‘Substrate’ – photographs by Rikard Österlund
February 4 - March 3, 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Exhibition open Tuesday – Friday 11am-4pm & Sat 10am-3pm. The exhibition is closed Mondays & Sundays.
Rikard Österlund’s combination of wet plate photographs and black & white portraits and scenes from around the Medway Towns reveal the underlying substance of his subjects. Using an Edwardian camera he has developed a specialism in the 19th-century wet plate photographic process, which with its need for long exposures and careful chemistry, is the antithesis of digital image making.
Rikard will give a special talk and demonstration of the Wet Plate collodion Photographic process on the first Saturday (4th Feb – 11am-2pm) of his month-long exhibition at No.34. He has been fascinated by the wet collodion process for years, researching and practicing his methods to perfection. It is one of the earliest photographic processes, invented in 1851. Instead of clicking lots of digital shots onto a memory card or using 20th Century rolls of film Rikard prepares a glass or sheet metal plate, by hand for each one-off image, using Silver Nitrate & other chemicals. The image is then exposed in his antique camera and developed immediately. The results capture an intense and ethereal beauty in all of his subjects.
For more information on Rikard and his work visit www.rikardosterlund.com
