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Contents

Genius Behind the LensJerry ONeill

Homage to the passing of Irving Penn and Marty Forscher

DOMESTIC VACATIONSJulie Blackmon

Depictions of family life with an enchanting twist

TRANSITIONSDavid Vestal

Commentary on the promise and inherent responsibilitiesof change

26

18

4

Portfolios / Articles

Nolan Preece: Chemograms& NolangramsBeautiful experiments in cameraless photography

Tom Millea: After PlatinumA journey of exploration from platinum to newphotographic vision

Olivia ParkerBooks, Pages and TabletsIlluminating glimpses of the relationship of the

visual and verbal

Bruce BarnbaumSTONE: the Slit CanyonsDiscovery and capture of pristine black and white

images of Arizonas Antelope Canyon

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12

21

34

pg.26 Baby Toss,archival pigment print, Julie Blackmon


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Next Issue...DOPPELGNGERCornelia Hediger

SYNTHETIC CITYSCAPESLori Nix

DIGITAL PAPER NEGATIVESChris Woodhouse

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHSAl Weber

NIGHT IN DAY: ultra neutraldensity photographsCole Thompson

LIGHTING: Jewelry

David BarowskyInsect Photography in NatureGene Fedorov

Front Cover

Julie BlackmonCherry, 22"x22"

Edition of 25

julieblackmon.com

pg.12

pg.21

Tech

KODACHROMEthe film that changed the way we see

Abhay Sharmawith Paul Sergeant

Color Correction Made EasierCtein

Innovations

D-Rollera handy tool for flattening your prints

Lensbabyintroduces their new 12mm fisheye

lens and a 50mm soft focus lensImage Rights protect your images with anonline image search service

X-Rite ColorChecker Passport a quickand easy tool for reliable color balancing

Purosol two new eco-friendly productsguaranteed to leave your lenses andscreens squeaky clean

39

43

41

42

News

Instant Film is Back

Winning the 2009 Nobel Prize

2010 Call for Entries

5

Doppelgnger 15, Cornelia Hediger
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The cover of one ofPenns many books:

his famous 1957 portrait

of Picasso.

One of Penns first

Vogue covers is also

one of his best known.

Top Left

Top Right

Irving Penn, 92, and Marty Forscher, 87,

both died recently. Both were highly

regarded in the world of photogra-

phyPenn for highly stylized fashion

photography and straight-on por-traits, Forscher for his ability to repair

nearly any damaged camera and to

construct cameras and accessories

that didnt exist but should have.

Penns photographs, wrote Merry

A. Foresta, co-organizer of a 1990

retrospective of his work, showed the

control of an art director fused with

the process of an artist, according

to The New York Times obituary. A

courtly man whose gentle demeanor

masked an intense perfectionism, Mr.

Penn adopted the pose of a humble

craftsman while helping to shape

a field known for putting on airs.Schooled in painting and design, he

chose to define himself as a photog-

rapher . . . [his photographs] precisely

describ[ed] the profile of a Balenciaga

coat or of a Moroccan djellaba in a

way that could almost mesmerize the

viewer.

Many of his fashion photographs

were of Lisa Fonssagrives, his fa-

vorite model and also his wife for 42

years, until her death at the age of

80 in 1992. Mr. Penns photographs of

Fonssagrives captured a slim woman

of sophistication and radiant good

health and set the aesthetic standardfor the elegant fashion photography

of the 1940s and 50s, said the Times.

Penn worked for, and with, two lead-

ing magazine art directors, Alexey

Brodovitch ( Harpers Bazaar) and

Alexander Liberman (Vogue).Sarah Greenough, the senior cura-

tor of photographs at the National

Gallery of Art in Washington, worked

with Penn on an exhibition and says he

was amazingly kind and generous. .

. He was, I think as you can see in his

photographs, an extraordinary gen-

tleman in everything he did.

For many professional photog-

raphersand also for threadbare

students, bejeweled celebrities and

anxious tourists, according to the

TimesMarty Forscher was for dec-

ades the most sought-after camera

repairman in the country. For morethan 40 years (from 1946-1987) he ran

Professional Camera Repair Service

(PCR) in midtown Manhattan. Much

more than simply a repairman, he

could adapt nearly any lens to fit any

camera and invented several camera

accessories, including an early com-

pact motor drive for 35mm cameras.

In 1982 he patented his best-known

invention, the Polaroid film Pro-Back

which finally gave 35mm photogra-

phers what medium and large-format

photographers had had since the 60s,

an immediate proof print that pre-

cisely showed exposure, lighting, andcomposition.

Forscher believed news photogra-

phers played an important role in the

struggle for social justice, as well as in

documenting history. His attitude was

that these photojournalists are the

ones that have to stick their heads up

out of that foxhole to get the pictures,

so their cameras damn well bet-ter work, Noah Schwartz, a former

machinists assistant at Professional

Camera Repair, told the Times. So

every camera we fixed was with that

attitude.

Along the same lines, in the early

1960s Forscher began begging dis-

carded cameras from magazines,

fixing them and sending them South

so the Student Nonviolent Coordinating

Committee could document the civil

rights movement. When the cameras

were dashed to the ground or

drenched by police fire hoses, Mr.

Forscher repaired them and sent them

back again, the Times commented.

The photography blog The Online

Photographer reminisced that Marty

Forscher was a sort of unofficial

support staff for generations of inde-

pendent photographers, from lordly

Richard Avedon on down to the lowli-

est wet-behind-the-ears student . . .

and that he famously called the Nikon

F a hockey puck that could take pic-

tures. He was a gadfly who prodded

the camera manufacturers to making

better, stronger, more resilient, more

reliable, and more easily repairablegear. And the_online_photographer

quotes photographer Rod Sainty, who

remembers a talk Marty made to

an annual gathering of pro news

photographers some time around

1978-80. Though acknowledging the

increased features that cameras had

which enabled amateurs to make

photos more easily, Rod says, he was

dismayed at the increasing frailty of

cameras with which pros had to work.

I remember his opening statement

that he had been appointed keeper

of the flame of cameras past, and a

later one that camera manufacturersshould decide whether they are in the

tool business or in the toy business.

And photographer Rob Atkins com-

mented, I met Mr. Forscher in the mid

80s, when I took my 15mm Nikon to

PCR for a custom job. (Replacing the

built-in filters with an 80A and 85B.) I

remember him as a very kind and

gracious man. He gave me his busi-

ness card and told me to call him in a

week to see if my lens was ready. I still

have his card. . . .

Genius Behind The Lens

Jerry ONeill

4 photo technique J/F 2010

Jerry ONeill is a veteran photographer

and writer who has been involved in thephotographic industry for more thanthree decades.

TRIBUTE:


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phototechmag.com 5

NEWS

Bending Light Wins Three

Scientists The 2009

Nobel Prize In Physics

Since photography is writing with light, be-

ing able to control light precisely is at the

heart of our art and science. In the mid-1960s,

Charles K. Kao, then working at the Standard

Telecommunication Laboratories in England,

provided the groundwork for the important

field of fiber optics. He discovered that the

glass used to make early glass fibers was not

pure enough, causing 99% of the light to dis-

sipate within 20 meters. A purer glass would be

more transparent, allowing the light to travel

much farther. This was proved in 1970, when re-

searchers at Corning Glass Works produced anultra-pure optical fiber more than a half-mile

(about 800m) long. Fiber optics have become

so widely used that if all the optical cables in

use today were unraveled, the fibers in them

would total more than 600 million miles long!

The other two scientists, Willard S. Boyle and

George E. Smith, of Bell Labs, invented the CCD

sensor, the first electronic imaging chip and

the core of many of todays digital cameras.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said

the scientific work honored by this years prize

has built the foundation to our modern infor-

mation society. Kao will receive half of the $1.4million total prize, and Boyle and Smith will split

the other half.

