These are my final three images for this project. While I'm not in love with the composition (I'm still adjusting to the rangefinder on my camera) of the first one, I think the print quality is very nice.
For this first project I was inspired by the poem, If Only We Had Taller Been by Ray Bradbury. Just before Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars, a panel met, composed of Ray Bradbury and scientists, including my grandfather. Bradbury shared a poem which "links the dream of conquering space with the dream of immortality."
“If Only We Had Taller Been”
" The fence we walked between the years
Did bounce us serene.
It was a place half in the sky where
In the green of leaf and promising of peach
We'd reach our hands to touch and almost touch the sky,
If we could reach and touch, we said,
'Twould teach us, not to, never to, be dead.
We ached and almost touched that stuff;
Our reach was never quite enough.
If only we had taller been,
And touched God's cuff, His hem,
We would not have to go with them
Who've gone before,
Who, short as us, stood tall as they could stand
And hoped by stretching, tall, that they might keep their land,
Their home, their hearth, their flesh and soul.
But they, like us, were standing in a hole.
O, Thomas, will a Race one day stand really tall
Across the Void, across the Universe and all?
And, measured out with rocket fire,
At last put Adam's finger forth
As on the Sistene Ceiling,
And God's hand come down the other way
To measure man and find him Good,
And Gift him with Forever's Day?
I work for that.
Short man, Large dream, I send my rockets forth
between my ears,
Hoping an inch of Good is worth a pound of years.
Aching to hear a voice cry back along the universal Mall:
We've reached Alpha Centauri!
We're tall, O God, we're tall! "
I choose this poem because it reminds me of my grandfather, but also because I think it's very powerful and speaks to more than just space travel (and I could envision a very aesthetically pleasing photogram). I interpreted this poem as man's continual dissatisfaction with the present and the desire to constantly progress. For my work I pulled literally from the poem when Bradbury mentions, "At last put Adam's finger forth, / As on the Sistene Ceiling," I used then a transparency of Adam's hand reaching out to the planets and the necklaces to represent the inherent human aspiration to "reach" for scientific gains but also materialistic desires as well. In my photogram I used the necklaces as traditional symbols of material wealth but also to add to the surrealist element in this photogram, thus the hand reaching out to these objects further suggests the societal want for material gains. I placed the poem in the middle of the image as it's the central idea of my photogram but also that Bradbury expresses what prevents us from achieving these things, so it seemed fitting to place the poem in the middle of the hand and the planets/necklaces as the barrier between these things. I thought trying to make this image appear surreal would speak to the connotation of immortality in the poem. Finally I added sand to create a galaxy appearance and, again, add an element of surrealism.
Process
I initially envisioned this photogram as a triptych or and experimented with this concept as well as a series of different exposures, before finally deciding on one 8x10.
Examples of failed exposures, except for the middle on which is exposed properly but, the poem was upside down.
Another series of experiments with varying level of success with exposures.
An example of a diptych I attempted with good exposure.
The process I've chosen to investigate further is the gum bichromate process, I'm particularly intrigued by the soft look it produces, creating images that seem-painting like. I've attached images created through this process on the side of my blog.
"Gum bichromate (or dichromate) printing involves creating a working emulsion made of three components:
Gum arabic
A dichromate (usually ammonium or potassium)
Pigment
The emulsion is spread on a support, such as paper, and allowed to dry. A negative or matrix is then laid over top the emulsion and exposed to a UV light source. Usually a contact printing device or a sheet of heavy glass to ensure even, constant contact is employed. The light source will harden the dichromate in proportion to the densities of your negative. After exposure, the paper is placed in a series of plain water baths and allowed to develop until the unhardened portions of the emulsion have dissipated.
Materials
Gum arabic A bottled, predissolved, commercial brand should work fine, especially for the beginning printer. Check your local art shop or graphic arts supplier. Later you may wish to make your own by dissolving 30 grams of powdered gum to 90ml (or less) of very warm distilled water. Refrigerate to extend its shelf life thereby reducing the need to add a preservative.
a dichromate solution of either (choose one) ammonium or potassium To make a near saturated solution (29%) of ammonium dichromate, add 29 grams to 100ml of very warm distilled water. To make a near saturated solution (13%) of potassium dichromate, add 13 grams to 100ml of very warm distilled water. My preference favors a potassium solution. Potassium dichromate, widely used in other processes such as carbon printing and photogravure, provides reasonable exposure speeds while minimizing the tendency to leave an orange stain. Should you choose a very strong UV source, a weaker solution may offer better control of your exposures. I use a 5% solution of potassium dichromate. Either compound can be purchased in a bright orange crystal granular form from a chemical supplier. Handle with care and take proper safety precautions; keep out of reach of children; consult a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for further handling instructions.
Water-soluble pigments Virtually any brand of watercolor will provide at least a few pigments that will be suitable for gum printing. Some pigments may stain your paper resulting in flat, low-contrast prints with ruined highlights. However, you may find the staining effect suitable for certain images. For your beginning work try cadmiums, cobalts, ultramarines, earth pigments, and lamp black. You might try a mixture of Prussian Blue with Burnt Sienna as an alternative to single black pigments.
Brushes The gum bichromate emulsion is essentially a modified watercolor. As such, I recommend investing in a few good quality watercolor brushes (flats or wash brushes; 1" and larger). Unless you enjoy plucking stray hairs out of your sticky emulsion, hake-style brushes might better be reserved for other artistic purposes.
Paper
Again, the gum bichromate emulsion is essentially a modified watercolor. Therefore, begin experimenting with watercolor papers that can handle repeated washes. In my opinion, you have two basic choices.
First are watercolor papers that can be classified as “old school” in that they utilize tried-and-true gelatine as a key sizing agent. Size, a term used in paper manufacturing, is a paper additive designed to regulate how and to what degree moisture will interact with the paper’s fibers. Gelatine is a very effective size and one that many gum printers continue to use today with excellent results. Papers that are gelatine sized sometimes need additional size applied to the surface followed by an application of a weak formaldehyde or glyoxal solution (hardener) to help maintain paper quality throughout multiple print layers and many water baths. Again, consult a MSDS for handling instructions if using either hardening solutions" (Blackburn).
William Henry Fox Talbot
A contemporary artist that uses the gum bichromate process is Vivian Van Blerk, who "[b]y inventing fictions that unfold in parallel worlds close to our own, his photography exploits our tendency to read photographs as truthful documents. To make these photographs Vivian employs many medias. Sometimes he arranges found objects before the camera while for other images he will entirely construct, sculpt, model, and paint a scene and its actors. He also collages and montages imagery in the studio and darkroom, often retouching negatives and using alternative printing techniques to make strange his photographic universe."(http://jnfagrandtour.com/)
Vivian Van Blerk
Works Cited
Blackburn, Peter J. "An Introduction to the Gum Bichromate Process." Web log post. Alternativephotography.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
