Saturday, August 21, 2010

Gum Bichromate - Ballerina



I think ballerinas are such a wonderful symbol for grace, dignity, and discipline. I love how they move. One of my dear friends is a ballerina. She is one of my favorite subject matters to photograph. I printed these Gum Bichromate pictures as a birthday present for her, and as a thank you for all the hours she has spent with me over the last couple of years modeling in the studio. I picked a soft, silvery color for my paint as a representation of the way I view ballerinas: gentle, subtle and eloquent.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Image Transfers on Wood





I made this book for a friend of mine who works at the university I attend. He had made some comments earlier that got me thinking about how he could use a nice gift in his life lately. So with the help of my teacher we were able to borrow his well-beloved cowboy outfit and photograph it.
I photographed these images with a 4x5 large format camera. It was the first time I had ever used one before. My teacher let me use hers and went out photographing with me so she could teach me how to use it (I loved it so much a couple weeks later I bought my own ;).
Besides learning how to use a 4x5 camera, I was also interested in learning some new book binding techniques. I decided I was going to make my friend a handmade book with the images I took. I choose wood as the substrate because I wanted to play with new materials and I thought it fit the cowboy theme. I scanned the images on the computer,printed them off and transferred them onto wood. I stitched it with a green thread and have a belt around it to seal it closed.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Photographic Toning with Kool-Aid



I wanted to experiment with homemade photographic toners, so I bought a package of red and blue kool-aid. I mixed each package with a little bit of water. I then transferred some laser prints onto a heavier paper. I placed the images (or sometimes just sections of the images) in the two separate colors for about 30 seconds. I am happy with how it turned out. I am planning on making a toning journal where I have a collection of different types of papers with different types of toners as a reference for future projects. I think toning an image can add a lot to a print.