Nancy Breslin is engaged by memories in the form of cyanotypes, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

As traditional photographic methods wane, it always cheers me to see students embrace older processes. During a recent visit to Washington, DC, I visited the Corcoran Gallery of Art, where they currently have a number of exhibitions on display that I would recommend to any photographer, including “Roots and Links” (through July 14), “How Is the World? Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Photography” (through May 26), “Cynthia Connolly: Letters on Top of Buildings” (through June 23), and “David Levinthal: War Games” (through September 1, although it had not yet opened when I visited). In addition, much of the gallery space is taken up with “NEXT at the Corcoran 2013,” a show of work by students who are graduating from the Corcoran College of Art + Design. Having limited time, I breezed through the student show. However, I stopped and spent some time with one installation – Traci Marie Lee’s project, called “I really was there; I was never really there,” consisting of 300 cyanotypes printed on handkerchiefs.

One failing I see in much alt process work is that the technique and imagery don’t work together: random photos printed in a non-standard way do not suddenly become compelling. I found Lee’s work so engaging because cyanotype on fabric seemed to perfectly express her idea that memory, despite our urge to hold onto it, remains ephemeral. The handkerchiefs themselves, some vintage, represent the past in a concrete (although fluttery) way. The images Lee has chosen to print can be (appropriately enough) hard to see, but included what looked like old family photos, short texts of memories, and items such as lace and flowers that might be markers of beauty that is behind us. In her statement Lee mentions her grandmother, and as I walked around and under these gently swirling photographs, I felt some connection to the artist and her past.

Natasha Sanchez works with Lumen prints and shows us how to make a dreamlike lumen print creation.

A lumen print is essentially a solar photogram – a camera-less process involving black and white photographic paper, a subject matter that usually (but not always) consists of an organic material, and of course, the most important element – The Sun. In truth, a UV source is what is needed, but I find the natural factors involving The Sun create dynamic images.

Materials needed

• Black & White Photo Paper – RC or Fiber based. Its best to experiment with fiber based papers to find the one best suited for your image, as different emulsions create different color combinations
• An easel or board to set the paper on
• Glass to cover the subject. **Fun Fact: If you use a piece of glass smaller than the paper size, you get a nice “frame” effect.**

I taped down the paper because it came off of a roll so it’s really curly. The paper is slightly larger than 5×7, so I arranged my subjects knowing that I will cut the paper to that size.

1Arrange Your Subject on the paper. I used an azalea picked from my neighborhood. I then trimmed the leaves and stems, carefully placing them to help frame the flower. The metallic stars were simply scattered around the azalea. Sometimes I take the time to arrange the stars in a particular composition, depending on my subject and desired effect. This is an RC Paper.

2Cover with glass and place outside. Again, composition is important here. Watch how ‘the petals fall’ as you place the glass over the subject. Sometimes they curl down and that will show up in the print.

3Monitor. I tend to watch over the print as its printing. Sometimes, if I’m very very careful, I will peel back a petal or leaf to see how well exposed it is. I also check for condensation, which gives me an idea of how the water content from the subject will spread onto the paper. This step isn’t necessary, but if you use the same paper at the same times of day, in the same season, it becomes easier to gauge exposure times. I also check to see if anything has wilted (strong southern sun), which may also affect the print. Here you can see how the water content has spread by noticing the darker portions of the paper. It also has to do with how the paper is taped down and the direction of the sun.

Lumen print before fixer.

Lumen print in fixer bath.

5Finished Print Voila! This print I exposed for approx 3 hours in the middle of the day. Because the petals were layered, and the leaves were fresh, (less dense), I wanted to achieve as much detail as possible.

Lumen Printing Tips

While the lumen print process is pretty straightforward – arrange your subject on paper, under glass, and place in the sun — things aren’t always what they seem. (Much like the print this process creates!) It is actually an involved process. Below are some printing tips.

Think of The Sun as your enlarger

Is it a “condenser head” (bright cloudless sunny day) or is it a “diffused head” (cloudy, patches of sun) – You will get more detail and contrast with a bright sunny day. A cloudy day requires more time, but gives your subject a nice, soft, quality. Determine what you print with these thoughts in mind.

Timing – time of day, year, strength of sun – your exposure times will vary depending on these solar factors.

I print anywhere from 30 minutes to 6 hours. Here in New Orleans, Louisiana the sun is super strong in the summer. If I make a lumen print in the summertime, I make sure to do it in the morning hours. Or, if only the late afternoon hours are available to me, I use subjects and papers that take less time. **Fun Fact: To get the most out of my morning exposure, sometimes I set the print out the night before so that it will start printing as soon as the sun comes up.**

Density/water content of objects – plants and flowers have a water content that spills out onto the paper giving the print more texture and richness

Some flowers are easier to print than others. Flowers with “thin” petals may not be able to stand too much sun, while flowers with “thicker” petals may require more sunlight to gain more detail in the print. Leaves tend to be Very Dense, however, and fresher is better. Be aware of how dense the leaf is in comparison to your flower (if you are using flowers). A super dense leaf may not expose all the way and the resulting bright spot can sometimes be distracting.