INSTANT FILM IS BACK

Fujifilm has been making instant films for the Japanese home market under an

agreement with Polaroid. When Polaroid announced plans to discontinue mak-

ing instant film, Fujifilm began planning to provide film to the U.S. and Canadian

markets in addition to Japan. Its first product will be a pro film, Fujifilm FP-100B

4x5 black-and-white instant film, an EI 100, positive, peel-apart panchromatic

material with rich gradation, fine grain, and high resolution that develops in 30

seconds think similar to Type 52. FP-100B is designed for the Fujifilm 4x5 Pack

Holder PA-45, which fits 4x5 cameras, and provides 10 sheets per pack, with a

suggested retail price of $42.40 per pack. Fujifilm U.S.A. has not yet announced

if it plans to also import the companion product, Fujifilm FP-100C Color Instant

Film, also an EI 100 4x5 pack film.

Meanwhile, for amateur photographers, Utah-based Summit Global Group

has a worldwide exclusive license agreement to distribute instant film under

the Polaroid brand. The film will be manufactured by Fujifilm in Japan and

Impossible BV in the Netherlands, among others, with expected availability in

North America in early 2010. Starting with the 125i film (B&W), a color version

is expected later in the year. Summit Global plans to bring back many of the

famous instant film formats, while Impossible BV is developing the Impossible

Project, a new product for vintage instant cameras. And finally, Polaroid itself

has announced it will resume production of instant cameras by the middle of

2010. More info at www.fujifilm.com;www.thesummitglobalgroup.com;and

www.the-impossible-project.com

The Figure Now

Fontbonne University Fine Arts

Gallery juried exhibition, Feb 5-26.

Cash prizes. U.S. and Canadian

artists. All mediums portraying

the human figure; must fit through

standard door. $35 up to 3 entries.

Prospectus: www.artshow.com or

SASE to Fontbonne University Fine

Arts Gallery, 6800 Wydown Blvd,

St. Louis, MO 63105.

Email [email protected].;

call 314-719-3580.

Deadline: Jan 6

PhotoSpiva 34th Annual NationalPhotographic Competition

Photographers in U.S. and

territories. Original work, all

photographic processes; not

previously exhibited at George

A. Spiva Center for the Arts. March

6-April 25. JPG files 2000 pixels

RGB. Juror Deborah Klochko.

Enter at http://www.photospiva.

org/l10/.

Deadline: Jan 8

Embracing Our Differences

7th annual visual art exhibit

celebrating diversity. 39 billboard-

sized selected images displayed

April 2010, Sarasotan and North

Port, FL. Entries must reflect theme,

Embracing Our Differences, and

effectively adapt to outdoor

billboard size. Professional jurors.

$3,000 in awards. No entry fee.

Contact Michael Shelton

[email protected]; call

941-928-0567.

Deadline: Jan 12

12th Annual International JuriedPortrait Competition

Portrait Society of America

international competition/exhibition,

portraiture and figurative works.

Final judging at annual conference,

April 22-25. $55,000+ in prizes; Entry

$40 for 3 submissions. All mediums.

Contact Amanda Oliver 877-772-

4321, [email protected];

www.portraitsociety.org.

Deadline: March 1

Call for Entries:

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Nolan Preece

Grams, Grams, Chemograms

& Nolangrams

Digital photography is now taking on the burden once carried by conventional

photography, but artistic exploration will continue with many outdated processes

in the years to come.


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GRAMS, GRAMS, CHEMOGRAMS & NOLANGRAMS NOLAN PREECE

Photography lends itself to producing a multitude of

effects difficult to obtain otherwise. Chemistry may

be the least explored area when it comes to new

image invention without a camera. The popular-

ity of digital capture has pushed photography sofar ahead that unexplored processes have been

left behind, as was the case in the early days of

photography. It is a new day for chemical experi-

mentation in the wet darkroom.

My first serious exploration into some of the nu-

ances of photography began in 1978 while pursuing

an MFA at Utah State. I was working feverishly to

come up with new ideas, as grad students usually

do. Of interest at the time were the sabbatier effect

(solarization), clich verre (handmade negatives on

glass) and the photogram (I borrowed the word

gram for these techniques). These were often

considered rouge techniques outside the realm of

true photography defined as photography that in-

volved a camera, film and a darkroom. I wanted to

work contrary to the convention, as Moholy-Nagy

had suggested. He stated that photography was all

the results that can be achieved by photographic

means with or without a camera. At that same time

Surrealist painters Max Ernst, Yves Tanguay, Roberto

Matta and Man Ray also influenced my work.

NOLANGRAMS

During research in 1979, I came across an interestingaccount of the painter Corot who had held a piece

of glass over a candle and smoked it with soot.

Then he drew into the soot and contact printed the

resulting image on photo-sensitive paper. The tech-

nique he was working with was called clich verre

in French or glass negative. I had to try this out.

A kerosene lamp worked fine, so I cut some

small squares of glass and pre-tested them in the

enlarger to see if they would fit. I applied soot to

several pieces of the glass and started making

scratches with an etching needle. Accidentally,

my hand bumped the kerosene container, and as

the oil spread out across one of the soot covered

glass squares, the most incredible patterns and

designs started to take shape. It was so strange

it was surreal. I had found something I had never

seen before, either in the history of photography

or art. I decided to include the new discovery in my

masters thesis, and I set to work laying a foundation

of images.

The glass negatives could be printed directly onto

photo paper with an enlarger, or inter-negatives

could be contact printed from the glass negatives.I tried solvents other than kerosene, and it seemed

that mineral spirits worked the best. The technical

addition of selenium duo toning in 1999 increased

the color and added another dimension to the

work, plus it gave greater longevity to these silver

prints. Scanning the glass negatives has now taken

Nolangrams to the digital level, and also makes

retouching much easier.

Meeting Douglas Kent Hall in 2000, I asked him what

I should do with my process. He told me, Become

the maestro, name it, teach it, present it to the

world. So I jokingly started calling it theNolangram

process. For those interested in work done along

these lines, Henry Holmes Smith, Fredrick Sommer

and Francis Bruguiere are worth researching.

METHODOLOGY

Creating a Nolangram is really very simple. Take

a kerosene lamp, remove the chimney, extend the

wick, light it and rotate a piece of glass over the

flame. Layers of soot will start to build up until you

have a fairly opaque quality to the glass negative.Using eye droppers, or whatever tools you can

Chemical Nuptials

(Chemogram) 1987

Silver gelatin print with

printed image

Thiourea/Sodium

Carbonate stains on

Oriental Gold toned in

GP1 for six hours.

Legs (Nolangram

#000) 1979

Glass negative

printed in enlarger

on Agfa Portiga Rapid

silver gelatin paper.

Duo-toned in selenium

toner.

Facing Page

Above

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Carbonscape

(Nolangram #023) 2001

Digitally scanned glass

negative, printed to 12

x 16 with a 3800 Epson

printer on Radiant

White Watercolor

Paper. Originally

printed on IlfordWarmtone Multigrade

FB silver gelatin paper.

Ag Encounters Au

(Chemogram) 1983

Thiourea/Sodium

Carbonate stain on

Oriental silver gelatin

paper with printed

image. Gold toned in

GP1 for six hours.

Above

Facing Page

dream up, apply mineral spirits to the cooled soot

and watch the solvent spread. Stop application

when you see something that works for you. This

procedure should be done outside where the

danger of fire and fumes can be prevented. To go

digital, scan the image on the glass, clean it up with

Photoshop and print it as large as the output you

select.

CHEMOGRAMSFor photographers who like to peruse old Photo Lab

Indexes, try taking a look at old toning formulas. In

1982 I noticed that the Varigam toners by DuPont

included the use of Thiourea (Thiocarbamide) and

an alkaline base such as sodium hydroxide, sodium

carbonate or potassium carbonate (these chemicals

are available at Photographers Formulary). By

putting each of these chemicals in salt and pepper

shakers and applying them to a wet sheet of silver

gelatin paper, the magic begins. The resulting

unpleasant silver sulfide stain is then toned in a GP1gold solution to open it up into yellows, crimsons and

reddish browns. This is the method I use to make

a Chemogram. An enlarged printed image can

be incorporated into the overall print, and can be

selectively fixed under the safelight with a brush

where you dont want staining action to take place.

