the great saffron experiment, part I

Today I began the Great Saffron Experiment. It will be great if it works.
My intent is to use saffron as an anthotype emulsion. This afternoon was primarily preparing the liquid which will be applied to paper as multiple coats to build up the color.
Below are pictures of the process.

dried saffron

saffron with hot water

saffron with hot water, mortar, pestle and tea kettle

regrinding the saffron before adding more hot water

cloudy saffron suspension

As best as I can remember:

• I used about two teaspoons worth of saffron. A little goes a long way.
• Added hot water little by little, mortar and pestling (I hope that is the verb) the saffron leaves as they absorbed water.
• Pulled off the liquid from round one of crushing the saffron in hot water using a transfer pipette. Filtered it through the mesh filter. I had about 70 cc of liquid at this point.
• Re-pestled the saffron. At this point it was effectively a saffron poultice.
• Added more liquid. Continued to mortar and pestle.
• Pulled off the additional liquid and filtered it through the mesh filter.
• Just as an additional experiment, I added a few cc's of Everclear (alcohol) to the remaining poultice to see if I could leach out a little more color. It helped a little but probably added to the cloudiness of the collected liquid.

From the pictures you should notice that I strained the hot liquid through a piece of a gold mesh coffee filter. The collected liquid did have a suspension which was too fine for the coffee filter but it did settle down to the bottom of the glass jar after a few minutes.

untitled (flattened cone)

A new semester is approaching which may not leave much time for posting blog entries. Maybe. In the meantime here is the second of the new vandyke brown prints, "Untitled (Flattened Cone)".

specialist secrets

untitled (cruciform), 16"  x 20", vandyke brown print, 2012

Specialist secrets is a term I came across in reading a review of Thomas Struth's exhibition in Portugal (or was the review referring to a showing in Dusseldorf?). Is a term that stuck in my mind and I want to title a piece after it or a create a piece specifically for it. After a couple of days of sun and a suddenly cooperative NuArc plateburner,  I have a couple of new pieces to push out into the world.  Now the winter rain is back and I am finding myself with a weak but noticeable bout of season affective disorder (self diagnosis). 

What are the secrets of this specialist? I am having better luck working without toning the vandyke brown prints (at least for the moment). It is easier working with the NuArc 261K than it is with natural sunlight for exposing the kallitypes. It is more romantic to work with sunlight (think Fox Talbot's Reading Establishment). The Forces of Nature images can be broken down into leaves, fruit, pollen, bark and roots. The bulk of these images are leaves followed by fruiting bodies. 

and one more secret: I want to make anthotypes with very yellow tumeric.

Mr. California (from December 28th, 2011)

I posted this from my iPhone on December 28th (the wordpress blog). Since this blog is the archive...

I’m currently visiting family with Bridgette in Dexter, N.M. This part of the country got over a foot of snow in time for Christmas. I’ve brought the pinhole cameras to photograph the pecan and cottonwood trees but I’ve been slowed down by a stiff lower back and lack of cold weather clothing i.e. gloves.

The images and posts will mostly be from an iPhone and are meant to be visual notes without a specific future project in mind.

Here’s example photographed earlier today. This a detail of a logo from a vintage box used to ship California oranges and repurposed to contain a present for Bridgette’s parents.

Anthotypists in the New Year (Part I)

Here’s a snapshot of the larger framed anthotype that will be exhibited at Fort Hayes in Columbus as part of ImageOhio 12 organized by Roy G Biv.

Anthotypists in the New Year part II

Yes, part II is being published before part I. I never claimed to be organized.

Malin Fabbi's book, Anthotypes – Explore the darkroom in your garden and make photographs using plants, has been published. This is a book that I was able to proof read and offer suggestions. Additionally, two of the pre-Boston Anthotypes included the faded and rained upon Clem Wolford Pajama Top in pokeberry (p. 83, 85), are included within the book.

Here's a link to the Amazon page (and my review): http://www.amazon.com/Anthotypes-Explore-darkroom-garden-photographs/dp/1466261005/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1325687752&sr=8-3
and the AlternativePhotography.com web page: http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/anthotypes/anthotypes

Pecans and Pinholes

This morning I got out on a walk to the row of pecan trees I have been photographing for the past three winters. Not exactly a morning constitutional, yet. It's about a mile and a half from the bunk house to this stretch of pecans.

I was passed by about four vehicles on the way to the trees; these were tractors, semi-tractor trailers, and maybe a passenger car. The first pickup truck to stop to check on me was driven by my father and law who asked if I wanted a ride. I got a sense that no one walks in Dexter, NM.

