Alternative Process!

I love the idea of creating something with your hands. When it comes to art, I much prefer working hands on rather than on the computer. With photography, working in the darkroom is like therapy for me. No matter how stressed or frustrated I am I can go and spend hours manipulating images, mixing different chemicals and changing exposure times all in the name of coming up with the perfect print. I don't get this feeling as much when I work on the computer.

Though I use my digital camera the most, my heart and passion still lay primarily with film and working with raw materials. Not to say that working on the computer is easy, it is a lot of work and still takes a certain amount of talent, but hand made prints capture something more for me.

I have been looking into different digital transfer methods using products like Lasertran and InkAid. These would allow me to still shoot in digital, yet I would also get to work with the images hands on.

Here are a few Van Dyke and Gum prints I have made. These photos hardly capture the raw texture of the paper.

The above Gum Prints were made using negatives given to me by my grandpa. That's actually him as a young boy on his farm in Kansas. The negatives were from the late 40's to the early 50's.