process that results in beautiful images but with modern advances in camera technology like the digital camera, ambrotypes and other alternative processes have mostly become seemingly obsolete. When Frederick Scott Archer came up with this process in the late 1800s, it was a cheaper alternative to the daguerreotype. But years later, the process has taken on a whole new meaning.

While many contemporary photographers opt for whatever cutting edge equipment they can get their hands on, some photographers prefer a different kind of setup. Photography at its most basic level is a recording of light on to light sensitive material. Many find that concept poetic and this encourages deeper thought into the various ways one can record light onto light sensitive material. While someone may be perfectly content recording that light onto a tiny computer, others might be more interested in having a more involved role in their photographs.

One contemporary photographer who utilizes the wet plate collodion process to make ambrotypes is Myra Green. Myra’s work tends to revolve around her identity. She uses photography as a means of self-reflection and self-exploration. In her series, Character Recognition in 2006, Myra uses this historical process to record specific features of her body, such as her lips, nose, and ears. Since she is an artist of color, this body of work references Ethnography, which was the recording of a specific culture or society.

This sect of anthropology was popular in the late 19th century and consisted mostly of colonized or impoverished subject matter and were usually people of color. This was and is still very controversial because many believe that these ethnographic studies were racist and ultimately pseudo scientific in nature. However, Myra’s reference to this concept makes it seem as if she is reclaiming the ownership of her body and the features that comprise her. She elevates her physical features that have a history because of the color of her skin. There is a glow to these images that contain the pain and beauty of the artist.

Green’s nose, upper lip, and fragments of her eye is seen in image “65” in the series. Every pore is visible and each one looks as if they allow her skin to breathe. On the bottom left edge of the image, the collodion looks as if it peeled back a little bit. This little rip in the image makes it look like the image is in flame. This dramatic and vibrating image simultaneously alludes to her personal history through the depiction of her flesh but also a cultural and photographic history through her process and her reference to ethnography. In another image in the series, “72” depicts a close-up on Green lifting her lips to show her teeth. This combination of flesh and bone create a powerful image. Her expression, exposed teeth, isn’t a smile. It seems like more of a snarl, like an instinctual expression that is meant to ward off predators. Overall, Character Recognition is truly an effective series that is both emotional and technically proficient. She truly uses this process to its fullest potential. Even using its flaws as a process to elevate it all together.

Another photographer who made self-portraits in 2006 using the wet plate collodion process is none other than Sally Mann. While this is not her most well-known series, it is still important within the larger context of her work as a photographer. “Sally Mann: The Flesh and the Spirit” consists of a grid ambrotypes, meant to be viewed together, depict the face of the artist.

Mann’s self portraits carry a similar theme of her other photographs. She is very focused on identity through her family, her body, and the South. This self definition rings throughout this series. These ghostly images use the wet plate collodion process in a similar way to Green’s because Mann utilizes and embraces the flaws of the process to make the piece more of an object than a photograph.

We see parts of her face, some in focus, some out of focus. All of them are trying to convey a sense of a person. An interpretation or perception of a person rather than a literal reading of the features that are being presented. Parts of the images are torn, ripped, or there are drips of some substance, most likely a fixer that distort and abstract her image. It’s almost as if she is hiding behind her photography. She puts her work before herself.

While Sally Mann is an iconic photographer, I’m not sure if she utilizes the process with as much attention to its history and meaning as Myra Green. The ambrotypes that Mann made are beautiful, haunting portraits that look like ghosts of the past. But it is difficult to deny that Green’s historical and personal references are conceptually stronger.

Bibliography

Sally Mann. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. <http://sallymann.com/selected-works/ambrotypes>.

Myragreene.com. "Character Recognition." Myra Greene. Myra Greene, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Definition of Ethnography." Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Jeppesen, Travis, Vanessa Thill, Craig Hubert, and Michael McCanne. "Art In America." Sally Mann - Reviews - Art in America. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Sally Mann." Edwynn Houk Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

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