
Danielle Edwards, from Melbourne, Australia, has extensive experience in medical photography. Inspired by nature she combines digital and analogue photography in her Platinotypes and other processes.
From: Melbourne, Australia.
Shows: Chrysotype, Lumen, Platinotype and Vandykes.
For 29 years Danielle Edwards worked as a biomedical photographer in Melbourne, Australia. It required an approach of discipline and precision to produce medical photographs for documentation and standardisation. She recently retired from this industry to pursue photography that embraces a more artistic and interpretative approach.
Danielle Edwards holds two university degrees in the arts and sciences. Combining her 30+ years of experience in medical photography, as well as her formal education, gives her a unique skill set that she applies to achieve her own imaging aesthetic.
She has been captivated by the natural world from early childhood. Inspired by the blend of art and science, she finds beauty in nature that surrounds her. Danielle Edwards investigates the life cycle of plants, insects and animals within the natural world. Many of the images she creates are made with a combination of techniques used in medical and scientific photography, including infrared imaging and photomacrography.
Danielle Edwards uses Infrared techniques to capture tonality in a way the eye does not see. The image is created with invisible radiation and reveals details we don’t see in an image captured with visible light. Many subjects respond well to infrared techniques this creates a different interpretation to the photographic image. The techniques used in photomacrography allow us to get close to the subject so we can examine fine details.
Photography is about the quality of light and tone. Capturing the image is the first step. Creating the print through various traditional and non-traditions steps visualizes the aesthetics and feel of something that has been hand-crafted. The finished image, printed on fine cotton paper, should be a tangible, beautiful object you can hold in your hand.
Danielle Edwards enjoys using many alternative processes such as platinum-palladium, chrysotype, cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown and lumen printing. One of her favourite processes is platinum-palladium as it captures density and tones in a print that many other alternative photographic processes cannot easily reproduce. The ratio of platinum to palladium in the print is controlled, providing a wide range of tones from cool blacks to warm brown hues.
In 2019, Danielle Edwards was the recipient of the Goldstreet studios, Dr Mike Ware, Print Exposed Award, for the photograph ‘offering the greatest visual artistic merit and craftsmanship with an understanding of the scientific aspect of the process’ for her infrared, platinum palladium image, ‘The Sentinel’ (Eucalyptus Camaldulensis).
By combining digital negatives with analog printing techniques, Danielle produces one-off, hand crafted images on paper. Her inspiration comes from transforming on paper what she sees through the camera lens and or the mind’s eye. She finds the entire process of capture, creation, interpretation and printing a truly meditative experience.
“Infrared imaging is always a challenge, not unlike alternative processes. With all the accumulated knowledge you never quite know what the outcome will be. This makes the mystery of the journey exciting.”
More about Danielle Edwards:
- Contact email: edwardsdj49 (at) gmail.com