Old Work/New Inspirations Assignment

In my work, I frequently explore the physical nature of the materials and phenomena we depended (and still depend) upon in photography. I explore via experimentation, applying my accumulated knowledge of chemistry and physics to procedures that I think can produce interesting effects. The project I am the most involved with right now depends upon the deliberate misuse of canned air. By spraying it upside-down, I freeze a variety of light sensitive media and create exposures as the ice recedes, creating a record of both the ice and the mechanical changes that may have been precipitated by the massive temperature fluctuation. I’ve used film and paper extensively, and am currently branching into manipulating wet collodion plates with this technique (which I affectionately refer to as ‘cryogramming’) on both tin and glass. I am pursuing this most rigorously on glass, due to the capability for enlargement; I don’t know yet what a print using a cryographic negative will look like, though I can speculate based on test images I’ve taken of spraying the frost onto a variety of materials to study the patterns. I am trying to better understand the fundamental mechanics of the tools I utilize with so that I can more deeply engage with my darkroom and alternative process work.

I present Alison Rossiter as an artist that I admire, as her work with expired film is similar in it’s exploration of the physical medium. While she simply allows the decay of these materials to speak for themselves and I deliberately abuse the tools I work with, I believe there are congruencies; moreover, I find her work beautiful in it’s simplicity and concept. As the silver in the paper or film she used aged (some being almost a hundred years old!) it lost sensitivity to light, was exposed through leaks, or was damaged via a myriad of other accidents. She also utilizes dipping, painting, and experimentation in the development process which create incredible artifacts and what she describes as “finding” images.

Katherine Carlson, 2014. Cryographic Tintype

Alison Rossiter, 2010. Silver Gelatin Print on expired paper