Then apply the chemicals with salt and pepper

shakers to achieve the selective staining desired.

Finally, fix the entire image, hypo clear and wash

normally. Chemograms scan beautifully and can be

combined with other digital images. (Remember to

treat all chemicals as if they are toxic.)

PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORK

The aesthetics of these processes are grounded

in surrealism. They bring into play the accidental,

whereby the photographer becomes a controller

rather than a creator. This method of working

often produces multiple levels of meaning brought

together to create a sense of connection that is

intuitive, unconscious and abstract. The images are

more accurately felt than observed. With some of

these photographs, especially the Chemograms,

the juxtaposition of a printed image with chemical

staining creates a form of spatial interaction in which

the illusion of depth is provided by the printed image.

When chemical staining alone is used, dark tones

advance and light chemical coloration recedes,

creating another form of spatial interaction. Both

of these effects tend to produce a warm/coolcontrast. These techniques may seem draconian,

but it is the result that counts. Imagination comes

into play with critical thought processes about

control and the use of materials. Many ideas and

combinations of ideas are passed over in search of

the one single personal vision for the final print.

The fact that brilliant permanent color effects

can be created by chemical means on B&W photo

paper leaves many questions unanswered. It is

gold chloride that does the work to transform olive

drab into vibrant color, and at the same time gives

great longevity to the print. The Nolangram, printed

on silver paper from a ghost matrix on glass then

duo-toned in selenium, brings forth new exploration

being done with cameraless photography.

It is artistic nature to struggle with oneself and

then come to some sort of subjective conclusion

in resolving the work. A recent paradigm shift has

occurred in photography, not unlike the one in both

photography and painting more than a century

ago, but all indicators point to a bright future for

photography. Digital photography is now taking

on the burden once carried by conventionalphotography, but artistic exploration will continue

with many outdated processes in the years to come.

PORTFOLIO:


Nolan Preece is a fine art photographer and art professor/

galleries curator at Truckee Meadows Community College in

Reno, NV. He teaches digital photography, platinum printing and

alternative photo processes. www.preece.myexpose.com

To ask a question or comment on this article, visit our online Forum:

www.phototechforum.com

Product Resources

Chemistry obtained at Photographers Formulary;

Oriental paper: Kodak Dektol developer; Ilford fixer;

Apple iMac computer; Adobe Photoshop CS4 software;

Epson 4990 scanner and Epson 3800 printer; Beseler45MCRX enlarger with a Schneider -Kreuznach 150 mm

Componon-S lens; Beseler darkroom timer and easel
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phototechmag.com 9


12/52

Chemical Storm Event, (Chemogram), 1990

Thiourea/Sodium Carbonate stains on Oriental silver gelatin paper

with solarized Dektol painted lines. Gold toned in GP1 for eight hours.

PORTFOLIO:



13/52


A Simple Solution, (Chemogram), 2008

Thiourea/Sodium Carbonate stains on Bergger silver gelatin paper

with Dektol stamped rectangles. Gold toned in GP1 for five hours.

phototechmag.com 11


14/52

(Figure 3) Photoshops

Variations tool creates

a ring-around that will

help you evaluate the

type and magnitude of

color error in your pho-

tograph. Unfortunately,

Variations only works

on 24-bit color files.

Left


15/52

It all came together in 2004. That was theyear I closed down my Platinum workshopand knew I would never make anotherPlatinum print. Oh, how traumatic thatwas after 45 years of Platinum printing.My health demanded I stop. I had becometoxic after breathing in the heavy metalsand hydrochloric acid for 35 years.

Add to that the technical component. The films Iused were discontinued, as were many of thechemicals. I loved using a small camera andthen enlarging the negative to make a final print.Kodak discontinued the film I used to make theenlarged negatives, and Polaroid stopped makingthe Polapan film I used in the camera. It seemedmy days were numbered.

I decided to retire and live off the sale of theprints I had made for so many years. I would belike Frederick Evans, who also retired when his

beloved Platinum paper was discontinued afterWorld War I. So I dismantled my studio, gave theequipment to people who needed it and sat backto enjoy my new life.

That lasted about two months. I simply could notdo it. There were too many images still inside mewaiting to be made, so many images to completeand give to the world.

What to do? I really didnt know. For a whileit was a real quandary. I had been using thecomputer for many years, but had alwaysrejected it as a tool because I felt it did not comeup to my standards for making images. It wastime to take another look. I sensed I might be ableto make it work if I tried hard enough, so I took my

retirement savings and put together a completedigital studio

I asked other photographers how they feltabout the digital process, and I was shocked bythe response. Most felt that the digital processwas not photographic. It was too easy, toomechanical, too cerebral, too artificial. It wasnot a tintype, a daguerreotype, a cyanotype, apigment print, an autochrome print, a platinum or

palladium, printing out paper, or most importantly,a silver gelatin print. In their minds if it was nota silver gelatin print, it was not real or purephotography. A digital print was an imitation ofother processes, a bastard process, not a newand unique technique.

What seemed most outrageous was the feelingdigital prints were somehow not pure the waytraditional silver prints were. As if somehow aperson was more of an artist if he used any otherprocess other than digital. I didnt know a singleperson who made their own silver paper; theysimply went to the store for paper and premixedchemistry, or often had someone else make theprint. I guess if you got your hands wet, you were

a photographer.I never thought this way. I did not want digital

prints to imitate my platinum prints; I wanted mydigital prints to express my vision as closely aspossible. It took me years of work to get to thatplace, but I now feel the prints are unique andbeautiful and match my vision perfectly.

When I had first experimented with colorphotographs, I never liked the results. But I foundmyself really excited by the possibility of makingcolor photographs using the computer. The colorpalette of the inks fascinated me. They were sorich and deep and produced hues I hadnt seenbefore. I really wanted to learn how to use them.

One concern that stayed with me as I began

working in color was that most photographersI knew who were great B&W artists failed when

Lindsey,

platinum print

Tom Millea

Facing Page

AFTER

PLATINUM

TOM MILLEA

It is the final image standing alone that counts.How we got there is simply a wonderful story.

phototechmag.com 13


16/52

Victoria,

platinum print

Tom Millea

Malika,

platinum print

Tom Millea

Top Left

Facing Page

they tried to use color. It was as if they took oneof their great black and white images and simplyput color on top of it. I was afraid I might do thesame. So I made myself a promise. If the color inmy color image was not completely integratedwith the photograph, I would stop immediatelyand go back into retirement.

I began with flower arrangements and soondiscovered the limitations of digital camerasand lenses. I tried every camera and every lensI could get my hands on looking for the rightcombination to make the images I wanted. It wasback to school to teach myself all over again thebasics I needed to know to be successful. I had tothrow everything I knew about platinum out thewindow and begin again to see with new eyesand work with new hands.

One day, after months of frustration I went to afriends house and in his front yard was a Bananatree. A Red Banana tree to be exact. I took onelook at this tree, which is really a huge fern-likeplant, and realized this was my new project.

Within the leaves I felt a life and death strugglethat matched what was going on in my own life,

a struggle I felt deeply, and I wanted to engage itand wrestle it to completion.

This began what turned out to be a five-yearodyssey. I worked almost every day. In summerfog, winter rain, early in the morning, mid-day,

and late in the evening, I made images. There wasno right time to photograph, there was only tophotograph.

I tried several cameras. I bought Nikons, Leicas,a Hasselblad, and finally a small Canonpoint-and-shoot. Each camera had different lenses, andI worked with them all. Each camera and lenscombination did something wonderful, but couldnot do something else I wanted to do, so I wouldsell it and buy another. I knew it was crazy, butI did it anyway. Working my way down this pathseemed the only important thing at the time.

