Depth of Spirit
December 1, 2019. This will be my first blog post on my new, and I hope improved, website. My goal is to write at least monthly about topics that are important to me in photography, and hopefully shed some light and spark discussion. By way of introduction, I began my photographic career while still in art school. I was taking courses that would, hopefully, prepare me for a career in graphic design and commercial art. At that time it was called simply commercial art, meaning that we would do art of literally anything a client wanted whether it was an illustration for a new and improved toilet seat (that one was a challenge) or a new Porsche, or even an illustration for a movie poster. With the tools available at the time, usually tempera paint or gauche on an illustration board, and always on a very tight deadline we created paintings and illustrations to tell the clients story. While I was in art school, as a required class, I took a course in basic photography. Of course, at that time, it was done using film and photographic paper in a wet photography darkroom. When I saw the first photograph emerge on that piece of Kodak Medalist single weight fiber based paper under the soft glow of a safelight I was hooked. No longer would I be a board (bored) illustrator. I would make photographs! And since that time I have made photographs.
The term “Depth of Spirit” came from a photographer I used to know (since passed to his reward). He did the most penetrating portraits I have ever seen. He said that a truly great photograph came out of the depth of the human spirit, and it was more important to have “depth of spirit” than it was to have depth of field. I believe he was right. Although I do want to have great depth of field as well.
The Darkroom, that's where the magic happens!
My workspace
This is my enlarging station, and frankly, where the magic happens. The question invariably comes up among denizens of the darkroom, what enlarger do you use. That's a good question. At this time I am using an old ZBE Starlite 55 head on a Super Omega D-5 chassis.
My Darkroom
Starlite enlargers were made for commercial use in high production photo labs. The enlarging head, lamphouse, has 1,000 watts of light output. It has a computer controlled key pad so that the light output is consistently the same quantity and quality over the life of the bulbs. Contrast filtration can be dialed in using the key pad as well as the exposure time and light output. I purchased this years ago when I printed a lot of Ilfochrome, which is no longer made. It gave me the advantage of two stops more light output, from a more effcient light box, than the Super Chromega DII (EII actually) that I had been using. My present day wish list is either to get two more of these lamphouses, or to convert my other two Omega chassis to an LED light source.
After the paper is is exposed using the enlarger it is then moved to a sink line for processing. The print developer is the first tray on the left side, then then the stop bath, fixer and the last trays, at the far end, are a water bath, or holding tray where the photographs are kept until it's time to dry them for storage until a fair amount of them are accumulated. When that happens the prints are re-wet, refixed, toned - if toning is to be done, given a final wash and then dried for dry mounting on acid free, lignin free archival board and prepared for presentation.
My photographs are hardly ever representative of objective reality, but they are representative of my reality, my artistic interpretation of the scene. In this series I will talk about why I made a particular photograph, what was done in the camera and then what I did in the darkroom to realize the finished image, or at least the image as it is right now, realizing that I hardly ever reach a final conclusion on a photograph, especially when i am working on it in my wet, traditional, darkroom.
The original exposure for this photograph, "Forest over McDonald Creek" was made when I was in Glacier National Park, Montana in September of 2018. When we arrived in Kalisell, Montana a large portion of Glacier National Park was closed due to fires that were burning out of control. The worst of it was near McDonald Creek on the western side of the park. Parts of the lower Going to the Sun Road were accessible but not all the way through to Logan Pass and the eastern parts of the park. When Going to the Sun Road was opened I then had full access to McDonald Creek. I parked my truck and was attempting to walk along McDonald Creek, I say attempting because it's a very difficult, and in places impossible, hike, when I came to this spot. I say impossible because there are numerous places that would require a difficult climb, or the ability to walk on water, which I do not possess.
As I moved back up the embankment the pattern of the water and rocks in front of me began to make sense and I was able to build what I thought would be a nice composition incorporating the rocks in the creek (really it's a pretty substantial river, but they call it a creek, so who am I to argue?!) and the forest on the far side of the creek, river, whatever it's called.
The Original Negative
Here is a scan of the original negative. there are a couple of problems with it. As you may note it is a little flat, purposeful, and there is overall fogging from some source. I don't know the source of the fogging for certain, could be that it was ten years outdated. And even though the film was kept frozen, as this had been, (a chest freezer kept in its original packaging) I believe that fogging will occur over a long period of time. However, there is detail down into the darkest areas and tone separation is carried into the most brilliant highlights. So the negative is very printable.
raw negativeThe Proper Proof
This is a contact print, or proper proof, of the original negative. Again, as you can see it is very low in contrast. I am hardly ever interested in getting a proper proof print that is beautiful. I want one that is low in contrast and will tell me if I have printable detail in the shadow areas as well as good separation of tones in the highlights. Looking at this proof print there is easily discernible detail into all bu the very darkest areas in the center right area of the print. This simple exercise, making a proper proof, can give you a lot of information as well as the ability to begin the decision making for what will be the finished print, and the first step in the actual evolution of the image.
