Shadows and Stains

I’ve been thinking about the state of photography–it’s pursuit, the business of it, the idea of selling an image, the artist’s viewpoint, the MFA school of imagery, the death of the wet darkroom, iconic photography, toy cameras and digital cameras, edition and print sizes, old rules, new challenges—all the currents we photographers have to navigate in today’s photographic waters. As a darkroom printer, I have found the meditative and creative state that I experience so important to my work—it’s where I make my mark, it’s where much of the thinking about the image takes place. Losing that experience as part of the process is not an option I want to face.

This series touches upon the brave new world of photography and takes a jab at what feels familiar. I want to explore the idea of a photograph, what it captures and what memory it creates.

Shot with a toy camera (the Diana), I set out to deconstruct images, overlap or cut my negatives, add thoughts that never get said out loud, add text and texture through traditional methods in the darkroom, add washes of oil paint to the surface, and discard the idea of making the perfect print. I want the shadows and stains of my photographic fingerprints as evidence that I was there, in a dark room.