Silver

Music | The Heart of the Matter by India Arie

So lately, the subject of silver based photographs have been crossing my path in conversation, emails and content of some forums I frequent.

M Tucker wrote... "A few days ago, when I was moving the box, I opened it, just to peek at the prints. Here we are, almost 26 years later, and the fiber prints still glowed with as much luminance as they did the day I made them."

And today I was writing to some friends about my recent experience with fiber silver prints...

"...On another note, I picked up some framed photos from my ex, that were displayed in her shop - must be a total of 6 to 8 pieces. Anyway, the 2 that I picked up the other day was from a shoot of my father's hands I did around 20 years ago. He worked in the factories, repairing these huge machines that made springs and such. Every time a machine broke down, he would be on it. Every time a machine needed to be changed out to make a different spec of spring, he changed out the pieces. Over the many years he worked on the machines, his hands hold in it, the history of the grudgingly difficult work. After cleaning off the glass and frame, I finally stopped and really looked into the photo. The history, the sweat and toil, it is all there captured (and I hate to use that term) on silver. There is yet still an elegance and brilliance, almost gem like quality to the photo itself.

I won't be going back to the darkroom anytime in the near future. But right in front of me, all these years the quality and artistry that my inner artist has been looking for and to achieve has been inside me. I'll be working on bringing it out for 2008.