I photographed all fifteen of the original pecans. There are several rows of younger trees. I am interested in the original row because these were older trees that were pruned back and moved from another location. They are strange looking, almost Seussian in appearance and the first thing I truly recognize when Bridgette and I pull into her home town.

The photograph below shows the Holga 120WPC photographing the third pecan tree to the south. I'll be back out there with more film on Saturday and Sunday to photograph the rest in pinhole fashion.

framed fugitive

Here is the cut grass sleeping dress anthotype, made during the summer in Boston and framed for the Roy G Biv ImageOhio 12 next month in Columbus.

The Color of Meat

Early this year I thought I had reached a point...a point of no more making presents (at least gifting photographs I have made). Our trip back to San Diego two years ago netted a beautiful shot glass with metric measurements on it (useful in alternative processes) and a plastic bag from the butcher section of Keils grocery store. The plastic bag has a chart depicting the cuts of beef and where they come from on the steer (or is it a cow?).

My in-laws are New Mexico ranchers and Bridgette knew this would someday rightfully take its place as a Christmas present. This year it has. Printed in the gum bichromate process in flame red and carmine red gouache for pigment (on Fabriano Artistico Extra White Hot Press). The PVA size I used didn't prevent staining so the highlights took on a bit of a pink color. But as Bridgette remarked, it is very much the color of meat.

the pinholes

Just a quick image of what I have been working with. Scanned negatives to follow.

in between Ranchita and Anza Borrego

There are still a few minutes for archive Monday. Here is a palladium contact print from my San Diego days. Ranchita a few thousand feet above the Anza Borrego desert floor with my tripod from about 1996. Taken with a Rolleiflex Automat and repackaged HP5.

Illusion and Chemistry

I have work in an exhibition of alternative processes organized by the Kiernan gallery and juried by Christopher James. The exhibition is scheduled to run from January 10th - February 4th. There is also an online version of the exhibit you can see at  http://kiernangallery.com/3/Image.asp?ImageID=1402035&full=1&apid=1&gpid=1&ipid=1&AKey=8JMSW35S.

The exhibit consists of work from Tyler Suppha-Atthasitt, K.K. DePaul, Diana Bloomfield, Ronald Cowie, Emma Powell, Sarah Nesbitt, Susan de Witt, Scott Barnes, Edie Fogel, Michelle Rogers Pritzil, Liz Lee, Geoffrey Agrons, Ivan Bernal Palli, Aspen Hochhalter, Dominic Turner, Rheana Gardner, Peter M. Lindstrom, Andréa Brächer, S. Gayle Stevens, Lindsey Beal, Jenny Brown, Robert Alexander Williams, Timothy McCoy, Paul-Jude Guillaume, Jessica Somers, Michele Cole, Kaltes Klares Wasser, Jasmine Swope, Paul Karabinis, Dan Herrera, Karen Divine, Ryan Shelley & Elizabeth Herrmann, Molly Rapp, Clive Heritage-Tilley, Kristen Kay Thoen, Iciar Bravo, Marydorsey Wanless, John Shuptrine, Sally Ayre, Missa Coffman, K.K. DePaul, Patrick McNelis, Erin McGuire, Kate Shelley, Genevieve Neal, Genevieve Neal, Annie Hogan, Ig Mata, Donna Moore as well as University of Dayton alumnus Christine Zuercher (a former student of mine).

The gallery is located at 23B West Washington St., Lexington, VA 24450. Please visit the Kiernan gallery website for their regular hours and holiday schedule.

the night was mostly a blur

My dinner with Bridgette, Jill and Tim. Much to the annoyance of my dinner companions, last Saturday I propped a white Diana Mini on our table at Woodberry’s and commenced to make long, time exposures while we ate and drank. There are two images by Tim Castlen and the rest are mine except for the last one which is also by Tim.

By Tim Castlen…



The rest of these should be by me but the night was a bit of a blur. Maybe everyone at the table collaborated on this.



One more by Tim.

picture(s) from "Transferred"

Only two pictures to report from Transferred which ended it's run at the Torpedo Factory last weekend. All photographs by Tim Castlen.

That's me pointed to evidence I have a cat. To the left, Sacred Heart and to the right, Apple. Below is an image by Michele Cole's palladium print Stir.