As days turned into months and then years as Icontinued working, I realized that my color workwas unique. These were not B&W images with

color added; rather the color was unique andcompletely integrated. I found myself completelycommitted.

One day I went to my friends house tophotograph the plant again and discovered thegardener had cut it down! Cut it down in theprime of my series! I was shocked. Devastated isa better word. I said to myself, Well, I guess theseries must be finished, trying to be philosophicalabout it all. However, no matter how I put thework together, it was not finished.

I have always photographed found objects,like finding the Banana tree in my friends yard.To go out and buy one in order to continue wassomething I did not do. Yet this series demanded

I do it. So I did. I bought a small tree and put itin my yard. I began photographing again almostimmediately, and I found the new photographsmagnificent and very different from the earlierones. So I continued for another year.

While I was creating the Palm series, I lookedaround my studio and realized I had boxes ofnegatives and slides piled to the ceiling from 30years of work. I decided to begin scanning someof the slides and tried to make good B&W printsfrom them digitally.

For months of frustrating experimentation, Itried everything I could think of. Nothing worked. Iwould discover little pieces of the puzzle, but thefinal print was terrible. Answers acceptable for

other people did not work for me. After printing inplatinum for so many years, my photographs didnot work on glossy paper. I did not see the worldwith a glossy surface; I wanted a rich, deep, printwith a matte surface, and what I was getting was just the opposite. I worked for months testingeverything I could find. Papers, inks, software, andevery different combination I could think of. Eachtime I would run into a blank wall.

I eventually decided to find experts in the fieldto try to find answers from them. I would callthem up and have my questions answered overthe phone. With both of us sitting at our computersand doing the things together, I found the answersI wanted. Or rather I found ways to look for the

answers myself. Finally the prints began to lookexactly as I wanted them to look.


PORTFOLIO:


17/52

AFTER PLATINUM TOM MILLEA


18/52

Book of Palms I, #41,

pigment ink print

Tom Millea

Book of Palms II, #47,

pigment ink print

Tom Millea

Nicole,

platinum print

Tom Millea

Top Left

Top Right

Facing Page

This was the process of learning I loved so much.No one was out there giving me direct answers;rather they were pointing me in the direction Ineeded to go. How wonderful that was. Craft isnot an end in itself. It must always be subservientto vision.

I have chosen to use the digital process becauseit allows me to manifest my vision better than anyother process. I cannot say it would also be truefor anyone else. Your vision is process specific.There is only one process that allows an artistto actualize his or her specific vision in its purestform. There is no right or wrong photographictechnique. Finding that process, finding that onetechnique, is critical in the making of the finalimage. It is the final image standing alone thatcounts. How we got there is simply a wonderfulstory.

Minor White, famous photographer and teacher,once said it takes a full ten years to learn yourcraft. I believe he is right. It seemed that all at

once things came together. After all those years

of learning and frustration, I now have completedthree portfolios of B&W images and two of color.It has been a long and difficult journey, butworth every minute of it. For me, this work wasonly possible using digital techniques. Nothingelse would work for me. So it no longer matters

what other people think. I know I have broughtforth my vision in the best possible way, and I amcompletely happy with it.


Product Resources

B&W images were shot with a Nikon; digital images

were made with a Hasseblad H2D, Leica SLR, Nikon

5000 and a Canon G-10; Millea prints digitally with

Epson 4800 and 9800 printers on Moab paper.

Tom Millea www.tommillea.com



PORTFOLIO:
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AFTER PLATINUM TOM MILLEA


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What to do? We can panic if we choose to; wed betteradapt to the changes. Lets try them. We may like them.If not, what can I say? The changes are here, and so arewe. But we and the river are not all that change. Thechanges also change. Make what you will of that. Somewill see it as a dilemma that leaves no hope, which maybe true for them. But I think that constant change givesus good chances to grab the brass ring as we go by.

Now therell be changes in this magazine. I cant

judge them at present. It may get better than before, andIm for that. So, what changes would I like to see?

For one thing, more pictures. I think thats on its way,with five portfolios planned per issue. For another, bet-ter pictures, an iffier matter. This depends partly on

judgment and partly on luck. Ill have no opinion untilIve waited and seen. And when I arrive at an opinion,of course I may be wrong. Everyones personal betterconsists of how a picture or piece of writing affects himor her, and no two of us are enough alike to allow anyhard-and-fast certainty. Ive sometimes come to dislikewhat used to please me, and to like what I didnt likebefore. Patience and attention are called for, and I cantpredict my reactions, let alone yours.

What else? Id like to see more serious, not solemn,discussions of photos and what matters about them. Idlike to see less obsession with gadgets and with unneces-sarily complicated techniques. On this I have a positionafter 60 years of photographing and seeing photos. I likeworking simply. I try to get the best results I can by thesimplest means. Im sure this approach is right for me,and Im sure its not right for everyone.

My wife, Ann Treer, by her nature, printed in more

complicated ways than mine, and did it well. We oftenphotographed together. Sometimes her photos werebetter than mine, and sometimes mine were better.With our different ways of working, we turned out tobe equal. I worked as simply as I could and she didnt.Each of us was right in not working like the other. Yether photos and mine are much alike. Long after herdeath, in printing the pictures for an unpublished bookof our travels in Brazil, I was glad I had her permissionto use her photos. Many are better than mine of thesame people and places. In a 1977 show in Sao Paulo,which included many of my Brazil photos from 1961, theman who hung the show included some of her photos,thinking they were mine. They fitted right in.

We cant step in the same river twice. Its not only the river that changes. We change, too,although we seldom notice it at the time. And we are set in our ways. So we contradictourselves? Constantly. Dont worry; its normal. Unexpected things happen, and good orevil, or both, result.

TRANSITIONSBy: David Vestal

COMMENTARY:


21/52

TRANSITIONS DAVID VESTAL

I have learned that its not for me to judge how otherswork. Its the results that count. Still, Ill continue tostand up for those who work simply and produce well,as did Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, AndrKertsz, Lewis Hine, Eugne Atget and Helen Levitt,among others. These are a few of my guys.

Its also not for me to judge what kinds of photographsothers should make. Lets have variety. Photographerscant, dont, and shouldnt all see and work alike, and thatis good. There are many photos that I dont get. Is thatbecause theyre no good, or is the failure mine? I cantalways tell from here. If I were a collector, Id be right topick only what I like. As a teacher and writer its not forme to reject all pictures that I dont get. Im more broadlyreceptive than many, but myreach isnt universal. Im not

photo techniques picture

editor, which is just as well.There are others who canappreciate photos that I dontget, and I must respect their

judgment.In judging photos I also consider the photographer as a

person. But that is too iffy. Some delightful people makepoor photos, and some awful people make good ones.

In the world of scholarship and criticism, some GreatAuthorities have been wrong. Ive read what theywrote about photography, and its an ignorant return tothe fussy scholasticism of the middle ages, when sup-posedly wise men argued bitterly about how manyangels could dance on the head of a pin. Popular falseauthorities include, to name only dead ones, WalterBenjamin, Roland Barthes, and Susan Sontag. I believethese educated fools were sincere and didnt know theywere phonies. Alfred Stieglitz, a special case, was a verygood photographer but a lousy guru. His eye was betterthan his mind. I have more sympathy for Minor White,a good man and a good photographer, who neverthelessbelieved, spoke and taught a good deal of absolute bilge.So its complicated. I rant with pleasure on such deadcelebrities, trusting, as I do, that I am right. As someonesaid, holy cows make the best burgers.

Of course I may be wrong, but Ill take that chance.There are also living fake gurus and photographers whofall in the same class. I dont argue with them becauseI dont want to add to the publicity they thrive on. Ifany of their nonsense appears in PTand it probablywill that wont be my fault. If you notice my silence,youll know what I am thinking. Or will you?

