William Oldacre Photography

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Alternate Processes

abstract expressionism, city street, urban, movement, motion, red, green, yellow, vibrant

Unnamed Five, 2017 — Side Slide :: (click to see more)

I was speaking with a client yesterday about alternate photographic printing processes – gum bichromate, salted paper, and cyanotype. In the early 90’s I took a bunch of different workshops at Gallery 44 where they taught alternate printing processes like these. Looking back on the things I learned from these workshops and the images I made, I can see the influence they had on the images I’m producing now.

There is a certain softness to gum bichromate that arises from registering the negative repeatedly as you add each colour layer to the print. There is a tonality and contrast you get from salted paper and cyanotype prints both. All of this has affected my personal vision. It’s interesting the accumulation of experiences that add layers to who we are, how we see and what we do.