2018 - ongoing salt print, nature print, photogram 10"x8", 8"x10"
Nature Prints – using leaves that I paint with silver nitrate and the press between sheets of salted paper. The leaves are removed and the paper is exposed to UV light until the image appears. Each print is unique. I call this series “Herbarium”
“Architexture”, Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery, Brooklyn NY, November 2003 Alan Klotz Gallery New York NY, September 2005 Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati OH, January 2006 “New York City in Focus”, NYC Health & Hospitals, Manhattan, Bronx and Queens NY, October 2008
Collodion Wet-plate collodion photogram on stone, stand made of welded steel and rock - 3.5"x5" up to 8"x8" not including stand
The “Anthropocene” fossils are imaginary records of flora and fauna that might be found in a future geologic era. They are evidence of what was and hints of how it might have been extinguished. Just as the real fossils found by humans fill in the story of what lived and how it died in earlier geologic era, these created fossils are evidence what what might be becoming extinct as a result of human activity.
Wet-Plate Collodion on Laser etched Trophy Aluminum (Tintype) 6"x8" or 6"x6" or 4.25"x5.5"
After 35 years of making photograms I felt challenged to make something new, but it seemed I had photogrammed every kind of object. I decided to create my own objects to make photograms with - and the best place to start is with simple geometric shapes. I 3D printed geometric shapes which were placed on the wet tintype and exposed to light. Before making the photogram I laser-etched photographs of the geometric objects onto the aluminum to achieve a layered effect. I was able to produce new imagery of timeless shapes using 19th century analog process combined with 21st century laser etching and 3D printing.
Cibachrome/Ilfochrome prints 10"x8" up to 20"x20" (edition 1 of 1),Wet Plate Collodion glass plates 4"x4" up to 4.25"x5.5" (edition 1 of 1) Limited edition salt prints, silver gelatin prints, All are available as limited edition large format archival inkjet prints up to about 60"x40"
Photograms of ferns were among the earliest images made at the beginning of photography. These photograms are made either onto collodion wet-plate glass plates or Cibachrome/Ilfochrome color photographic paper. Mine date from the early 2000's, not the 1830's!
wet-plate collodion photogram tintypes on trophy aluminum and powder coated titanium 5.5"x4.25" up to 10"x8"
Using only the most basic elements of photography - light, lenses and silver nitrate - Photonic Drawings are photogram ambrotypes made on either trophy aluminum or on powder coated titanium. Made using the historic wet-plate collodion chemistry on modern substrates, the Photonic Drawings are the simplest interaction of light and lenses and sensitized metal.
Installation includes 21 3D printed PLA Resin Sculptures ranging from 13.5" to 8.5" tall, 1 Bronze sculpture approx. 16" tall, 180 14"x11" Silver Gelatin Photograms
Ascent explores this evolution from today’s analog man to tomorrow’s digital man. As today's environment of digital interrelationships evolves from history’s analog world man continues to change and adapt. In my Ascent project, I utilize historic analog photographic processes and cutting edge digital modeling technologies to create 3 dimensional digital sculptures from 2 dimensional analog photograms. The technologies evolve similarly to the evolution of man.
Digital prints of the Camera Obscura images of New York City
Together Charles Schwartz and Bill Westheimer explored the city of New York on the upper east side of Manhattan using a Camera Obscura. These pictures reveal the city through the unique viewpoint of the camera obscura and record the images digitally. The Camera Obscura's location is fixed, yet it provides an ever changing view of the city's activities, architecture and landscape. The images use the pre-photographic camera obscura technology combined with post-photographic digital capture to create a timeless view of New York. The digital camera instantly captures the ephemeral projections in a clear crisp reality that transports the viewer into other worlds.
What we’ve been doing…. Lisa and I presented our work for the Peters Valley Artist Talk Series on May 5th, 2021. I love to talk about my art but talking about myself is excruciating. It was a wonderful opportunity to explain how my various projects relate to each other and fit into the context of …
I was asked to do a couple of hand portraits to raise money for a worthy cause: Write on Sports – an organization that teaches inner city kids to write by writing news articles about sports. Back in 2005 I photographed about 100 people for my MANUAL Project. But I hadn’t done any “hand portraits” …
When I read the shocking news this week that drone maker DJI was buying Hasselblad the venerable camera maker it brought back memories. Not just my unpleasant memories of owning a Hasselblad 500ELM and a few lenses. I loved the image quality but I detested how complex it was to use the camera and how …
How in the hell did I do that? Sometimes when I look back at an older photogram or print that I made I wonder how I got an effect or what kind of process I was using. Fortunately I have my own personal time machine. It works some of the time. It is pretty simple. …
A recipe for a Silver Sunbeam – A glimpse at how I made a 21st century edition of the classic 19th century book of photographic techniques. John Towler’s 1864 “Silver Sunbeam” was a revolutionary book that shared recipes for making those very new and magical things called photographs. The PDF of the 1864 edition The …
It is a cliché but true… “If you can remember the Sixties you weren’t there.” I can’t remember much of that era but I was there. When I was in high school and before I was old enough to drive (16 was the legal driving age in Ohio back then) Johnathan Crawford, one of my …
When I was little we used to “play war” which meant the neighborhood kids would roam the neighborhood with fake guns and hide behind bushes and sheds to surprise ambush their friends shouting “Bombs away!” or “Bang!” or “Boom: you’re dead!” That was the 1950’s and 60’s when the true war fears had caused the …
Assignment: get a bunch of drugs and make a picture. Well, not exactly like you are thinking. One of my favorite clients, Nancy Etheredge at E.P. Dutton Publishing hired me to do a cover photogram for a hard bound book “Intoxication – Life in Pursuit of Artificial Paradise” by Ronald K. Siegel, Ph D. Sounded …
Long ago and far away, there was a time and a place where I spent my youth – in the darkroom. My commercial career began in the darkroom doing what most of us can do today in our sleep using Photoshop. They were complex layered images with many elements of varying sizes shot separately on …
Artist Eric William Carroll’s eulogy for the darkroom of our memories is a wonderful installation of photograms made of the tools from that mostly bygone era. Looking at the installation you can almost smell the stop bath. On display at SF Camerawork May 4 until June 30, 2012 with an opening reception May 11th, 5-8 …