There is something more substantial to consider thanfalse philosophy. Taste enters into it, but this issue isfactual. It concerns how designers treat photos. I haverecently resisted, in a thing I publish, a strong temptationto photocopy and print the murder of a good photographby Cartier-Bresson. It was destroyed by running it

through the gutter between two pages of a little book

which is informative and good, except for its bad de-signing. Its even inexpensive. Copyright stopped me,and also, Id rather use that space to present good un-destroyed photos. This all too common crime is gener-ally overlooked. I find it depressing and incredible thatmany, perhaps most, book and magazine designers seemunable to see what is right in front of them on the pagestheyve designed. Its vandalism through ignorance, andit enrages me. Here is what some visual professionaldid to the photo in question.

Its an early, excellent HCB photo that shows a beat-up, eroded wall on which irregular white areas and spotsshow through dark paint in a rough pattern. A child runsbeside this wall, looking up. Its a beautiful and evoca-

tive photo, unexplainablebut strongly lyrical whenits presented so you can

see it. In this case, therunning child has beenswallowed up by thedeep crack between twopages. Its largely gone in

a dramatic case ofphotocide. The layout sheet, of course,was flat, and the designer could clearly see that hedcentered the childs image exactly in the gutter, but thisone ignored what we all know happens to a picture in adeep fold. Here we can see less than half of the child oneach page. Much of it is hidden in the gutter. Few bookdesigners or magazine art directors run words throughthe gutter, though Ive seen that, too. In general, wordsare considered sacred, and photographs are treated asdisposable tissues. As photographer and picture editorCharlie Reynolds once truly said, Art directors cut upphotographs to make pretty pages.

If I must, I will make a nuisance of myself to keepthis from happening in photo technique. I can expectto be ignored and considered crazy, but Im used to that.Everyone seems to think running photos through thegutter is just wonderful. But the evidence of the eyeshows that those who believe that are the real crazies.Look attentively at whats in front of you, and unlessyoure a designer you will see it as it is. I suppose they

are taught somewhere that chopping and folding photosimproves them. It doesnt.

I also object to words printed in the picture area ofphotos or otherwise interfering with our seeing thepicture intact. Again its self-evident, and again its thedone thing, so being against it shows that I am crazy.Even if I am, you still have no chance to see a picturewithout distraction when words invade it. Get out of ourpictures, words, and stay out. Exceptions, of course, arewords that are part of the pictures. They should be al-lowed to speak for themselves without competition. Mymadness is unfashionable sanity. So listen up, profes-sional designers. Self-evident facts seem to be received

by designers the way politicians receive good sense that

Lets have variety.

Photographers cant, dont, andshouldnt all see and work alike,

and that is good.

phototechmag.com 19


22/52


technique


doesnt follow their partys line or a lobbyists advice withhysterical denial. If you claim intelligence, let some realityin. Consider facts as important as the nonsense you weretaught.

Lets make this transition work as it should, always towardsomething more real, more valid and more useful. This is aphoto magazine, so let photography and pictures rule. Treatthem as the most valuable thing we have. Treat them right.Celebrate, dont mutilate photos, especially since mutilationis how its always done. If we dont do our work betterthan whats always done, we should be ashamed.

There is always, in magazines, a temptation to cave into advertisers and put their demands ahead of the readersneeds. Some self-respect is called for. Consider the NewYorker, back when it was intelligent. For a long time theyhad the advertisers buffaloed. The oldNew Yorker refusedto run dumb ads, and the ad agencies caved in. That policy

might be worth reviving. The rumor now is that, alongwith the decline of print news, because of the Internet,even advertising is imperiled. PT, I gather, will now putonline everything it prints on paper.

I use the Internet only to get information. No email, nowebsite, nothing like that. I got along without it before, andI get along without it now. I like my freedom. But myodd attitude wont influence this magazine, which needsthe net. The same principles that apply to the magazine onpaper also apply in cyberspace. (But maybe there isnt anygutter to run pictures through between Internet pages? Ifthats so, Hallelujah.)

Lets not imitate the slick, bright noise of TV commercials,although its true that, because of the money, the commer-cials, even with their dishonesty and idiocy, are generallybetter than the shows, which exist only to provide watch-ers for the commercials. We see that in photo magazines,too. People buy them for the ads.

Hows this for a transition? Let the online and the printedform and content of photo technique constitute a well-made continuing program to present and support the trueart of photography, without the usual bullshit. Wed havesomething real.

Readers, you can help. If you see photos mistreated here,complain. You have some power to influence the maga-

zines course, and I hope you will use it thoughtfully andcalmly. Courtesy helps criticism work. Meanwhile, I trustyou are with me in favor of the lively and pertinent journalthatPTcan and should be. Accept no substitutes.

David Vestal is a photographer, critic, and teacher, whose publications

include The Art of Black and White Enlarging (1984) andThe Craft of

Photography. His photographs are exhibited internationally and are found

in numerous collections including New York Citys Museum of Modern Art

and the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. The wit and wisdom

of his commentaries have long earned him a strong following among

readers.

To ask a question or comment on this article, visit our online Forum:www.phototechforum.com

COMMENTARY:

__________________________________
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information. I will try, however, to offer a bit of my

approach and process.

A tablet can be many things: a message, a

slate that has writing to be erased, a blank

surface awaiting words or symbols or drawings,

an account-ing, a poem, a gravestone, proof of

identity, or an undecipherable message from

another time. Both of my tablets: Astrolabe Adrift

and The Other Half began as a 3 x 3 pieces

of found metal that I photographed in natural

light that was passing through shapes cut from

blue and red gels. I am working only with natural

light. Once I have established a base that I like, I

experiment intuitively using other photographs or

scanned material, building up layers in Photoshop.

For Astrolabe Adrift, I tried lighter light shapes on

paper. After finding something that seemed to

work for me, I switched to a deliberate editorialmode in seeking and placing the line scan of an

astrolabe (a navigational instrument once state of

the art, now a footprint along the path of science).

Back in intuitive mode, I placed the moon and stars.

The Other Half is a split tablet referring to those

used for identification of the individuals carrying

the matching parts. The figures on each half are

of unknown origin from a site in southern South

Korea. If the sides close in a match, the bearers are

identified but the unknown path ahead closes. As

I have traveled I have gathered photographs of

clouds, so I had plenty of material to work with to

achieve the right balance of light and fog.

Mosca is a fly made of light and shadow formed

by light passing through a chunk of slag glass onto

a piece of paper. One of its wings reveals itself

as a dragonfly wing that I have photographed, but

a very solid bug from a 17th century book peers in

from the side.

In my black and white work I often used animate

and inanimate shadows of beings and things outside

of the image. In Experimentum I have combined

illustrations from books by Anathius Kircher (A 17th

century polymath who had his own system for how

everything earthly and unearthly works) with areaching human shadow. The paper, the aqueous

red light and the shape that the small tree is on

comprise the base photograph. The rest I added

via computer.

The base of Opposites is a blank book with

another little blank book stuck inside it that I

found in a flea market in western China. As I was

pushing around some blue gels and pieces of glass,

I saw the bright circle and the dark one that for

me immediately connected to the phases of the

moon. After that it took me a while to find the other

elements and some trial and error to balance the

tension between them.

The images you see here, part of an ongoing

series of Books, Pages and Tablets, reflect my

interest in the history of science. Although I work

digitally, my images remain photographic in that

they are dependent on light for more than generalillumination. When I was working with view cameras

in the seventies, eighties and nineties I was always

looking for light or shadow that coalesced into its

own shapes. In black and white I could control my

contrast range in order to use many kinds of light

and shadow shapes. Because of contrast issues in

color, I had to wait for digital technology to allow

colored light to take form in my prints.

