Impossible Project Color Shade

Here (below) are scans of the same instant photograph created on different days to keep track of a cyan  shift in the image area of the Impossible Project's PX 70 Color Shade First Flush. Although it is a touchy film, I am learning how to maximize images made with this material. Testing, although the material is expensive, is the key to succeeding with instant photographic materials from the Impossible Project.

From left to right: 8 hours, 29 hours and 48 hours after exposure.

Pictures from Belgium

Last fall's the Art of the Photo Archive was photographically documented. The exhibition at the Free University of Belgium was organized by Roger Kockaerts of Gallery pH 7.

Additional installation views can be seen at:
http://www.permadocument.be/texte/YRK/RFK/RK/170%20years.html

Look But Don't Touch

Both Bridgette (Bogle) and I have a morbid fascination with toxicodendron radicans. Bridgette just created an installation based upon the characteristic leaf shapes of poison ivy base upon her view of it just outside her studio window. I have scanned it as a potential subject for the forces of nature series and lately have turned to it as a subject for the Impossible Project film I have recently acquired. 


Below is Look But Don't Touch and below that, a view of her Poison Ivy Room at Sideshow 6.

The Eye of the Dayton Sideshow

It's been more than a week since Urban Nights and the 2011 edition of the creative collective known as the Dayton Circus Sideshow.  This year they took over the Yellow Cab Co. building across from Garden Station. The building is a wonderful resource and record of that buisness that once was based near downtown Dayton. Amidst the installations and exhibit spaces was a carpeted room with couches, security camera monitors and what I understood to be the real eye of the Sideshow 6.

newly emerged from the catacombs...

Some new Vandyke Browns I've been working on are visible below. The first has the incredibly provocative and imaginative title of Apple and the second, Knarled Nut. These are small work prints of about 9 x 9 inches done to determine exposure. The final scale should be either 20" x 20" or 24" x 24".

Attack of the Poor Pods

It finally happened. A bad pack of the Silver Shade Black Frame UV+.

Below you will see the progression and finally a good pod instant photo. BTW, Bridgette is a fan of the poor pod look. PAINTERS!

Bridgette and Bridgette II, Exposures 1 and 2.

 

Bridgette's Apron and Poison Ivy, Exposures 3 and 4.

Poison Ivy (Again) and Chasprix, Exposures 5 and 6.

Poor Pods, Black Frame, Instant Gratification

Ryan Adrick photographed by Francis Schanberger

I have succumbed to the lure of the Impossible Project. Last week I received an email about problematic Silver Shade 600 film being sold in packs of six. I've been fighting off the urge to use their film due to the expense but there was no way for me to resist. Six boxes of 8 sheet instant film for 36.60 plus shipping. Le't say it was about $45 in total for about 48 sheets. The less than a dollar a sheet threshold had been crossed.

At College Park Center, Studio 238, home to the University of Dayton's Photography and Visual Communication Design facilities, I met up with Ryan Adrick and Christine Zuercher for some instant gratification. Here are the first three sheets from the black frame poor pod lot. All developed perfectly protected from light in an empty 4x5 sheet film box.

Studio 238 R by Christine Zuercher

Untitled (CPC Visual Arts Facility) by Ryan Adrick

OAL's 100th Anniversary Spring Juried Exhibition

Last Thursday was the opening for the Ohio Art League's 100th Annual Spring Juried Exhibition, juried by Todd Slaughter, which is on view now through June 24th.

There are pictures from the opening which can be found on Flickr by going to the following link http://www.flickr.com/photos/55867923@N02/5719069849/in/set-72157626594581503. Today, the Columbus Dispatch published Christopher Yates' review of the exhibition which can be also be found online at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/arts/stories/2011/05/15/league-turns-100-with-style.html?sid=101.

Off to UDF to pick up a copy of the Dispatch. 

Dayton in the House

Below is a link to the 2011 Governor's Awards for the Arts. I'll post images to the event as they become available. It was well documented and a good part of the four hours Bridgette and I spent in Columbus were dedicated to getting photographed including one with Ohio's First Lady, Karen Kasich.