Jane Reece vs. Dr. Frangst

In the battle for supremacy, who will win? Will it be Ohio’s most famous pictorialist after Clarence White, Jane Reece? Or will it be Francis Schanberger adopting the guise of Dr. Frangst? Please visit the next exhibition by the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors, “Past, Present and Future” to find out.

Ragweed Look-up by Francis Schanberger (left) and Children in Costume by Jane Reece (right)

gum over second layers

Here are the next layers, ugly as they may be. I was searching for a cadmium orange to go on top of the cyanotype layer and not finding any mixed up something hideous. I also neglected to smooth out the brushed on emulsion creating the paint brush streaks. Maybe the students will like them but I don't.

Second layer of pink made using the black color separation with a five minute exposure.

 

 

 

Ugly orange red mix like Venetian Red on top of the cyanotype layer. Exposed for five minutes using the magenta separation.

gum over

For the alternative processes class, a gum bichromate demonstration. The digital photo is from my wedding day (a walk before the ceremony) in San Patricio, New Mexico six years ago. The first print is a single layer of pink using a magenta color separation negative exposed for five minutes. The second print is cyanotype layer lightly exposed in the NuArc First Light for 15 minutes using a black color separation negative.

five minute exposure with magenta separation

15 minute exposure of a cyanotype layer with a black separation negative

Tonight I did two more exposures / layers on top of these but I won't be able to photograph and upload them until next Monday.

three tries

Right now I am trying a few different approaches to creating photographs based on the trees of Woodlawn Arboretum and Cemetery. The pinhole, eight x ten and one other technique to be unveiled later this week (it involves spray paint!).

This one feels like winter and I just may photograph the pecan trees in Dexter this way. After one roll, I am in love with the Diana Mini!

Three attempts at photographing an ash tree and sky, Sunday November 13th.

got a gun

Welcome to archive Mondays. I've got a gun or more accurately a photogenic drawing of a starter pistol. It is a palladium print on Crane's stationary from about 2007.

Images from Transferred

The Torpedo Factory has images up for the work being shown in Transferred: Alternative Processes in Photography. Please visit the Target Gallery website at: http://www.torpedofactory.org/galleries/target2011/Transferred_Artwork.htm.

Participating artists are: Aspen Hochhalter, Erin Woodbrey, Alison Nguyen, Michele Cole, Timothy McCoy, Alexander Larson, Jonah Calinawan, William Fenn, Emily Barnett, Gary Salazar, Paige Critcher, Marydorsey Wanless, Therese Brown, Rebecca Sexton Larson, Scott K. Murphy, Angela Kidd, Alice O'Neill, Elizabeth Janis Sweeney, Lindsey Beal, Barbara Johnson and the two represenatives from Ohio, Tracey Longley-Cook and myself.

Painting

It's time to make the switch from photography to painting!

Since ruby and amber lith are in short supply I took another route. Today I worked with red gouache in an attempt to create a red mask for a vandyke brown experiment involving an offset positive and negative of the Japanese Pear. I will post the (possibly fugly) results in a few days. Photo courtesy of Jenny Watercutter.

maybe number 102?

"Apple" and "Don't Take This Personally" will both be included in the Ohio Art League's Annual Fall Juried exhibition. The juror this year is Liz Maugans,  co-founder and Managing Director of Zygote Press, Inc. The exhibition is located at Schnormeier Gallery, 221 South Main Street, Mount Vernon, OH 43050 and will run from November 18, 2011 - January 7, 2012. The gallery is located on the campus of Mount Vernon Nazarene University.  An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, December 2, 6 - 9 p.m.

Maybe this is number 102?. The Ohio Art League began their juried exhibitions around 1910 and recently had their 100th anniversary Fall Juried exhibition in 2009.

making the laboratory romantic

Going from an undergraduate degree in science (biochemistry) to an MFA (emphasis in photography and digital imaging), I often look back to how I became interested in science and what made me change careers. In explaining my initial attraction to the sciences I recall images from NASA's unmanned missions like Voyager and Viking, drawings of blood cells in a National Geographic, and an image of Marie Curie in her lab.

In the summer of 1999 I attended one of the Museum of Photographic Arts workshop lectures. Susan Kae Grant was the artist and in her talk she alluded to a record of Marie and Pierre Curie returning to their Paris lab at night and seeing a lavender glow on work surfaces in the darkened room. Photographs like the one above are probably a strong influence in my early staged images of Dr. Frangst.

