Richard Dickson Photography
The digital images posted don’t show the subtle tones of the final prints. It is difficult to show a true representation of how the final prints look either by scanning them or digitally photographing them. These are digital photos taken with a flash. Still not very good but will get some done in a studio geared for product shots.
I will be exhibiting prints from the series Rugged Beauty, taken on the South Downs (see post South Downs – Rugged Beauty…) at this years Art Wave Festival organised at locations around Lewes.
These prints have been created using a modified Victorian process, argyrotype, with hand coated paper and produces a fine, detailed print with a log tonal scale. It is an intensive, involved procedure but suits the subject and method I used to obtain and interpret the images.
Also showing works that have been selected for exhibitions in open calls internationally and at home, some listed in previous posts.
@artwavefestival
Argyrotype is a modified contact print process developed in Victorian times by the early experimenters of photography. This more recent version uses a slightly different chemical mix for longevity. All of these methods are based on hand coating suitable paper with a light sensitising solution, applying a negative to the surface and exposing to light then developing and fixing the final image.
The negatives I had for this series were a paper type from very old Polaroid film and never intended to be used for anything other than an instant print. Actually I like the negative image as it is.
So to get a workable, transparent negative I had to scan the non-transparent Polaroid one and from the digital file print this negative onto an acetate sheet. To obtain a version that can be used for the contact printing process requires much testing, calibration, and tweaking.
You have adjust the negatives for the process. There are many variables; exposure time, chemistry, temperature, humidity, acidity,paper. All of these can affect the final tone of the print. There are various tools to aid this procedure but it took over 20 test prints and negatives to arrive at a suitable one.
The stage of creating the print involves coating paper with the light sensitive iron/silver solution. Clamping the negative to this then exposing it to ultra-violet light. The chemistry is only sensitive to UV light which makes the process easier as the setting up can be done under soft light bulbs.
The paper is marked out to fit the negative and I mask the edges to provide a crisp edge. Sometimes a rough edge is used, emphasising the hand made nature but in this case with the framing in mind a cleaner one is better. The sensitising solution is applied using a glass rod. The paper is then left to dry. I mix my own solution from scratch. It’s like working in a laboratory, but then I studied chemistry at university level.
The dried, sensitised paper is now clamped together in a printing frame, in this case a plywood sheet covered with a piece of foam, then the paper and negative on top and finally a sheet of glass all clamped together with strong spring clips.
My UV exposure unit is just an old face-tanning lamp set in a box. The printing frame is placed over this and exposed to the light for the calculated time.
After exposure the image shows on the paper with a reddish brown tone. It is then washed for several minutes in acidified distilled water, rinsed again and then a fixing solution applied to clear any remaining unexposed silver halide particles.
Fixing immediately turns the reddish image to a darker brown. It then undergoes several rinses in water remove traces of any chemicals.
As the prints dry they undergo a further darkening and a more neutral tone shift which takes at least 24 hours to reach their final shade and density.
Framing is a very important part of the artwork. I always spend a lot of time working on dimensions and proportions, the colour of mat card, if used, to get the final result, according to the type of image to be presented.
And this is the final result. The image size for display is slightly small than I wanted as the paper size was unavailable but have now got the required paper.
If there is a material I can extract an image from I will try my hardest to do so. I obtained a few boxes of Polaroid sheet film that expired in 1982, no hope of the original chemicals working. However, it normally produces an interesting paper type negative, so with these ancient examples I experimented and found a method to develop exposed sheets using normal developer.
It works, and the negative having lived through many heating/cooling, dry/damp cycles in its life produced an image with some mottling and fine fibre marks. These ‘defects’ can give a scene a nuanced feeling or energy, unveiling a particular felt sense.
In late summer I did many walks along these hills with magnificent open views to sea or inland over the hedge-rowed fields of the farms below. I found the walks bucolic and peaceful as you wander into a space shared with sheep and cows grazing, calmly, contentedly. Still, the landscape has a harshness; the chalky soil, sometimes just bare chalk; rutted, pebbly pathways; the prickly gorse and windswept trees; the unbounded pasture and fields or craggy, chalk cliffs; the unsettling sense of exposure to the elements. From the first test exposure I took I felt that the images produced from this material would emphasise that stark, rugged beauty.
I think these would make interesting photopolymer intaglio prints so plan to work on a series.
I have had two works selected for exhibition in this years Manifest Gallery Magnitude Seven show, in Cincinnati USA, for small works. The show is of 27 works from 15 artists out of 352 entries from 101 artists. The exhibition is on from June 2nd to 30th.
I am especially happy with these two has they originated from the vintage glass plates I exposed 98 years after manufacture. One is a direct contact print of the plate via the argyrotype process (similar to all hand coated prints like platinum/palladium) and the other a photopolymer intaglio print mixing modern technology with old methods.
This is the first proper print made with this process. The mixing of inks gave the warmth of tone I was looking for. This is the image taken on a 98 year old glass plate.
This self portrait sums up the frustrations caused by the present situation. By some stroke of luck I managed to get the focus pretty spot on considering I was the only person involved.
The film was some old Agfa continuous tone duplicating film using my 4×5 camera.
I did a photopolymer intaglio printing course a year ago. Another involved process which I love. Again the final outcome can be quite different and will a suit certain negatives with a rich tonal range. You have to produce a positive image on a transparency which requires a good inkjet printer and I’m still struggling to source one since my last one packed up. I did however try one with a positive developed photo transparency but would need to experiment with developing and plate exposure.
First intaglio print. Of course I made it even harder by recovering and instant print negative then converting the scanned image to black & white. Not great quality but I can see the potential.
The digital positive was produced from this instant print recovered negative.
I am delighted that two works have been selected for this exhibition – LET THERE BE – opening on September 25th at Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati. The exhibition is a part of a series of five exhibits launching the gallery’s 17th season.
http://www.manifestgallery.org/about/schedule17.html
“For this exhibit 58 artists from 21 states and the countries of Armenia, Australia, England, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand submitted 247 works. Seventeen works by 12 artists from 8 states, and the countries of Armenia, England, and Italy were selected by a blind jury process for presentation in the gallery and the Manifest Exhibition Annual publication.”
These images were created from the reclaimed negative of instant print, peel-apart film (old Polaroid type). The negative portion is normally not re-usable and discarded, but if something has a semblance of an image on it I’ll use it somehow. The prints didn’t really work due to light fogging or poor processing, so I did the reclaiming some time later just as an exercise so was a bit sloppy, dismissed them and put them away.
Come lock down, sorting through my negs, I found them, scanned them and got a sort of funky, interesting image, with stains from the dried chemical goop, colour shifts, scratches and bleach marks. Shortly after, I received the late call extension for this exhibition and from the theme these images immediately came to mind.
It was hard work getting any sort of colour balance from the material when scanning but from the result felt that they were something special.
apparent failure + serendipitous events = positive outcome
LET THERE BE.
Photo-based Art About Tangibility
Lost
I love working with all photographic materials, often long past their expiry date. I acquired some old plates and one of the boxes was dated 1922.
With this box, my photographic brain somehow managed to estimate an exposure and development time with one test and the results are amazing for 98 year old film.
The garden fence provided a regular photographic feature during the lock down period with its subtle, weathered tones and texture.
Another lock down subject.
Dungeness is a favourite place; other worldly, eerie, technically a desert with a sense of beauty that brings. I have been a few times but want to spend some days there. There a many wrecks and dilapidated structures. In this case the ancient film adds another dimension to the aged wreck.