Bradleigh Stockwell

Bradleigh Stockwell, a long-time artist from Alaska, shows his cyanotypes of nature. He now lives in Vermont.
From: Alaska. Lives in Vermont, USA
Shows: Cyanotypes.

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Bradleigh Stockwell has been a painter and illustrator since childhood. Raised in Minnesota and Alaska, his interest in photography was prompted by two fairly recent events: the purchase of a century-old Kodak bellows camera for use in a film, and spending some time in April of 2019 at the Carmel, California home of Ansel Adams. Wanting to create photos but dreading setting up a darkroom full of the problematic chemicals he remembered from high school, he turned to cyanotypes. Starting with pre-coated paper, he now makes his own chemicals and uses paper of his choice.

Bradleigh Stockwell lives in rural Vermont, has had showings of his work, and creates cyanotypes – and anthotypes – without wondering or worrying about showing or selling them. Bradleigh Stockwell’s images are, as a rule, square – a format he picked up from the works of Klimt and other early 1900s artists of the Vienna Secession. He has spent time in Vienna, the Czech Republic, Germany, and lived for three decades in San Francisco.

Bradleigh Stockwell has begun collecting glass plate negatives from the early 20th century to make prints from. As a filmmaker, he would like to be the next F.W. Murnau. As a photographer, he would like to be the next William Henry Fox Talbot.

“Digital is nice, but printing a photograph is like baking a loaf of bread. It’s something you need skill, patience, and experience to make. It means more.”

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