I really love the way collodion translates colors. And I love how the vintage lenses (this is an old Derogy Petzval portrait lens circa 1870) translate textures. The combination, with the third element of Palladium Platinum printing, makes for some dramatic tonal range and three-dimensional texture.
This is a Whole Plate Wet Collodion Negative printed on HPR paper. I used 12/12/2/2 - ferric oxalate/palladium/platinum/tween. The print exposure was 2:30 on my Ryonet. I distressed the negative a little bit after fixing it. I’m a fan of J.P. Witkin and when I was in undergraduate school, I played with a lot of his techniques with distressing film. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. This distressing created a “painterly” texture on the glass. I really like it. With the full brush strokes showing on the sensitized paper, it all works for me. This is one of those prints you’d need to see in real life to fully appreciate it. Trust me when I say it’s got that “je ne sais quoi” about it.
I’m hoping to have a couple of exhibitions with this work in 2023 or 2024. I know there will be at least one in Europe and I hope to have one or two here in the United States. So maybe one day, you can see these prints in person!
SNEEZEWEED
The dried nearly mature flower heads are used in a powdered form as a snuff to treat colds and headaches. When made into tea they are used in the treatment of intestinal worms. The powdered leaves are sternutatory. An infusion of the leaves is used as a laxative.
