30 Unique And Interesting Photos To Give You A New Perspective On Photography, As Shared On This FB Group

A year ago, I made my first iron-process print, from a digital negative of an image of especial importance for me. A year and many hundreds of prints later, I circled back and reprinted it this week. I still have work to do, but I am reaching a point where I feel as if I am reaching the process's potential. This print: Walking Piper (2021), a platinum-toned kallitype printed onto Revere Platinum paper

Yesterday, I made the sterling silver filigree setting at my jeweler's bench and carefully set the ambrotype.
Making these tiny collodion images is a labor of love. It takes a certain intensity of work in a category all it's own, which is a challenge to maintain. For me, it's a much more difficult process to capture images on small glass pieces or stone, rather than, for example, a larger 4x6" plate. Here are the reasons why for those who have an interest.
First, it's a challenge to hold on to the tiny piece while pouring on the collodion and not getting my fingers on the poured substance, as many of you in this group know collodion in it's delicate form, while wet. Each finger print is much more consequential on a smaller ambrotype vs. a larger image. Secondly, focusing in camera onto such a tiny surface takes a lot of time and patience and it's a much easier task when working with a larger, regular sized image. The focus really counts on a tiny image. Thirdly, pouring developer on a small surface, many times inhibits the developer flow, as it's optimal to have the liquid flow around the plate for 9 to 12 seconds. Larger plates allow for easier movement of the larger amount of liquid.
I hope this is interesting information for some of you photographer geeks like me. 🙂
I've cut down on making these little collodion beauties, not because I don't enjoy it, but because it truly takes a lot of intense focus, time and effort.

Using traditional darkroom processes with minimal equipment, British artist Mike Jackson creates the illusion of geometric sculptures using just controlled light. Often the work is revealed to the artist himself only upon its last stage of development, requiring Jackson to apply the practice of afterimage memory, relying on drawn guidelines for accurate placement. Jackson creates a distinct camera-less aesthetic by viewing silver gelatin paper as two- dimensional clay shaped by directed light or as a “bell jar ready to be filled” with emotional responses to subjects. His sculptures of light merge the real with the fantastical, pushing photography into a world of three-dimensionality

Top row, L-R: Blackberry, hibiscus, kale
2nd row: Chili arbol, tumeric with borax, potassium bichromate print
3rd row: Balsamic vinegar, chili guajillo, blueberry
4th row: Chili pasilla, mustard greens, cayenne pepper

Lots of trial and error, lots of learning, with much more to learn. 8x10 dryplate negative, gelatin sized kosher salt, gold toned, renaissance waxed.

Here is iron toned Silver Print I made in the 1990s on conventional photographic paper. They are not cyanotypes, as they start out as silver black and white images and are toned afterwards. AS FOLLOWS: The process requires the silver gelatin image (on paper or film) to have a pre soak in water for several minutes. The older the sample the longer the pre soak. Mix 5 grams of potassium ferricyanide and 5 grams ferric ammonium citrate in 500 ml distilled water. Then add 10 ml glacial acetic acid and mix thoroughly. Leave the print to be toned in this solution by inspection. It will tone the lighter areas first and then finally the higher density silver. Wash for no less than 10 minutes

A true "contact"printing paper, it requires a lot of light for darkroom exposure. I take the lens out of my enlarger and expose through a paper negative, using daylight LED bulb x 8 minutes! Dry-exposure lumen yields these rich orange-reds. Wet-exposure gives greens!

I Separated The Colors And Made The Negative For The Blacks. 🧪bostick And Sullivan Na2 Digitial 📄hahnemuhle Platinum And Arches

Came upon this black and white contact print the other day. I took it in our skylight studio that was built in a corner of the George School greenhouse, back in Pennsylvania. She didn’t want to sit for the exposure but I’m glad she did. Has never been exhibited, just a keepsake for me. The hands are bright white because the latex gloves she was wearing were light blue which photographs white in early photographic processes