Dayton was well represented hence the need to buy a new suit and bow tie. During the lunch we were serenaded by the Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra and as Michael Lippert, winner of the Arts Education Award, stated in his thank you speech, "Dayton in the House!"

http://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyle/state-arts-awards-bear-daytons-stamp-again-1160694.html

(Vandyke) Brown Heart of Mine

This past winter Bridgette and I concocted a mythical creature for me based upon the story of the white swan / black swan recently revisited through the cinematic portrayal by Natalie Portman in Black Swan. If she could be both the black and white swans, I certainly could be a swan in the glorious hue of Vandyke Brown.

Here I present the heart of this mythical beast.

and lest you thing I am neglecting my technical mastery of this printing technique I'll include the Stouffer's 21 step tablet with the pencil marking noting the "lightening" by five steps that occurred following exposure because of processing.

up next, Sacré-Coeur

Besides my fixation on the slightly fugitive anthotype process, I continue my affair with Vandyke Brown. Talking to students at Wright State University this afternoon put me back into production mode. So up next I will be printing this image in VDB which I am tentatively (emphasis on 'tentatively') calling Sacré-Coeur or Sacred Heart.

Nicéphore Niépce in Cornflower Blue part II

Today the anthotype was left out briefly in the rain. An interesting paper chromatography result ensued in a non image area of the paper.

Nicéphore Niépce in Cornflower Blue

Above is an example of the cornflower blue anthotype (Mel Miller) in progress. It's going to take a while but it's important to document the early stages of image formation.

The images are from April 29th. What I noticed early in the week was a reversal of tones, or what I would label a negative, image being formed the first day. I suspect this had something to do with all of the sugars left behind in the anthotype from the root beer flavored vodka. A day later it looked blank. Last Friday it looked like the picture above and it got a bit less than two hours of sun late yesterday afternoon.

Below is a picture of the front porch with two printing frames out. I am stopping the exposure on the pokeberry anthotype. Any more sunlight and I will loose the rich Dmax. In the foreground are the first of the season's iris flowers. I might be able to do a small antho with those for the Naturalists exhibit in 2012.

Why do sometimes I feel like Nicéphore Niépce? When I first obtained a negative image and then a day later it was gone, I had to wonder about the success of the project. I still do but not as much. The new flowers are working and I have a few sources for pokeberries in the fall.

Me, Monarch self-portrait exhibition

Me, Monarch is up for view in the Ravi Photo Gallery, Hyderabad, INDIA. This is an exhibition of self-portraits done with pinhole cameras by 98 photographers from around the globe (24 countries).  


Even though I already posted the Dr. Frangst and Catkins (in zone plate), I wanted to include this detail which is the process of being printed as this cropped version. Yes, it's my current facebook profile picture. That's how much I am in love with it. If it wasn't obvious before, there should be no doubt regarding my narcissistic tendencies. 

registering an image

We had a brief lull in the rain here in southwest Ohio and I put the pokeberry print (Clem Wolfham) out for a little more exposure.

But wait, there's more.

I also put out one of the purple petal Anthotypes, actually looking like cornflower blue, using a positive transparency which is detail of a bathrobe with the name Mel Miller. I had it out in mixed lighting conditions, mostly cloudy, for about 3 hours.

I brought them back in after about 2 1/2 hours (I had to teach and early evening class) opened the split back printing frame and saw that it already had registered an image.

IT'S WORKING!

I'll post a couple of images later tonight.

And yes, I spent about an hour picking more purple flowers out of fear they won't be around much longer.

Tomorrow I am installing the Flowers from a Cigar Tree print in Columbus which is part of the Ohio Art League's 100th anniversary Spring Juried Exhibition. The work to be shown in the Carnegie Gallery of the Columbus Metropolitan Library (main branch) was selected by OSU Sculpture professor Todd Slaughter.

I do think tomorrow will be a Dirty Franks kind of day. Anyone want to meet up for a hotdog?

paper matters

The one variable that strikes fear into the hearts of those of us working with hand applied, light sensitive emulsions: paper types and paper pH. With a delicate, hard to harvest and distill emulsion like the purple flowers I am discovering that paper matters.