Words and pictures gain authority as soon as

they enter books, tablets, and pages. Until very

recently we lived in a culture of words. If I am

waiting in an unfamiliar room, my eyes dart around

for something to read. If theres a cereal boxon the table, I start reading. I particularly like 17 th

century science books, because some authors

observed things for themselves, some relied on

verbal hearsay that had traveled down the years

like an extended game of telephone and others

made things up as they went along. Many early

science books contain illustrations, but a lot of the

pictures are masterpieces of verbal misinformation;

their creators had only words about the subjects,

verbal information handed down for generations

that yielded monsters and fabled lands. Other

illustrations came from first hand observation;

vision informed the visual.

As I make images I am exploring the relationship

between visual and verbal thinking. What does

this picture mean? is a question I am asked over

and over. Trying to explain what a picture means

is much harder than paraphrasing a poem, and

both endeavors usually give out only clumsy bits of

Astroblabe Adrift,

multi-media

Olivia Parker

The Other Half,

multi-media

Olivia Parker

Previous Page

Bottom Left


PORTFOLIO:


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Experimentum, multi-media

Olivia Parker

PORTFOLIO:



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Opposites, multi-media

Olivia Parker

phototechmag.com 25

BOOKS, PAGES AND TABLETS OLIVIA PARKER


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29/52

DOMESTIC VACATIONS JULIE BLACKMON


30/52


Candy, archival

pigment print, 22" x 22"

Julie Blackmon

Previous Spread

Once Blackmons script is set, its time for her

stage and actors. Her visual narratives are well-

planned concepts of a number of common child-

rearing activities that uncommonly occur in a single

hysterical moment in time. Her sense of humor re-

garding parenting is obvious. Her actors, referenc-

ing the historic works of Julia Margaret Cameron,

are her own children, relatives and neighbors, who

respond to their roles of appearing in photographs

as just part of their normal day-to-day life. Unlike

in Camerons completely posed shots, Blackmons

subjects are permitted spontaneity once they are

placed in the scene. Each actor undeniably comes

to the stage with a personal agenda, based on an

idea suggested by Blackmon. When the individual

initiatives are combined with those of the other in-

habitants of the shared frame, they often result in

unusual and sometimes combustible experiences.Blackmon has perfected the balance between total

directorial control and openness to the moment to

allow the story to unfold before her camera.

With this in mind, it is understandable why her

process, as in cinema, requires some edits and

retakes. In these cases, Blackmon re-photographs

the moment for the individual actor in exactly the

same location, and then meticulously replaces that

segment using Photoshop to achieve the perfected

final image. She doesnt attempt to montage im-

ages from different scenes. Props that will show up

in the final image may also be shot separately, in

their actual location, and will later be montaged in.

Blackmon creates a believable reality in each indi-

vidual actors portrait. However, viewing the piece

as a whole, we are delighted by our recognition of

the mannerisms and relationships that form the col-

lective image.

Photo conceptualization has certainly been made

more believable through the advent of digital pho-

tography, but it isnt new to the field, as referenced

by the historic work of Oscar Gustave Rejlander and

H. P. Robinson, as well as the more contemporaryassemblages of Jerry Uelsmann and Scott Mutter.

What is different about Blackmons work is that in it

we find the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Blackmons early work was made using a film

Hasselblad. She has since moved to a digital HD3II

- 39 megapixel Hasselblad with a 28mm wide angle

lens. Although her image frame has transitioned

from a square to a rectangular format, her compo-

sition retains a circular choreography, where visual

information can be found in almost every part of

the image.

Award-winning photographer Julie Blackmon was named

American Photos Emerging Photographer of 2008 and was among

PDNs top 30 in 2007. Her work is included in the collections of the

George Eastman House, Rochester, NY and the Museum of Fine

Arts, Houston, TX. Her book, Domestic Vacations, is published by

Radius Books, Santa Fe, NM (2008).



FEATURE:

For example, in the image Stolen Kiss, what we

see is candy being taken away from a baby (hu-

morously referencing the familiar idiom), along with

the excruciating expression of abandonment of the

child from whom the kiss is taken. We catch the

thief as he is already leaving the image frame.

This is a very successful technique employed in a

number of Blackmons pieces. Her subjects come

and go, creating motion in and out of the frame,

yet viewers require no additional information from

a previous or subsequent frame to understand the

impact of the narrative. All you need to know is

set neatly inside the square format of each unique

image.

Blackmons approach results in some of the most

skillfully complex photographic work being pro-

duced. Her directed performances of people andlight in each image again reference cinematic pro-

duction. The background lighting, while on site, has

the control supremacy of complex studio lighting.

Using a combination of both Novatron lighting sys-

tems and natural light in a perfect blend, Blackmon

is able to mask this combination to perfection. She

says that she doesnt use an HDR auto system be-

cause she feels its too contrived. Instead, she care-

fully masks to get the effect she wants. The result is

similar to that of Flemish painters, who managed to

throw light into dark corners, far from the actual light

source, in obvious violation of the inverse square

law. The light in Blackmons work is comforting, and

it is also a neutralizing factor that gives enhanced

importance to the actors. She photographs the chil-

dren using a strobe to stop action, but she may also

shoot with an open shutter to capture reflections

and shadows to add realism to the image.

The wonder of Blackmons work is that despite ob-

vious direction and manipulation, the photographs

in Domestic Vacations resonate with a sense of

ironic reality and call forth a resounding and empa-

thetic yes from anyone who has been part of the

complex experience that is a family.

Product Resources

Camera: Hasselblad HD3 39; Lighting: Novatron (interior shots),

Bowens Explorer 1500 with QuadX (outdoors). Printer: 44 Epson

9880; Inks: Ultrachrome; Paper: Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl paper.

Computer: Mac OS X Quad-Core Intel Xeon with an Apple 30

cinema display
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phototechmag.com 29

Birds at Home, archival pigment print, 22"x 22"

Julie Blackmon


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Stolen Kiss, archival pigment print, 22" x 22"

Julie Blackmon

FEATURE:


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phototechmag.com 00

phototechmag.com 31

Floatie, archival pigment print, 22"x 22"

Julie Blackmon


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Loading Zone , archival pigment print, 60" x 40"

Julie Blackmon

FEATURE:


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phototechmag.com 33

Wicker Swing, archival pigment print, 44" x 32"

Julie Blackmon


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Wall With Two Ridges,

silver gelatin print

Bruce Barnbaum

Facing Page

PORTFOLIO:


promptly move the negative into the extremely dilute(i.e., 45/1 of the stock solution) compensating solution withinitial agitation of 30 seconds. (At that point its 2 minutesof development.) The next full minute has no agitation

(bringing total development time to 3 minutes). Thenfrom that point onward, I agitate for the first 15 secondsof each subsequent minute until I reach 10 minutes ofdevelopment time. Then its into the stop bath and fix.

I first entered Antelope Canyon late in the afternoonwithout my camera. It would have been too late and toodark to photograph then, anyway. Yet as I walked along,I quickly saw my first photograph without even breakingstride. All I had to do was refine my camera positionthe next morning. I made Circular Chimney, AntelopeCanyon, which I had seen the previous afternoon. Tome that image represents the black hole at the center of

every spiral galaxy including our own Milky Way withthe galaxy swirling around it. It was an amazing wayto start out a new decade, and a whole new chapter inphotography.

Over the years, I have photographed Antelope Canyonextensively, along with its two major companions, LowerAntelope Canyon, just two miles down the same desertwash, and Upper Antelope Canyon, more than six milesup the wash. Today, flooded with tourists, Upper AntelopeCanyon remains unknown, with Antelope Canyonrenamed Upper Antelope Canyon to distinguish it fromLower Antelope.

My first entry into Lower Antelope Canyon was by

rope, rappelling into it in 1983. Tourists were not part ofthe scene then, so entry was a real challenge. Thoughmore open and somewhat lower in contrast, I againresorted to compensating development procedure to reinin the contrast. I exposed seven negatives that day, withfour of those images appearing in my first book, Visual

Symphony, including the cover image, Wall with TwoRidges, Lower Antelope Canyon.

