Darkroom workers make magic with the lights off. Dismiss
Previously on this blog, I wrote about how proud I am to have walked away from my film career as a compositor. I still am proud of that decision, but now the situation has changed and I’m back in VFX, working as a senior compositor at Crafty Apes. It’s so weird to feel grateful for...
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Photographic film and paper developers generally consist of four components which work together to develop your images. Here’s a quick overview of the components and their purposes. Please note: I’ll mention some chemicals in this article. Some of them are pretty harmless, but some can be downright dangerous. Please educate yourself about safe handling of...
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Silver gelatin is the most luscious photographic material. Prove me wrong. In support of my argument, I give you the curly sculpture of an air-dried print, the sounds of its crisp tension, as well as its luxurious surface. We’re “not supposed” to touch the surface. “Oils,” they say. But touch one. Especially a glossy one....
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Cognitive thought is the picture killer. Here’s Henry Wessel talking about photographing while nearly asleep. I share this with you because the majority of the photographs in the Winston-Salem project are made in the same state. Early alarm, out of bed, into clothing, grab camera, go. I’m out a bit later than him because I...
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If you have already welcomed a copy of Signs of Life into your own life, you know what this experience feels like. If not, grab a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy this look at the book. To purchase your own copy, please visit the store.
There is a block of woods in the Winston-Salem warehouse district. I call it the fairy woods. On this particular afternoon the light was blasting through there beautifully. This image is from an 8×10 paper negative. Paper negatives at this size record tons of detail and this image is one you could walk into. Until...
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French sculptor Paul-Albert Bartholomé (1848-1928) on the (then) current mania for “artistic” manipulation in photography: I am irritated by most of the photographs in which the authors have intervened to create works that are no longer photographs and are not drawings. They suggest to me only imperfect imitations of etchings or reproductions of paintings. ....
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All of these photographs were found in the course of other activities. None of it is set up. The world is endlessly giving. All you have to do is pay attention. Signs of Life has the heart of a zine and the jacket of a library book. Here, I (mis)use digital printing technology to present...
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I just discovered a gallery of cameraless Polaroid prints from Lisa McCarty. What an absolute treat! Just like tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings. Go visit and enjoy them for yourself. Find out how far you can be transported in just a few moments!
Quiet Campus is a double-sided, eight-page zine full of photographs that I’ve been making while working at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). I’m a UNCSA staffer, so I’m on campus year-round. During the normal ebb and flow of the education cycle, I see our spaces both bursting with life and...
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