I've been noticing that the flower petal emulsion seems a bit faint and much bluer than I expected. I've come across references to flower pigments yielding surprise colors with no reason. I suspect that the pH of the paper is the culprit.

The picture above has four paper types.

1. The paper on the bottom is the Fabriano Aritstico Hot Press Extra White. It worked great for the Pokeberry juice but the emulsion seems faint when brushing on. I ended up putting three coats on it and got what Bridgette thinks is a nice blue. Thanks Bridgette and Jill for the suggestion.
2. The next paper is a light weight Kozo paper from Bostick and Sullivan. It was labeled E on their old sampler pack which was a freebie a few years back!
3. On top of that is a square of Arches Platine, a favorite paper of platinum palladium printers.
4. On top of everything is a strip of my favorite Kozo Unryu (the backside). Surprise... it looks the best!

BTW, the happy accident also contributed to this report. I was using the Kozo Unryu as a means of wiping off the organic debris from my brush and noticed that it looked purple and the purple seemed stronger than the blue that was applied in one coat to the Fabriano. I don't know the pH of the Kozo Unryu but I do know the Kozo light weight and Arches Platine work well with iron (siderotype) processes because of their neutral to slightly acidic pH.

I remember from undergraduate biochemistry the role of pH on the 3-D structure of proteins. During the last few weeks  also discovered that heating plant pigments to "reduce" them is not a good idea. I lost the rich magenta color of pokeberrry doing this very thing. Changing the shape of the protein via heat  or pH may change its color.

and the paper smells like root beer

The pokeberry anthotype of Clem's pajama top (small version) is close to being done. Here is a scan from Sunday afternoon. 

Pokeberry juice has spoiled me. It provided a strong tincture to use. Now I am struggling to get these small violet flowers to have a presence on a sheet of paper. I managed to get about 50-75 cc of tincture but it seems too dilute and the root beer flavored vodka I used as a solvent has created some new concerns. The sugar in the alcohol has created a stickiness to the emulsion. So the update: the new purple flowers have yielded a sticky and weak liquid that really reads blue and the paper smells like root beer.

strategies: 

1. Maybe I can do multiple passes to build up density (suggested by Bridgette). 
2. Let the emulsion evaporate over several days without heating to create a reduction that is denser with pigment.
3. Throw in the towel.

my color purple handiwork, part I

These are the beginnings of my attempt to continue the sleepwear sleepwere sleepwhere series (the title is morphing). The first test at making an anthotype emulsion from the small purple flowers yielded a dilute, blue liquid. Friday I hunched over and picked about 260 grams of flowers off which I have been stripping the petals this weekend.

 halfway through the bag on Sunday

I've gone through the bag, frozen the petals, thawed them out, crushed them down a bit and now they are re-freezing. Tomorrow I should have a nice slurry to add ethanol to pull the pigment out which I will filter and hopefully have enough to coat some large pieces of watercolor paper. At least one big enough to lay a polyester sleep robe with a paisley pattern on it. Now I really do need to look at the work of Jim Dine.

stripped, frozen, and crushed

dr. frangst video from 2005

This was a video interview with Annegreth Nill talking about my work in July 2005, part of the Made in Ohio exhibit at the Riffe gallery.


Here is the link:


http://www.ohiochannel.org/medialibrary/Media.aspx?fileId=129354&returnTo=Collection

the color purple

If there is one good thing about letting the wild reclaim the backyard (to a degree) is that I don't have to go very far for potential pigments for anthotype.

Today I successfully mashed up and pulled out the pigment from these small purple flowers sprouting all over the front and backyards. I collected about twenty flowers, stripped off the petals and immersed them in Mr. Boston rum. Not seeing any color migrate to the alcohol, I poured the mix into my mortar and pestle (the darkroom one, not the kitchen's) and worked it until I had a purplish heterogeneous mixture. Pictures tomorrow. In the next few days I am going to harvest all of the purple flowers and place them in tubs with a bit of water and let the wonders of freeze/thaw fracture work its wonders in (and out of) our basement freezer. 

The next anthotypes will be the color purple.