The
Intersection of Traditional and Digital Methods |
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The
Intersection of Traditional and Digital Methods |
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Photography of Rich Bergeman All photographs on this page are copyright © 2006 Rich Bergeman All Rights Reserved |
| Platinum/Palladium
Prints: Platinum and palladium are closely related noble metals that have been used in the making of photographic prints since the late 1800s. Platinum was a favorite medium of such luminaries as Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and Frederick Evans. While each of the metals can be used separately, most often they are combined in varying ratios to take advantage of platinum's deeper blacks and palladium's warmer tones. Making a print involves mixing drops of platinum and/or palladium with iron sulfate and then "painting" the solution onto fine watercolor paper. Once dried, the sensitized paper is placed in contact with a negative and exposed to ultraviolet light. The image is developed out in a bath of ammonium citrate, potassium oxylate or other developing agent, and then the iron is eliminated in a series of clearing baths. The resulting print is the most stable and permanent of any photographic printing process. Because pt/pd prints are sensitive only to long doses of UV light (most exposures take several minutes), they must be contact printed, which means the resulting print can only be as large as the negative. |
Birdhouses (Peedee, OR)
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Church Door (Richmond, Oregon)
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Along Skate Creek (Washington) |
Crab Building (Ilwaco, Washington) |
| Hand-Worked SX-70 Polaroid Prints: The Polaroid SX-70 is a marked change of pace from the large format cameras I usually use. It's more intimate, more casual, and more playful. The process is simplicity itself-a stroll down a street, through a garden or along a bayfront in search of pictures, then a pause at a local pub or sidewalk cafe to stroke the soft surface of the print with burnishing tools. The pigments remain soft enough to manipulate in this manner for only a few hours (longer if I keep the print warm in my shirt pocket). The result is a painterly version of what I originally saw. |
Pikes Place Market (Seattle, WA)
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Peggy's Cone (Nova Scotia)
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Dory at Seal Cove (New Brunswick) |
Victoria Garden (Lunenberg) |
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Digital Prints: |
Seal Cove (Grand Manon Island, Grand Brunswick) |
West Dover (Nova Scotia) |
Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove |
Blue Rocks (Nova Scotia) |
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs and text on this site are Copyright © 2007 Creative Dialog Group LLC. All Rights Reserved
Contact: Mike E. Bergen