As the years passed, I photographed a wide range ofslit canyons in many areas, all in Northern Arizona orSouthern Utah, on the Colorado Plateau. The exceptionalsandstone and limestone layered land created over the

millennia by incoming and outgoing oceans, and layerupon layer of sand dunes, was later carved by wind andwater into a myriad of extraordinary shapes. In virtuallyall cases, Ive used the narrow sandstone canyons toexpress my thoughts about forces in nature. For example,neither gravity nor electromagnetic force is bounded bysize (they are universal), nor directionality (there is no upnor down). The canyon images, too, are devoid of size anddirection (i.e., its hard to tell how large the subject matteris or if the camera is aimed up or down or straight ahead).An extremely narrow slit, one that I discovered withseveral friends in 1984, yielded Hollows and Points,Peach Canyon. While my friends lounged around after

lunch above the deep crevice in the ground, I wandered

a mile to its shallow start then back down it to theimage site, realizing that the others were directly aboveme. Responding to my calls, they lowered my camerabackpack and tripod to me by rope, allowing me to make

the photograph. Too heavy to haul back up, the packhad to be carried out via the full length of the canyon.The narrow twisting trip back, much of it accomplishedby walking sideways, left the pack shredded. But, whocares? I made the image, again showing the lines of force,and also the refinement of natural sculpting, so delicateand perfect that it would make a Michelangelo or HenryMoore jealous.

In 1998, back in Antelope Canyon, I made my longestexposure ever to get Layers, Antelope Canyon. Iopened the shutter at 12:30 p.m. and closed it at 4 p.m.By 1998 I had created the two-solution compensating

development, yielding more detail down into the deepestshadows and into the brightest highlights.The Escalante River harbors an astounding complex

of tributary side canyons, each with its own character,and many harboring extremely narrow sections, slitcanyons, to be sure within its length. Peekaboo Canyonand Spooky Gulch are shallow, parallel slit canyons at theupper end of Coyote Gulch, a major Escalante tributary.The Pinwheel, Spooky Gulch represents a time lapseimage of millions or billions of years of an accretiondisk the dust, rocks and rubble swirling around in outerspace in a progressively narrower disk pulled togetherby gravity as it compacts around into a giant spiral,

eventually coalescing under gravitational forces into stars,planets, moons, asteroids and comets to form a galaxy ora solar system. (Spooky Gulch, by the way, is so narrow,that it, too, must be traversed sideways, with the wallscoming together below your feet so that one side of yourboot touches one wall, while the other side of the sameboot rests on the other wall. If youre claustrophobic, or ifheavy rain is falling, this is not the place to be.)

Neither Peekaboo nor Spooky is very deep, so noexceptional development procedures are necessaryin eitherperhaps a slight reduction in contrast, butnothing more heroic.

Nowhere else have I encountered either the forms orthe light that Ive encountered in the slit canyons. Mostimages have required long exposures, and nearly allrequire a contrast reduction. These, and so many otherslit canyon photographs, have now been embedded in amuch more extensive portfolio of related images named

Stone. Within the broad umbrella of that title I haveput a wide variety of imagery together with a sense ofrelated cohesiveness. These are images from the naturaland man-made worlds, from the worlds of realism andabstraction. The Stone portfolio also includes cathedrals,monasteries, ancient towns and cities of Europe, mountainand canyon images, and Mayan and Inca ruins of Central

and South America.


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STONE BRUCE BARNBAUM


40/52

Hollows, Points Peach

Canyon,


Bruce Barnbaum

Top

Pinwheel, Spooky Gulch,


Bruce Barnbaum

Bottom


The slit canyons were chosen for my first portfolio inthe newphoto technique magazine because these imagesare dearest to my heart. They have brought my life fullcircle from my academic days studying mathematics andphysics to my life in photography. I have drawn from abackground in the world of science to express myself inthe realm of art.

Bruce Barnbaum teaches photography workshops throughout the year,

focusing on the art of seeing and the art of conveying impressions of

your photographed world (real or imagined). He has two monographs

in print: Tone Poems - Book 1, 2002; andTone Poems - Book 2, 2005. Both

are collaborative efforts, featuring a CD of classical piano music

performed by Judith Cohen. www.barnbaum.com

Product Resources

Camera: 4 x 5 Linhof Master Technika; Film: Kodak Tri-X;

Film Developer: Kodak HC110; Developer: Kodak Dektol;

Paper: Forte neutral tone variable contrast



PORTFOLIO:
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41/52

KODACHROME ABHAY SHARMA

phototechmag.com 39

Kodachrome was a beautiful filmbright vivid colors, low grain andimages that jumped out of thescreen and filled the projection

room with the awe of mountainlandscapes, close-upportraits andchildren playing on backyardswings. After a successful 74-yearrun, Eastman Kodak announcedin June 2009 that it would soondiscontinue sales of Kodachrome.Its interesting to take a look atboth the history and science ofthis remarkable product.

The LeopoldsKodachrome was not the first color film(color photography had existed withtechniques such as Autochrome andDufaycolor), but Kodachrome was thefirst practical film for a mass audience.The inventors of Kodachrome, LeopoldMannes and Leopold Godowsky, metas teenagers. Both were fascinatedby the popular Brownie camera, andboth longed for a way to take colorphotographs themselves. The Leopoldswere musicians by trade, but wereinvited to join Kodak in Rochester torealize their invention. They worked

for Kodak for a number of years beforeboth returned to their musical roots.

Within the company this duo wasknown as Man and God! Mannesdied in 1964, and Godowsky in 1983.After their deaths, both were inductedinto the Inventors Hall of Fame.

Color Film 101In the 1930s Kodachrome was firstsold as 16mm movie film, and withina few years as 35mm slide film. Mostcolor film in the world is based on the3-layer principle, where each layer ofthe emulsion is sensitive to red, greenor blue light.

In general, most color film is actuallyindividual layers of black and whitefilm. At the moment of exposure, lightthrough the camera lens hits silver

halide crystals in the film emulsion,creating an excited chemical state inthe crystals termed a latent image.During development, the exposedsilver halide crystals latent imagegrow rapidly into dense clumps ofblack silver.

Where there was a lot of light, wehave a lot of silver; where there waslittle light, we have less developedsilver, and thus an image is formed bydifferent amounts of silver distributedthroughout the frame in relation to theamount of light that hit the film.

In black and white film this is the full

story, but in color film there is a twistto this process. Color film (negative

and transparency) has at least threedifferent layers of silver halidesuspended in the emulsion. Througha system of filters and sensitizers, themanufacturer creates silver halidelayers that react to a third of thespectrum each. Each layer is sensitiveto the red, green or blue part of thespectrum. This is the fundamental tri-chromatic theory of color that statesthat you can create any of the colorsyou want by the addition of varyingamounts of red, green and blue light.

In color film, dye coupler moleculesare suspended in the emulsion nearthe silver halide crystals. Duringdevelopment, the silver halide gets

developed and the by-products of this(essentially monochrome) development

KODACHROME:the film that changed theway we see

Abhay Sharma withPaul Sergeant

The original Kodachrome

box, 1936, format 828

1961 box for European

sales, most likely in

England. The little box on

top contains a pre-paid

mailer bag so that the

film could be sent in for

processing.

A 1980 reproduction ofthe

original 1936 packaging

Kodachrome box from

1987-1990

Top

2nd from Top

3rd from Top

4th from Top


42/52

The George Eastman

House Museum of

Photography and Film,

is part of the Ryerson

University photographicresearch program.

Today, the George

Eastman house is the

repository for the last

Kodachrome film batch.

Above

TECH:


trigger the dye coupler molecules andturn them into colorful dye clouds.After development the unused silverhalide and the unused dye couplers

are removed from the emulsion.This is a very simplified descriptionof what is actually a very complexprocess. For example, manufacturersmay use sophisticated techniques,such as special chemicals, to ensurethe color chemistry stays within eachlayer or corrects for imperfect spectralabsorptions of each dye layer.