Composition – Yes, composition plays a big part in the making of a lumen print.

Trimming leaves, stems, and petals will help you set up the arrangement, giving you more control on the layout. The placement on the paper is important too. All the compositional rules, guidelines, apply in lumen printing.

Experiment

This process began as an experiment, and there’s no reason to stop!

Natasha Sanchez is a photographer & songwriter from New Orleans who works in liquid emulsions and lumens and handpaints her work.

Natasha Sanchez has published a book of lumen prints from her series Crescent City Illumenations: Lumen Prints and Insights from New Orleans’ Garden District. It is available on Blurb.com.
More of Natashas work can be seen here in the gallery and Natasha’s website.

Duplicate, solarize and merge two negatives in a single final print to create abstract and painterly effects with film.

It is available online from several suppliers including Freestyle Photographic Supplies (Freestyle Photographic Supplies – Traditional Black & White Film, Paper, Chemicals, Holgas and ULF) and Ultrafine (UltraFineOnLine Photo Warehouse).

The basic method

1
Begin with film, any format, whether it’s a positive slide or a negative, color or black and white. Happily, Ortho Litho is available in many sizes and can be cut down to accommodate all film dimensions. Contact print it onto an equal size of fresh Ortho Litho film under darkroom safe light conditions. That is, you place them together, firmly, under heavy glass with the original on the top and expose them together under the enlarger. You will need to bracket to determine a pleasing exposure, whatever looks detailed and readable.

2
You can then treat the Ortho Litho copy as you would any black and white print: after exposure: develop, wash and dry it to result in a duplicate that is also the exposure opposite of the original. For example, if you began with a color slide, the Ortho Litho copy will be a black and white negative. I use a range of different black and white print developers. This choice can be determined with experimentation.

3
Right away you have an interesting effect by combining the original image with it’s litho duplicate in a negative carrier and exposing them to C-print color paper. Develop it accordingly as a color print with RA-4 chemistry. Below is an example of the results of each of the preceding steps:

This is the original image. It was made in a large pet food container pinhole camera by placing 2 sheets of 8 in by 10 inch chrome film side by side.

S.F.Panhandle tree chrome original

I contact printed these onto the same size of an unexposed sheet of Ortho Litho, and developed it to create a black and white negative copy:

S.F.Panhandle tree Litho neg

I aligned them together and put them on top of an unexposed sheet of color print paper (also the exact size as the 2 sheets: 8 in. by 10 in.)

Below is the resulting print, developed in RA-4 chemistry in a color print processor:

S.F.Panhandle tree composite

The following image, I made with a very underexposed color negative layered on top of an Ortho Litho copy of it. That is, a color negative and a Ortho Litho positive of the same image. The scratches are from the negative sleeve that I kept on the negative while I contact printed it on the Ortho Litho. The 2 are then projected onto C-print color print paper and processed in RA-4 chemistry. It is a lens camera capture of the interior of a house in Bodie, a California ghost town.

Bodie Widow lens

This image, that I call “Blue Pears ” is the result on aligning a color positive on top of it’s litho ‘mate’ that was a black and white negative.

Blue Pears lens

Solarization of the litho copy

To further experiment:

1
This procedure results in a full color print from exposing the black and white medium of the Litho onto color print paper. The 1st step is to solarize the Ortho Litho copy while I’m developing it. Since Ortho Litho is darkroom safelight tolerant, you can observe this process as it happens. To begin, make a litho copy of the original as explained in the preceding steps. Expose it to a fresh sheet of litho in the enlarger, then immerse it in a weak developer for a few seconds. Diluted or exhausted chemistry is best because it slows down development, giving you time to see the solarization process.
As the tones darken, flash it with weak light for perhaps a second, perhaps longer depending on the strength of the chemistry. Carefully watch for the tones to alter more. My light sources vary and you will need to explore this individually, anything from flashlights to strobes, even candlelight can have an effect.

2
As soon as you see an interesting turning or reversal of the tones, plunge it into water to stop further developing. It can go sour very fast, meaning it can over darkened and become unreadable. It is a chaotic method, you’ll know what you want when you see it, but it can also be a lot of fun.

3
Once this solarized version is fixed and dried, it can be ‘mated’ with the original as well and printed together onto a final color print. I also make other Ortho litho copies of the copies and pair them for final color prints. The mixing and matching of originals, Ortho Litho copies and solarized ‘mates’ is endless.

