July 2006
— New Developments
— Members' Current & Upcoming Shows
— Members' Workshops
— IN FOCUS with Patrick Kolb
— Special Offers
“Photography as a creative expression must be seeing ‘plus.’ Seeing alone could be factual recording. The ‘plus’ is the basis of all arguments on ‘what is art.’ Photographic seeing is done with creative imagination so that a transformation occurs from things seen to things known.” This passage from a letter written to Ansel Adams by Edward Weston on January 28, 1932, long before most of us were born, is still relevant today in any discussion of fine art photography.
In the Workshop section, please take special note of a workshop by John Wimberley on the subject of photographic seeing. John’s approach, as well as that of prior masters, is that seeing what is in front of the camera actually starts with what is behind the camera. This month’s IN FOCUS article features photographer Patrick Kolb, a landscape photographer who strives to see the ordinary landscape in a very personal way. His contact prints seem to take on a life of their own. A craftsman of fine prints, he stresses the importance of the print and what its potential can be.
We have just learned that our own John Wimberley has been interviewed for an article in View Camera Magazine on pyro staining developers. He will be joined by Sandy King, Jay deFehr, and Gordon Hutchings. Look for the article and one of John’s images in the Sept/Oct issue.
To the left is is Linda Elvira Piedra's "Bell Flower," one of the images you’ll find in our store. Because we understand the difficulty of seeing the true beauty of a contact print from a scanned image on your computer, we offer an unconditional guarantee. If you are not satisfied with any photograph you have purchased from the online store, you can return it for a refund.
We currently have over 350 photographs available for your inspection; just click on the link below to quickly and easily view our catalog. The store is a secure site that allows you to purchase using your credit card or PayPal account.
Gerhard Bock has been experimenting with making platinum/palladium prints on silk. The first set of images—portraits made in Mexico in 2005—are approximately 5x7" on 6x8" pieces of silk. (See “El Viejo” at right, one of this new series.)
The platinum/palladium sensitizer is brushed onto the silk, which is then hung up and dried for about 20 minutes. The negative is laid on top of the silk and exposed to UV light in a contact-printing frame. (This is the same procedure as for any platinum print). Wet processing--developing, clearing and washing--has to be done very carefully in individual trays. The finished silk print is sewn to a 9x9" sheet of handmade cold-press paper from India, then framed in a black 9x9" shadowbox frame. This three-dimensional presentation sets off the beauty of the silk very effectively.
Gerhard is very enthusiastic about the results he's been able to achieve so far and he will continue to experiment with both portraits and landscapes. If you're interested in purchasing one of these pieces, please contact Gerhard by email.
The Camerawork Gallery in Portland, Oregon, will feature Patrick Kolb’s Azo prints from July 22 to August 18. The gallery is located on the Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital campus in Peterson Hall, 2255 NW Northrup Street in Portland. The gallery's regular hours are 9AM-5PM Monday through Friday and 1-5 PM Saturday. An opening reception is set for Sunday, July 23, from 1 to 4 PM.
John Wimberley
“Sight and Insight—A Workshop on Seeing in Photography,” is being offered by John Wimberley October 6-8, 2006. This workshop, under the aegis of Portland Photographers Forum, is open to all photographers, regardless of format and whether film or digital. Tuition is $250 and the class is limited to 10 students. To sign up, please contact Robert Brummitt at (503) 614-0161, or e-mail robert8x10@hotmail.com.
As I have progressed through different stages in my photography, it seems that the landscape is the one constant I keep returning to. It is in the landscape that I seem to feel or care about the subject the most. Maybe it is in the landscape that the subject speaks the loudest to me. As with many artists, a theme emerges and a style develops. I try to take a very straightforward approach to photography in equipment, in technique, and in style.
The whole process of photography with light-sensitive materials, chemicals, and processes is just magic to me. I work to make the best print I can make, and I still find the whole process to be a little mysterious and a great joy to work with. I will do enough testing of film, developers, and paper to understand what qualities certain materials have, but the true test is what the final print looks like. The biggest improvement in my photographic seeing and printmaking has come through making contact prints and using the large format cameras that go with the process.
Technical Notes
On a visit to Shore Acres State Park on the Oregon Coast in May, I was lucky enough to have sunny weather and a full day to photograph. After being greeted on several trips there with wind, rain and high tides, this day was a gift. This area offers so much, the hard part is deciding what to eliminate rather than what to include. With this print above, I was trying to accentuate the foreground and capture the flow of the eroded sandstone formations. I chose a 9½” lens, tipping the camera down and tilting the back away to extend the focus plane. I then concentrated on framing the two lower corners of the print. After that, I had the experience of seeing the final print right on the ground glass, and I knew I had one of those gifts from the landscape. The exposure was straightforward with normal processing and printing on Azo grade 2.
This is one of my favorite places to photograph and I would be happy to answer any questions about the park or the area in general.
To read more about Patrick Kolb, click here.
To see more of his current work, click here.
In June, Guild workshop-team members Patrick Kolb and Ray Bidegain were back in the classroom together again. This time they served as assistants to master photographer Martha Casanave at her workshop on pinhole photography and cyanotype printing, sponsored by Portland Photographers Forum.
“We spent three days helping the students work on the various projects Casanave presented during the workshop, with our main goal being to streamline the basic process and allow the students more time to create images,” Ray said. “Because neither Patrick nor I had ever done pinhole photography, it was fun to learn something new and to watch the students explore lens-less photography.” Ray and Patrick continue to work on plans for co-teaching photography workshops in the future. Look for details in the Contact Printers Guild newsletters.
To see Ray’s special-offer print for July, click here.
To see Patrick’s B&W Magazine special-offer photo, click here.
Special-Offer Prints by Guild Members
Please have a look at this issue's special-offer prints on our website.