A Finished Print

Music | Crescent by John Coltrane

I've worked a consistent 3 weeks learning the Platinum Palladium process using digital negatives. It wasn't so much the Pt/Pd process that I was having difficulty with, but the making of a digital neg. Between setting up my print preferences and having ink clogging issues, I was set back a good week. I knew this wasn't going to be easy. These set backs were initially very frustrating, but after realizing it is part of the process that I finally just went with the flow. I made 3 good negatives and made 3 very nice prints.

Earlier, I cut a mat, placed one of the prints behind it... With full realization, as the mat and print came together, the small adjustments I made to center the print, this moment was the ultimate reason I wanted to learn the process. I knew that this moment was special.

Imperfection...

Music | This Must Be the Place by Talking Heads

It isn't that I don't want to master the things I undertake, specifically in photography, but I am taking an appreciation for the flaws that come out of doing things in a non digital manner. Of course I want even development across the film plane, no dust, no fixer stains...

Looking at this image, and its inherent issues, I love it for what it is, but also that it shows that no, this is not a digital image. It was created with lots of time and love. Going thru its iterations of a blank canvas, to a latent image, development, fixer and wash... When going thru these stages, I am on top of my game as best as I know how. I care about each and every step I take with this piece of film... to make the image.


Hoop Skirt
I want wabi sabi. I like distinction. I want soul.

Anatomy of a Shoot... w/ Irish Heather Collins

Music | Breathe by The Cinematic Orchestra

There are people in the world that you just know you can collaborate with. I knew this the first time I worked with Irish a few months ago. After that session, I came up with an idea of doing a shoot with her in silence. We wouldn't use words to communicate with, just maybe grunts and hand gestures. I think I have way more confidence in her than she does in me, but I still think we would make some amazing images.

Our last 2 sessions, quite similar to each other kind of went like...

I pick her up from her studio in the industrial part of town. She comes out with a huge blue rubbermaid box filled with stuff. She is also dressed in part of her first outfit for the first session. Most of her make up is all ready on as well... You can imagine it is quite a sight to see! On the way to the studio, we talk generally about the shoot, not too much as I think we both understand the process... Surprise is a good thing as well as happy accidents.

In the studio she greets the 2 cats and by this time, they are amazingly in love with her. About 10 miinutes from walking in the door, she is ready for the first plate... With not a lot of words, we go thru a progression of themes, poses... Usually, when I have trouble coming up with a decent looking image, I pull out the digital camera and quickly go thru a mini shoot, that may last 2 minutes at most. We get in a flurry of ideas, poses and go thru what we like. It is a great way of coming up with a starting point. However, with Irish, I shoot digital to have more images to work on later...

It is funny how when we nail our first image we are both pleased with, which so far happened to be the first plate, we go on cruise control. It seems to give both of us freedom to just go with the flow and make more amazing images. It was quite difficult to go thru my progression of which plate I loved most, but for this shoot with Irish, it ended up being the last. I realized we would be there for way too many more hours to be able to surpass what we got...



Irish Heather Collins