Today is the 144th anniversary of her birth (she's about sixty years younger than her countryman Frederic Chopin). Madam Curie, thank you for making he lab space romantic.

a cosmological bent

Here is the latest work print in the Forces of Nature series. So far this year I have created prints of an apple, which was one of handful Bridgette used for a drawing assignment, and a pluot, which I found in the cafeteria of Emmanuel College this past summer. This is a Japanese Pear, pyrus pyrifolia, which I spotted in the produce section of Dorothy Lane Market here in Dayton. All three have a cosmological bent to the image. My hope is that they are just as likely to reference stellar nurseries as they are the specific products of trees.

tree bark, take two, seeing what's on the ground glass

Last Saturday, for the first time in three years, I broke out the 8x10 camera. I gave myself a problem by loaning the 120 WPC (Holga) to a student and I found myself in need of continuing on with the new chapter in the Forces of Nature project, tree barks with shadows of leaves falling on them.

Here are the first two sheets of film processed on Monday. I feel like the lens is too long of a focal length which means finding a shutter for an old Goerz wide angle I have in my basement. However, it was nice to be using the view camera again, setting up the tripod and seeing what is on the ground glass.

I imagine the work being printed on a paper like Kozo, perhaps a toned Kallitype that ends up a neutral black. Here is what the cropped version may look like.

Book Cover

I just returned from Boston fulfilling the last requirement for the summer residency, namely a presentation and workshop. There is a lot to process but it came at the end of a very busy seven days and the quiet time that followed was so welcomed.

Some of the art documentation work I do never gets much attention outside of applications for grants or faculty reviews. This morning I got an email from Ohio State University Professor Suzanne Silver that an image I took of one of her drawings will grace the cover of Michael Swartz' book, The Signifying Creator, and will include a photo credit. I love her drawings and look forward to continue photographing her work in the future.


Michael Swartz book cover of a drawing by Suzanne Silver.

Transferred at Fotoweek DC

Target gallery, part of the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virgina will be exhibiting two prints from Forces of Nature along with work by Tracy Longley-Cook during the month of November as part of the exhibition Transferred: Alternative Processes in Photography. The exhibition, juried by Regina DeLuise, will open on November 5th and run through December 4th.

The exhibition is part of FotoWeek DC and a reception is planned for November 10th, from 6-8pm which includes a talk by Ms. DeLuise.

substitute distillation for abstraction

The glow of summer is in the rear view mirror and it's finally cooling down here in southwestern Ohio. The Miami valley is probably about three weeks away from the trees of winter which means I don't have time to re-do the film developing mini disaster from nine days ago. The pinhole chapter of Forces of Nature has been pushed back slightly due to a rust in the water supply problem which struck the photography lab. I've been developing film on the occasional Saturday and decided to expose and develop four rolls of film on the same day. The same day the rust decided to show up.

To get to the point, the wash water for the film was full of rust which stuck to the emulsion. Too much to try and spot out in Photoshop. The film will have to be re-shot on the appropriate day that has directional, late afternoon sunlight. Bark, sunlight, and leaf shadows will make an occasional appearance in these images. I just need to figure out the optimum camera subject distance when photographing with the Holga 120WPC.

some secret notes to myself from last nights Lightbourne lecture at the Cincinnati Museum of Art:
Leo Rubinfien, Arbus, Sander, Sontag, photographs saying nothing and showing too much. People looking into the camera and away from the camera, color photographs influencing black and white. Most importantly, substitute "distillation" for "abstraction" when discussing camera based images. Writers of prose speak better about their photographs then photographers who leave the writing to the wordsmiths. At least from a sampling of one speaker.

happy anniversary baby!

Ten years ago today I went on my first date with Bridgette Bogle. Happy anniversary darling!

color blind and home is where the studio is

Last night I was able to re-photograph the red rose petal anthotype of Somnambulist #6 which is the only one I did on the back of Kozo Unryu paper. This one will also have the title of Blue Blouse although it is not blue in the anthotype and it isn't really rose petal red once it interacts with the paper.

Lot's going on in the home is where the studio is. I modified the Holga 120WPC which hopefully will eliminate the vignetting which was randomly cropping up. In the Woodland Cemetery I spotted some amazing tree fungi which will make it's way into the tree bark pinholes. I learned how to identify a new tree (for me), the sassafras, which is one of the first trees to change color in the cemetery. I  may have also settled on a method / process to print these images. More on that later.

barking up the wrong tree

Perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree. This work is very new and very early into the process. I still haven't determined scale and printing method yet. The only thing I know is I want it to be about texture and I want it to be these long, eastern landscape type rectangles. Hopefully I can take a handful of these to Boston at the end of the month.