Swimming in Blue
The above image is a cyanotype print of a film negative that was taken months ago. The print was developed in March for the Getty Master class on alternative processes which is set to debut on the walls of the Gett Museum on April 27th during College Night.
I'm no stranger to photographic print making. I've cut my teeth with analog film and have a great deal of experience inside the darkroom working on traditional print making. It's been a long time since I've set foot inside a darkroom but when I was offered to join the class, I jumped at the chance.
Print making for me is one of the things a photographer can consider him/herself an artist. Photography can take years to fine tune and master. I'm still learning something new everytime so I'm far from master but fine tuning I am, but to be able to go inside a darkroom, spend time and watch your photographs go from negatives to a tangible work of art in the form of a print is a very rewarding experience.
For this class, we (the photographers) are supposed to develop prints of our photographs in the form of an alternative photographic process and there are many of them. As a class, we all did cyanotypes as a tester. The cyanotype process is probably the easiest of the alternative processes. You can buy a kit for dirt cheap at a photography store and you don't need a darkroom to develop your prints which is great because not many have access to a darkroom nor would have the financial means to pay for a darkroom rental per hour.
Although fairly easy to produce, I find that cyanotypes are limited in what can work with the process because the resulting print is so one tone heavy which is blue (in most instances) . Because of its limits, I needed to decide on a process that better fits my style and what I want to convey to the viewers of my work.
I've always envied painters. I can't paint, nor can I draw for shit. The best I can do are stick figures. There is one process that will allow me to reproduce a soft and painterly work while still retaining elements of photography and the process that allows for that is gum printing.
I have only worked on gum printing once in my life and that was before I had any experience in print making so suffice to say, my first gum print was horrible to put it nicely. Coming into this class with, now with print making experience, I feel comfortable and confident enough that my prints will be much better than my first gum print. Hopefully.
As you read this, I have started on my first gum print as a test. See what mistakes I will make and correct them for my future and final prints. I have treated my papers and will lay down my first emulsion layer.
My time to work on these prints before the final submission date is quickly nearing but I have a couple of photographs ready to work on and am fairly sure I can complete the prints in time. I will provide an update to my test print once I'm finished.
To artistry and being a keeper of the light.