PROCESSES
TOY Cameras
“Holga” and “Diana” cameras were designed with
a single aperture opening,
one shutter speed,
and a simple plastic lens.
The all plastic body
is totally mechanical,
uses no batteries,
and is virtually weatherproof.
TOY plastic cameras have exposure flaws and image distortions like soft focus, vignetting, lens flare, and film fogging.
35mm
The 35mm, single-lens reflex, was developed in the 1970’s to be a lightweight, precision-designed, all-manual camera.
With an array of compact lenses made to the tolerances of microscopes, these cameras were built not as consumer electronics, but as scientific instruments.
CHEMICAL DEVELOPMENT
Starting with a negative about the size of a postage stamp or credit card, each image is optically printed.
Darkroom developing solutions must be mixed in a certain dilution, held at a specific temperature, and used for a prescribed duration.
Photographic images are composed of light-sensitive silver halide crystals seen in a darkened metallic state through chemical development.
After exposure on imported warm tone enlarging paper each sheet is hand processed to current archival standards.
The HAND PAINTED B&W PHOTOGRAPH
Coloring B&W photographs began when watercolor artists hand-tinted everyday portraits and landscapes.
Photographers can now use archival translucent oils made specifically to use on the surface of a B&W print.
Each photograph is individually hand colored with translucent pigment paints, pastels, or color pencils.
The archival qualities of B&W prints are well known and can be enhanced with the use of these acid-free artist colors.
ALCHEMIC PRINTS
Alchemic prints are produced using antique formulas and historic techniques mainly from the 19th century.
The CYANOTYPE
or “Blue Print”
The Cyanotype process uses sensitized iron instead of silver to create an image in blue.
Initially used to reproduce architectural drawings, or “blueprints”, it was adopted by photographers for its unusual aesthetic qualities.
Tri-Color GUM PRINTS
The Gum Print is a 19th century printmaking process that uses chromium as the metallic sensitizer.
The emulsion contains red, blue, and yellow pigment in gum Arabic that is hand coated on archival rag or cotton artists paper.
A “contact print” using a negative the same size as the desired image is then exposed to an ultraviolet light source.
The gum Arabic reacts by “hardening” and trapping the pigment in the emulsion.
This process is repeated multiple times with the three pigments to produce a full tri-color image.
The print is processed face down in a tray of still water allowing pigment not trapped in the hardened emulsion to fall away.
LUMEN PRINTS
A Lumen print is a true alchemic image.
These unique, camera-less, life-size images are created in the purest tradition of the medium — an image written with light.
It is Donna Lee’s use of multiple traditional light-sensitive printmaking and artist techniques to create her unique chemical photographs that defines her signature style.
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