Cyano Time II

 

I was clearing out my darkroom storage area this morning when I found some Cyanotype paper which I had prepared about 6 weeks ago, so before throwing it out I thought I'd do a couple of quick test prints as the sun was out. These are the results of a sixteen minute exposure under our winter sun, then tea toned immediately after washing. 

Cyano time

It's Sunday and I've been back from Bangladesh for almost a fortnight and I've got a pile of work to catch up on. So, what do I do? Procrastinate... it's what I do best. I decide to go through my 'alternative processes' box as I'm teaching a class how to do some alternative printing techniques over the coming couple of months. Find some unexposed cyanotype coated paper and before you know it, I'm outside taking advantage of another hot sunny, summer's day here in Perth. So, here is one of the results. Original image shot on 5x4 Ilford fp-4 film and printed using 'Art Spectrum' 210gsm, 'Draw & Wash' water colour paper, then tea toned in a bath of Liptons 'Black' tea.

Rediscovering the past

After achieving quite satisfactory results with the old glass-plate negatives that I mentioned in my previous post I started to look for more unwanted negs from Indochina from the French Colonial period. I returned to Vietnam in January revisiting some locations that I had not been to since 1997 but unfortunately did not find any old negatives along the way. But, just before I left on the trip I found some more on eBay and they were waiting for me on my return. Amongst those that I bought was this 6 x 13cm glass-plate negative of an old war veteran.

The seller, who lives in France, said that they belonged to his great grandfather who served with the Colonial troops in Africa and French Indochina but did not have much more information than that, although based on the clothing worn by the women in some of the portraits I deduced that they were from Tonkin (Northern Vietnam), most likely the North West and possibly even from Laos.

My hunch was confirmed when I produced a Cyanotype from the veteran's negative as I was able to identify the medal on his breast. It is one that I have in my collection, which I found in an antique shop in Vientiene in the early 2000's.  He is wearing the Lao Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol which was originally instituted in 1909 for "civil and military merit in the development of the Kingdom and for devotion to the Kingdom (of Laos)." There are several classes of this award and the subject is wearing the Knight division, which is one of the lower orders and was most likely awarded to this individual after ten years service in the military. I don't know much more about the subject of this photograph, but am hoping that the vendor who sold me the negatives can tell me a bit more about his great grandfather and I can start to add more pieces of information to the puzzle.

New from Old, bringing in the new year with some 'Old School' goodness

Tonkinese infantrymen with French officer. Photographer unknown. Tea toned Cyanotype print.

About a month ago whilst scouring eBay for bits and pieces for my other interest, military badges relating to the French colonies in Indochina, I stumbled across these old glass-plate negatives taken in Tonkin (North Vietnam) towards the end of the 19th Century. ... And as old/alternative processes are my thing, it was just something that I just had to have, the plan being to produce some prints and muck around with hand coloring. 

Some of the glass plate negatives and their box as I found them on eBay

Anyway, they arrived a fortnight ago and I haven't really had much time to do anything with them yet, but last night, whilst everybody was seeing in the new year, I decided to mix up some Cyanotype chemistry and knock out a few test prints this morning. 

This was never meant to be a serious print making session so after contact printing I decided to tone the Cyanotypes, using a few teabags and then just hang them on the washing line to dry

Portrait of a Tonkinese gentleman. Photographer unknown. Tea toned Cyanotype. 

French Colonial officer. Photographer unknown. Tea toned Cyanotype.

Generally the negatives, which measure 12 x 17cm are in reasonably good condition although a couple lack some density in the shadow areas due to underexposure but overall, quite 'printable'. It's been stinking hot here in Perth over the past week or so and the UV levels are high, so a 'quick' 15 minute exposure under the sun, wash under running water and voila, my first prints for 2013... using negatives over a hundred years old a process developed in 1856, the sun, tea and running water. Yep, I'm a Luddite.

Indochine. Levinthal, exploration and alternative processes.

Indochine - Cyanotype print

Early last year I mentioned how I admired the work of David Levinthal one of my posts. I like the way he creates elaborate sets using toys and miniatures then, with careful consideration to space and lighting creates drama, tension and narrative. Often, as in his Modern Romance 1984 -86 series, the images have a certain voyeuristic quality and the viewer can easily forget that they're actually looking at models, not real people or events. 

Indochine - Cyanotype print

Like Levinthal, much of my work often has a certain voyeuristic quality, I like looking but don't always engage or interact with my subjects as much as I could. Travel forms a large part of my life and this disengaged state of mind is often compounded by language and cultural barriers. My travel photos are often a combination of voyeurism and nostalgia. I like history and and am fascinated by stories of exploration and discovery. For me, there is a romance to travel which doesn't often exist when I am actually 'on the road' and preoccupied with the minutiae of changing money, finding a bed for the night or a toilet in a hurry. 

Indochine - Cyanotype print

 So, inspired by Levinthal and old travel postcards I set about creating a series of images for a series entitled Indochine. Using model figures, predominantly from a Hong Kong based company called King & Country and sets which I built out of cardboard, foam core and things I found in aquarium suppliers (the Bayon 'face' sculpture) or lying around the house I have constructed my own tale of exploration, discovery and conquest. It's loosely based on the French expansion into Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos) but really just me having fun and being a kid again. 

Indochine - Cyanotype print

The series is not quite complete and has evolved somewhat since I first started. Initially all the images were produced as fiber-based, silver gelatin prints, hand coloured to resemble old post cards. But in the past few weeks, with one of my classes at college experimenting with alternative printing techniques, I decided to re work them and produce the series as Cyanotype prints. The Cyanotype process was invented by the British astronomer Sir John Herschel in 1842 and has remained largely unchanged since. It uses two iron compounds, ferric ammonium citrate (green) and potassium ferricyanide, which when combined becomes sensitive to UV light. The images you can see here use this original recipe, coated onto water colour paper and using the contact printing method exposed to bright sunlight to create the print. Once exposure (which takes around 15 minutes for the negative material I am using) is complete, running water removes the unexposed emulsion leaving a rich blue image... hence the term cyanotype. I'm not a huge fan of the blue print, so have partially bleached these with household grade ammonia and then toned the print in a strong solution of tea resulting in the duo tone look that you can see here.

Indochine - Cyanotype print

Anyway, hope that you like what I've come up so far, I'll post more as I complete them.

Be cool

The Secret Room (VIII)

The Secret Room (VIII) - Cyanotype Print

Kinda got caught up with lesson prep for the start of semester, so whilst there's lots to rant about no time atm. Next week...

"Great art is horseshit, buy tacos."

The Secret Room (VI) - Cyanotype Print

"Great art is horseshit, buy tacos."  - Charles Bukowski

The Secret Room (I)

The Secret Room (I) - Cyanotype Print

Found some unexposed cyanotype paper that I had coated before my trip to Thailand in July. I expected that after almost two months that it would have 'fogged' to the point of being unusable but thought I'd give a sheet a quick test before throwing it out. Sixteen minute exposure in direct sunlight at around 2pm. Seems to be working OK. Time to crank out a few more prints from this series.