Below is an example of the steps in a solarized version:

This is the original capture, in this case, it’s a 4 in by 5 in. pinhole image, exposed and developed normally:

Original pinhole tree negative

This is the Ortho Litho copy, solarized:

Solarized ortho pinhole tree positve

This is the composite of the 2 printed on C-print paper:

Composite of Mt. Diablo Oak pinhole

The solarization of the Ortho Litho copy can abstract an image immensely. The following is another print from a large format color positive film pinhole capture:

S.F. Botanical garden buckeye original chrome

below are 3 solarized versions of litho copies of it, I did not include the original capture in these but printed only the solarized litho on color print paper. There will be color visible in the litho film after solarization but it is enhanced by the RA-4 chemistry and the print paper:

S.F. Botanical garden buckeye solarized litho version 1

S.F. Botanical garden buckeye solarized litho version 2

S.F. Botanical garden buckeye solarized litho version 3

The following image was made from several original black and white 35 mm negatives that I took in sequence to create a panorama of the Inyo White mountain range in eastern California. I contact printed the entire batch onto a fresh sheet of Ortho Litho film. I then solarized this copy and layered it onto the original and printed them together onto color print paper. I scanned the prints in Photoshop to assembled them together.

Inyo White mountains 1 lens pix panorama

Enjoy!

Claudia Wornum from San Francisco takes pinhole photographs of landscapes. She also works with lumen prints, solarization and film acceleration. See Claudia Wornum’s gallery here.

Through daily discussions, critiques, assignments and experimentation, participants photograph with a newfound understanding of photo history and technique. Students experiment with plastic cameras and a variety of formats and discover the possibilities of working with various light capturing devices. From 11×14 pinhole cameras to 4×5 and 8×10 view cameras, students learn the advantages, excitement, and craft of creating photographs with new tools. Students create both paper negatives and conventional film negatives in large formats with the available large format cameras.

With negatives made in the field, students explore the artistic possibilities of working in non-silver, antique and alternative processes. Brenton demonstrates a number of hand applied emulsion processes while teaching his students to use the techniques just as photographers have over the years.  Students make contact prints on Salted paper, Kallitypes, Cyanotype, and Gum Bichromate. As students master these new shooting, processes and printing techniques, a new portfolio of work develops.

Spend two weeks at Maine Media Workshops, Rockport, Maine; Aug 4th thru the Aug 17th, 2013.

For a more complete description of the week and my biography click here.  Visit Brenton Hamilton Studio here.

Class #21379 – PhotoCentral, 1099 E Street, Hayward, CA 94541, 510-881-6721, kate@photocentral.org – - http://www.photocentral.org/classes.html

Combine digital technology and traditional photography. Work with photosensitive solutions gum bichromate and cyanotype by hand-applying them to paper, fabrics and wood. We will begin by making digital negatives from your digital files. (No Photoshop experience required). Over the 5-day period we will explore many options including cmyk color separations for gum printing. And you will have ample time to make completed prints.
Instructor: Sandra C. Davis

http://cs.uarts.edu/

Combine digital technology and traditional photography. Work with photosensitive solutions by hand-applying them to paper, fabrics and wood. Traditional film and digital negatives are placed upon the coated surface during exposure to strong light to create beautiful prints.
Print in the gum bichromate process in which photosensitized watercolor
pigment is used to produce in a multitude of colors. (No Photoshop experience required).

Instructor: Sandra C. Davis

A pinhole photographer arranged part of her holiday around the chance to be inside a giant camera.

I just returned from a two week trip to the UK.  Most of the time was spent visiting family (we saw over 30 relatives in five cities), but on the way from Cambridge (12 relatives) to Ayr (3 more) we decided to spend a day in Edinburgh.  It is a beautiful city known for many cultural offerings, but the main draw for me was the Camera Obscura.  While this device does feature lenses, the experience is much like being in a giant pinhole camera.  Installed in a tower in central Edinburgh in the 1850’s, this camera obscura consists of a series of lenses and mirrors that project the surrounding area onto a large white surface in the middle of a darkened room.  A staff member can redirect the view so one sees, in color and great detail, everything around, from church spires to people walking on the street below.  I have been inside a pinhole camera before, but it typically takes a long time for my eyes to adjust enough for the image to appear and I never see much color (our monochrome-perceiving retinal rods are much more sensitive in low light, compared to the color-perceiving cones).  This, on the other hand, was a clear and colorful image. It was worth climbing five flights of stairs to see.

A member of the staff points to a landmark seen in the camera obscura in Edinburgh.

The camera obscura is on the top floor of a building which also features “The World of Illusion,” which looked a bit cheesy in the advertisements but proved to be very interesting, including a collection of holograms, an Ames room, an exhibit on different types of 3-D images, and a show of pinhole photography by Derek Reay (some of his work can be seen at http://www.derekreayphotography.co.uk/Pages/gallery-pinhole.html).

This is my cue to remind everyone that Sunday (April 28) is Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day.  That day I’ll be giving a talk about my pinhole work at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland at 2 pm, and also taking some pictures so I’ll have something to submit to the WPPD gallery.  If you have a pinhole camera, pull it out on Sunday and join thousands of people around the world!