So we see that black and white andcolor chemistry are very similar; colorfilm consists essentially of three blackand white film layers. This similarity isexploited in films such as Ilfords XP2,which is a fine grain, black and white

film processed in C-41 type processingchemicals alongside color negativefilms.

Kodachrome SecretsThere are a few technical secretsbehind Kodachromes success. Koda-chrome was always only available atlower speeds, usually 25 and 64 ASA,thus it was a fine grain emulsion. Thesmaller grain captured less light, thusthe film was slower, but the smallsilver halide grain did not show upduring enlargement. Kodachrome wasslide film, so we shot and processedand viewed the same piece of film,unlike negative stock where there aretwo generations, a negative and a print.

Finally, the biggest advantageof Kodachrome is due to its non-substantive film type. A big differencebetween normal transparency film andKodachrome is that Kodachrome hasno dye couplers incorporated into theemulsion layers. Unlike all other colorfilms of the time, the color couplerswere contained within the processingbaths. The dye couplers are only

introduced during the processing stageof development, in the development

process called K-14. Due to this lack ofin-situ couplers, the emulsion layersare thinner, causing less light scattering,allowing sharper results. This uniquesolution meant that Kodachrome was

a lot slimmer and sharper than otherslide film. On the downside, it alsomeant that Kodachrome needed specialprocessing, and so was not compatiblewith E-6 systemsone of the majorreasons for its imminent extinction.

George Eastman HouseThe last batches of Kodachrome filmhave been sent to the famous Kodakhistorical archive and repositoryTheGeorge Eastman House InternationalMuseum of Photography and Filmin Rochester, NY. The museum is

located alongside George Eastmanscolonial revival mansion and is thehouse where George Eastman livedbefore taking his own life by gunshotin 1932. The George Eastman Houseis the worlds oldest photographymuseum, with a mission to collect,preserve, and present the history ofphotography and film. The originalcollections included the Medicus col-lection of Civil War photographs,Eastman Kodak Companys historicalcollection, and the massive GabrielCromer collection. The Eastman Kodak

Company has been a major benefactorto the house and museum. If you are inthe Rochester area, this historical siteis well worth a visittry to guess thecombination of the large safe that is stillthere after all these years.

Photographic Preservation andCollections ManagementA unique educational programdeveloped by Ryerson University inToronto and the George EastmanHouse is a post-graduate MA degreein Photographic Preservation and

Collections Management. Paul Sergeantis studying in this program and isspending a year at the George EastmanHouse in Rochester. The programscurriculum is specially designed todeepen students understanding of thehistory of the photographic medium,particularly its social, cultural, andinstrumental uses, and the purposesand functions of photographs andphotographic collections. The intensive,two-year program deals with thematerials of photography, historical filmprocesses, preservation and storage of

film and the socio-cultural context ofphotographs in the last 150 years.

Kodachrome TodayInterest in slide film and the homeslide projector started to wane from1980 onward. Strong competition fromFujifilm Velvia and Provia further

damaged Kodaks market share.Finally with the widespread use ofdigital cameras, Apple Aperture, AdobeLightroom, Photoshop Camera RAW,Kodak had to give in. Kodachromeproducts were gradually discontinued,and on June 22, 2009, Kodakannounced Kodachrome would nolonger be manufactured. Today,Kodachrome represents just a fractionof 1% of Kodaks total sales of still-picture films.

We have noted that Kodachromeneeds special processing. As stocks of

this film slowly dwindle, there is onlyone processing facility left, DwaynesPhoto(www.dwaynesphoto.com)in Kansas who have committed tocontinue to process Kodachrome filmsthrough the end of December 2010.

As part of a tribute to Kodachromefilm, Kodak will donate the last rolls ofthe film to the George Eastman House.Steve McCurry will shoot those lastrolls and the images will be donatedto the museum. Today the legacy ofthis great film lives on via internet sitessuch as the kodachromeproject.comand A Tribute to KODACHROME:

A Photography Icon, a great site onKodak.com.

Although Kodachrome has verydistinct characteristics and no filmwill give the exact same results,current users are encouraged to tryother Kodak films. Kodak (surprisingly)continues to bring other new filmproducts to market; see for example

Review: Kodak Ektar 100 Color Film,PHOTO Techniques, May/June 2009.

Kodachrome was more than just aslide filmthe images and messagescaptured on this medium will inform,

amaze and resonate with audiencesfor many years to come but ofcourse we will be looking at scannedversions of those masterpieces

Dr. Abhay Sharma and Paul Sergeant are

members of the Photographic Preservation

and Collections Management program at

Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, where Dr.

Sharma is Program Chair.

To ask a question or comment on this article,

visit our online Forum:

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phototechmag.com 41

INNOVATIONS:

The D-Roller

In an age of roll-feed printing paper, a method ofeffective print flattening is a critical concern. The

D-Roller is simple, fast, and it works. The D-Roller isan ingenious and effective way of taking the curl out of

prints. Its available in two sizes and works with mostpapers. The process is simple. First, unroll the D-Roller

plastic sheet from the weighted core; then place yourpaper on the sheet with the head of the curl facing up.

Re-roll the D-Roller and hold for about 60 seconds.

Holding it longer frequently causes the paper to curl inthe opposite direction. The hold time, however, does

increase as you get near the end of a paper core

where curling is more prominent, especially when usinga 2-inch core.

The D-Roller can be purchased from Shades of Paperat $249 for the 24" model and $289 for the 50" model.www.shadesofpaper.com

Image Rights Search Service

There are a number of products being developed

for the industry to insure the authenticity of aphotographic work and to help protect copyright.

One such product is offered by Image Rights

International, who has recently launched aservice targeting commercial photographers

individual collections of images.

Images are uploaded to Image Rights

International content files where an advanced

image search technology searches the web forimage matches. Photographers whose images

are matched are notified of possible violationsvia a weekly email report. The report gives the

URL for any matches for the images placed inthe Image Rights International database.

The service is inexpensive, ranging from a

package covering 250 images at $4.95 permonth to one for 1,000 images at $34.95 per

month. More info. at www.imagerights.com

Lensbaby Expands Optics

For those of us who upgraded to the Lensbaby Composeror Muse Optic Swap System (required), Lensbaby is now

expanding its image enhancement optics with a 12mm fisheyeand a 50mm soft focus. Company philosophy seems to be

moving from offering only soft-focus to adding creativeenhancements. The fisheye is a six-element multi-content

design at f/4 with aperture discs from /5.6 to f/22. Itfocuses from one inch to infinity. The 50mm soft focus is an

f/2 glass doublet with aperture rings for f/2.8 to f/22. The

cost of the fisheye is $149.95. The Soft Focus Optic is $89.95.www.lensbaby.com
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44/52


45/52

(Figure 1)

(Figure 1) The mixture of

incandescent and

daylight in this scene

threw off the automatic

white balance in the

digital photograph

(top), and its too cold

for my taste. Using

the black, white, and

gray eyedroppers as

described in the text, I

quickly generated the

Curves shown in Figure

2, which produced the

much better balancedphotograph at the

bottom of this illustration.

Above

phototechmag.com 43

Where to begin

Correction

Lets face it, if good color correc-tion (and, correspondingly, good tonecorrection) were easy, everyonewould be a great photographicprinter. There would be no needfor custom labs, professional print-ers, and the myriad craftspeople outthere whose business is convertingdecent photographs into more-than-decent prints. What Im trying to sayis that if you find color correctionan occasionally frustrating business,

that does not reflect ill upon you. Itonly makes you part of a very largecommunity that really cares aboutthe quality of its work and is alwayslooking to improve.

Good color correction requiresa minimum of a good eye and anunderstanding of basic tools, butsometimes cleverness is demanded.None of us ever stops improving ourcraft. Certainly not me. Theres onetrick in this article that I only cameup with in the last couple of years,

solving a problem that had beenvexing me for a lot longer than that.

Ctein

Made Easier

Color

Fine color printers have alwaysrelied upon tips, tricks, and tools. In

Documents

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