Polaroid Image Transfers

I am going back almost 20 years with this post. When I opened my first studio in Hotel Congress in Tucson, I offered taking polaroid image transfers, 3 for $25. Thing was, I kept the one I wanted and the customer got the two remaining. Everyone was happy because typically all three came out well, and I got one to keep for my portfolio.

I used a Noba studio camera with a 300 mm Heliar lens with Packard Shutter. I used type #59 polaroid film and did direct warm transfers on the back of an 8x10 lighbox which provided heat. Here are two of my sample works...

Aux Trois Mailletz in Paris

Near Notre Dame in Paris, is a Cabaret/Piano Bar/Restaurant called Aux Trois Mailletz. I had been there a few times having met the owner Jacques, and asked him if I could photograph with my 8x10 camera and make platinum prints. He would get copies of any good images.

I photographed on two occasions. One image, called the 'Song of Paris' was a double exposure of 1/4 second of a singer, with a double exposure of a panorama from the top of Monmartre. I took 12 shots in the club, and used 6 to double expose. One worked perfectly.

The second image is also a double exposure of two singers. Each one was a seperate exposure of 1/4 second, and they matched up as if they were singing together.

Both images were printed with platinum and palladium metal salts on Cranes ecru paper S116,

Timelapse in Montmartre

Rue Au Lapin:

Photographed with an 8x10 following an evening rain, I am attaching a straight platinum print, and one where I made a contact positive with ortho film and used cyanotype to fill in all highlights, and then a full coating of black gum bichromate to lower the intensity of the blue. All three versions are here....platinum, platinum with cyanotype and platinum with cyanotype and gum bichromate.

The single streak starting at the top center of the image is a motorcyclist I was talking with by cell phone, and just as I started the timelapse, asked him to race down the hill with his front light on.

The Louvre in Photopolymer

Three years ago I attempted to photograph at the Louvre with my 8x10 at night. Unfortunately for me, the security police at the courtyard in front of the pyramid informed me tripods were not allowed. So, no images taken. A year later, staying in the area around the Grand Palais, I pulled my trolly carrying the 8x10 and handcarried my Ries tripod the 1/2 mile back to the Louvre and Tulieries complex. Luckily, there were no police on this night, and I had two hours at night to shoot at will. I am posting two images printed with engraved photopolymer plates on Rives BFK paper. Persistance pays off.

A photopolymer gravure from a color digital image

As a photographer shooting film and processing using platinum metal salts and photogravure, it is only in this last six months that I traveled abroad with my 8x10 and a small canon G10 digital. I did capture one image of a gargoyle 200 steps up Notre Dame de Paris (impossible to do with my 8/10). I then used PS to transform the color digital image to black and white using color channels, printed a transparency on pictorico film, made a photopolymer plate, and printed it in gravure using carbon black printers ink. Enclosed is the positive image produced.

Upon returning from Istanbul for a public health congress, a copy of the May Royal Photographic Society Journal was on my desk. I had met the publisher of the Journal in Arles, France at the Recontres d'Arles during portfolio reviews. The cover was my first stage 'Day for Night' photopolymer gravure. The article and cover can be seen at:

http://www.garyauerbach.com/photo/articles/index_2.php

MMT MMTO

Working Digital with Platinum

I have been taking a digital photography class at Pima College. In one of the first projects I did was scan an 11x14 platinum print of a telescope I had photographed in 1997 and then again in 2003, and used the ability to de-saturate color from a portion of the building. It changed the look, and impact.

Its January 19th, and Barack Obama will be inaugurated tomorrow as the 44th president of the

United States. The days preceding have been filled with hundreds of thousand persons between the Lincoln Monument and the Capital.

In 1999 I photographed a number of memorial areas around Washington DC. I had use of my tripods inside these monolith structures, whereas after 2001, this access ceased for large format photographers like me.

This is a 5 second exposure of Lincolns statue. School children were congregated in front of me.

I also photographed inside the Jefferson Memorial, with my friend Medhat Alattar reading from the opposite wall. Also 5 second exposure.

Restoration materials are visible in tops of columns. All was being restored for the 2000 year celebration.

To make the platinum photograph, its easy to learn!

Contrary to what some people say, making a platinum photograph is not very difficult. It was done in the 1880's with the lowest of technologies. And it is still done in a similar way today. But it does require a camera, a photograph, an enlarged negative that can be done at any repro house, some simple chemicals, and the sun. The best part of the platinum photograph is its look, and its permanence. So, if you only make one platinum print, of yourself, you will have a photograph that will last as long as any of your art, and, if you have museum collections, it is a perfect companion for your work.

So just let me know if you want to go down that road, and I will work with each of you to guide you along. You will end up with a very satisfying result. Best wishes, Gary

We Walk in Beauty

This is a photographic project of mine which I initiated in 1992, to photograph Native American people. It started off as just an anecdotal group of photographs, with one, then two, then five or six. I realized I was establishing a unique collection of work. Opportunities for good photographs taken with my 8x10 or 11x14 camera came along infrequently. Continuing to look for those serendipitous moments, the collection of images continued to build each year. After five years, I had about 20-25 images. After 10 years I had 50-60 images. I kept going. Following a fortuitous meeting with the archivist from the Smithsonian, I came to know they were interested in my work. Two years later, they asked me if I would consider donating my work to their museum. I agreed, and they responded that I should go back to all my subjects and collect their words. I came up with five questions and sent it to 26 subjects. After two years, all had returned the interviews filled out. I transcribed them exactly with no editing, and decided to publish the book, We Walk in Beauty, with 44 reproductions of platinum photographs and 26 interviews. Sometimes, something that starts out small, works into something larger and more important. The book can be seen at http://www.wewalkinbeauty.com/ in its entirety. After I sold all 1000 books I published, I decided to put it on the Internet for the world to see.

Photographing Native American Peoples

When photographing any person, it is important to show respect and honor their individuality by asking permission first. With native peoples, this is absolutely necessary.

Hello All,

This is my first entry on the Platinum Photo Blog. A platinum photograph is a method of printmaking dating back to the 1880's. It is known as the most archival way to produce a photographic image. Because it is a contact print method, you need to have a negative the size of the image you wish to print. Either with a large format negative, a matrix of negatives, or using an enlarged negative either via the darkroom or digitally. I work with 8x10 and 11x14 inch negative cameras. I photograph architectural subjects, and do portraiture. Both commissioned and also working on a study of Native American peoples.