New images

I thought I’d post a few new images that I’ve been working on down here in Tucson. I was somewhat reluctant to make them public without some sort of explanation, but my desire for feedback has overshadowed said reluctance. So I have decided to compromise and precede them with a brief explanation.

The prints are 30″ in the longest dimension, and range from 21″ to 24″ in the other. They are cyanotypes toned in tannic acid, varnished, and tiled together to make the whole image. I’m attempting to take a more meditative approach to capturing scenes that are often overlooked. I want to encourage a slow, intimate dialog between the audience and these spaces through the labor-intensive process of creating the collages. The images were broken up into pieces to provide a more interactive experience for the viewer.

New Condos

This month, not only am I selling inkjet prints, but I am also offering an edition of 10 cyanotype over platinum/palladium prints made from an 8×10 negative for $40 each!

Archival inkjet print

Choose a print size:

8″x10″ Print $20.00 20″x24″ Print $50.00

 
 

Cyanotype over platinum/palladium print made from 8×10 negative, $40

Or, click here to download the 4″x5″ @ 300 dpi TIFF.

New Condos by Camden Hardy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Mordancage with 8×10 negatives

Fully decked out with gloves, respirator, and apron, I spent my Saturday morning playing with the mordancage process. While I had subjected many a print to the toxic and unpredictable bleach/etch process, I had never done it to a negative before. Needless to say, this was a learning experience for me.

I learned that the etch process happens very quickly with film. I learned that if the veiling happens while still in the mordancage solution, it’s been in there too long; say goodbye to the emulsion. I learned not to lay the negatives out on newspaper to dry, and to keep them the hell away from an open window on a windy day. I also learned that I should probably wear safety glasses next time.

Despite the unexpected challenges, I did manage to come up with some decent results. I was surprised at how the images looked in positive form: the images that looked good on the negative looked terrible as a positive and vice versa. Here are scans of all of the negatives after the mordancage. Some are more successful than others.

The Great Experiment, part 3

Here’s the latest installment of this wonderful little experiment. The black & white image was taken with the 8×10, but I cheated a bit with the color and used my DSLR because I didn’t want to wait for the color film to be processed. I included the black border to simulate the 4×5 full frame, which is what I’d like to stick with.

I’m playing around with different focal lengths/perspective/angles and offsetting objects. The repetition of the concrete blob in the bottom image is successful to me, but I’m not so sure about the house in the middle. I think I need to push the offsetting a bit more.

I think I’d like to actually enter the spaces to capture the color images next time, rather than photographing from the same spot…

The great experiment, part 2

The experiment continues. With the exception of a light leak in my reducing back, I’m fairly satisfied with how it’s going.

I got my first sheets of color 4×5 film processed and spent some time today scanning it and digitally layering the images on top of the 8×10 scans. I tried to match the color of the 8×10 images with that of the cyanotype collages to see what a color image would look like on top of them. I made one image with the full frame shape of the 4×5 and one without; I’m leaning toward keeping the full frame, as I think it helps show that the images are in fact made from different negatives.

Here are a few of the results of my explorations this afternoon. They’re nowhere near resolved, but I think I’m on the right track. As always, comments/questions/suggestions are very welcome.

The great experiment, part 1

© Camden Hardy 2009

I’ve been thinking a lot about which direction to take my large format work, and so have begun what I’m calling the great experiment (I’m only just now seeing the irony of photographing a construction site for this). My plan is to dive back into collage and continue where I left off with my short-lived roadside project (below).

© Camden Hardy 2007

I’d like to take this process a step further. To this end I’m going to add an element of color photography to the collage, although I’m not sure how yet. Enter the experiment. I’ll be posting iterations of the work as it develops; feedback is very much appreciated throughout.

New lens, crappy film

Here are the first images taken with my new 240mm lens on the 8×10. They’ll be going into a new body of work about suburban spaces and how we fill them.

The lens performed beautifully; the film, however, did not. No more Efke for me.

Chromoskedasic

I went into the lab to get some platinum/palladium prints done on Saturday. I ended up joining the little chromoskedasic party that was going on instead. I only ended up with one print I’m happy with, so here it is. Everything else dried down into a muddy, colorless mess.

Not sure about this Efke film…

I bought a box of Efke 100 8×10 film on Steve Anchell’s recommendation. These images were going to be a part of my cyano/pt/pd project, but I can’t seem to get a dense enough negative with this film. I’m beginning to wonder if it can even get dense enough for pt/pd…