proper proof
Cropping
For me the next step in the process witll be to determine what I think will be the cropping of the image. I will work to figure out what I will include in the refined printing of the image, and more importantly, what I will leave out. I try to be pretty unmerciful at this point, cutting out what I think will be of little, or no, consequence. Ideally I would do this in the camera at the time of the actual film exposure, but sometimes getting the exact cropping you would like in the camera is extremely difficult or even impossible. In this case I was as close as I could get without using a much lower camera angle or standing in rapidly moving and icey cold water. Neither scenario was appealing to me at the moment. I also would have liked to use a slightly longer focal length lens, but that would crop out material that I thought was important. So I made the compromise that I felt I could live with and be happy about.
cropping
Determining Contrast
The next step for me is to begin determining what the best exposure time is for the image overall and to determine what level of contrast is pleasing to me overall. In this case my basic exposure was four segments of 4 seconds each with my contrast filter set at 1/2, or .5 followed by 2 segments of 4 seconds each with the contrast set at 5. (incidentally, I hardly ever print at a set contrast number like a 2.5 or three. Typically I will expose the paper with a lower contrast filter in place like a 0 or .5 followed by an exposure with very high contrast light like a number 5. Doing this allows me to control overall and local contrast to a very precise degree). There is detail showing in the very darkest areas as well as detail in the very delicate highlight areas
setting contrast
Refining the image
Now I will begin the process of determing which areas I want to be lighter, darker, which areas will have more contrast and where I may want to decrease contrast. Over the years of my career I have developed a number of notating what I want to do in a particular area of an image, where I want to burn, dodge etc. The jagged line across the print means that I want to burn the area below using a card in a short up and down motion. If I wanted a broad feathering of the burn there would be up and down arrows in the area outside the burn. In this instance I wanted to burn the area belown the shoreline but not into the forest on the other side. It was burned with a low contrast filter (# 1/2) because the low contrast filter will have more effect on the highlights than on the dark areas.
refining the image
More refinement
Next, I want to begin the process of bringing the value down of areas on the edges of the print where I do not want the central amount of attention to go. I burned the areas outlined, with a low contrast filter since they were competing for attention with the areas of the water, where I want the attention to go. The reason to use a lower contrast filter here is that the low contrast filter will have more effect on the highlights than on the shadows, so I can burn this area to take the mid-tone and lighter toned area down in value while still holding detail and separation in the very darkest areas of the print. I do want those areas dark. I do not want them black with no detail.
This is a caption
Next Step
While the area previously burned came down satisfactorily the area to the left is still too light, especially the top of the boulder, by a huge amount so additional burns are indicated, again using a very soft contrast filter. Remember, that whichi is lightest, brightest, has the most contrast or is the most sharply focused will always attract the most attention. Using that principle we can begin to direct the viewers attention through the photograph. That way they will be able to experience what we experience and well will be able to communicate with them what our emotions were at the time of the creation of the initial exposure. What it was that prompted you to make the photograph in the first place
next stepGallery 1
More Refinements..
Looking at the results so far I am pleased. However, the rock jutting into the river in the lower left corner bothers me. I want a strong point there leading into the photograph, however it's so light, and low in contrast, that it really doesn't compel and grab for my attention. To solve that issue I burned it using a high contrast filter to give it more substance and to begin to draw the eye into the photograph.
more refinement
Forest over McDonald Creek
Here is a representation of what I had in mind as I made the initial exposure and then began seeing where the finished image might take me. I try to have an idea in the field of what I want, but then when the film is processed and I get it into the printing process I try to not let what I saw in the field influence me too much. Often, most often, the preconceived notion of what I thought I wanted when I exposed the film goes out the window and I end up with a print that is actually quite different than what I conceived of in the field. I usually like that iteration much better. The printing of this will evolve over time, and what I do with it right now will undoubtedly look a lot different when I print the negative again a year, or five years from now. As you can see, this is not a one and done proposition. The actual rendering of the image should change, and will change, as my vision and technique change. It's one of the beauties of the artistic process.
Forest over McDonald Creek, Montana
December 20, 2019
Compositionally Correct
When I began my career in art many years ago some of the most common things taught to us were the "rules of composition". As if art has any hard and fast rules that must be obeyed. And yet there they were, as immutable as the traffic laws all of us are expected to abide by. But exactly where did those rules come from? And who said that there were rules at all and that they must be obeyed always, and if I choose to no obey them will I get a ticket for my refusal to adhere? No one wanted to find out because breaking those rules, especially in color and composition class (an actual class I was required to complete for my degree) because breaking one or more of them would surely result in a marked down grade.
Composition is a way of seeing, strong or weak according to the individual
"No one can teach another to see, if composition could be taught anyone might become an artist. Composition is a way of seeing, strong or weak, according to the individual. Rules of composition are derived from the work of great masters and used by weak imitators to create nothing." Edward Weston
Liquid in Motion
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"There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about." Helen Frankenthaler
So, if there are no rules of composition, how do we build effective compositions? Compositions that tell the story we want to tell? That will be covered in the next iteration of this blog. Thanks for reading, come back soon, and have a very Merry Christmas!
I was selected to serve as Artist in Residence at Bighorn National Forest. Here is a video from that experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf9rJVqofAY
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