Blog Archives

Waxing Alternative Prints

Blog / Cyanotype / Salt Print

Waxing alternative prints to protect them is a critical step in my production process. I use archival quality paper and methods to make the prints last beyond a lifetime and the final step is just another layer of protection. There are two types of prints here, salt prints and cyanotypes. Let's talk about cyanotypes first. The deep blue colors of cyanotypes are from ferrous (iron) ions in a 2+ oxidation state. This "Prussian Blue" dye is caused by sunlight and the interesting thing is that if cyanotypes ever "fade" they can be regenerated by putting thin in the sun for…

Ibanez Artist – Happy Birthday

Blog / Salt Print

Happy birthday to my Ibanez Artist Electric Guitar! She turned 40 this year. Here is a salt print of my favorite guitar. She has a lot of mileage and the wear and tear to prove it. However, she is just as sweet to play now as when I picked her up 39 years ago. I was the 2nd owner. My acquisition will remain private to protect innocent parties in my long forgotten past. Her body is a sunburst maple with gold plated hardware. She is an AR300 model but has the tail of the AR 305. Not sure how that…

Death Valley – Salt Print

Blog / Salt Print

A salt print of a panorama from Death Valley, California. Death Valley is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Around every corner is something new and different. Maybe when God finished the world he had a bunch of spare parts (I always do when I work on a project). So He just dumped some of them here!

Cyanotype Portrait

Blog / Cyanotype / Portrait

Cyanotype prints can also make compelling portraits! Blue is not the first color one would choose for humans and human skin - except maybe at an awesome cosplay convention! But in the palette of monochrome colors the blue of cyanotype can be most interesting. Here is a portrait of one of my favorite people in the entire world. She is beautiful inside and out and has so many layers of thoughts! Here is a close up - those eyes and expression hold a world of mystery! In Your Eyes I see the doorway to a thousand churches! Want to see…

Asylum Point Lighthouse Salt Print

Blog / Salt Print

Asylum Point Lighthouse - a Salt Print. Warm Summer days are a perfect time to make salt prints of Winter scenes. This 35mm film photography was made last Winter. Asylum Point Lighthouse is on a small island on Lake Winnebago, just North of Oshkosh. The point is named after the Northern Asylum for the Insane which once stood on the grounds of the park. There are also 244 unmarked graves on the site! This is an 8x10" print and is one of a set of three available for purchase - Prints For Sale Back to the Blog

Ambrotype Self Portrait

Blog / Portrait / Wet Plate Collodion

Testing my lighting setup with a self portrait. This is an Ambrotype - a wet plate collodion on glass. All of my glass is recycled - I use the glass from old windows. If you are going to use an "antique" photography process why not use antique glass? Pretty happy with the lighting - uniform and a good exposure. I need to work on the eye focus as I missed a little bit. It is not easy setting up, pulling the lens cap off, moving into position and then hitting the flash. But I will do better next time. Here…

Peonies in Silver

Blog / Wet Plate Collodion

Here is a 6x6" tintype wet plate image of peonies. This photograph captures so many things that are the essence of a traditional photographic processes. These trademarks include: Narrow Depth of Focus: Antique lenses were designed to gather as much light as possible. Traditional photography methods are less sensitive to light than modern sensors so you needed a lot of light to create images. The consequence of high light gathering power is much less of the image is in focus (narrow focus). Our eyes operate in a similar way and our eyes see the world with only parts in focus.Long…

Death Valley – Salt Print

Blog / Salt Print

It was a great day for producing salt prints! Sunny and not too many clouds. I think late August must have great UV light because I made four really beautiful prints. The original is a picture from a trip to Death Valley, California, a few years ago. A father and son outing and we had a magical time. I have literally hundreds of great shots and could spend years making prints. Well, there is always tomorrow! Click to go back to the Blog Want to own one of my timeless traditional prints? Click here to see all my Prints for…

Sing Praises

Blog / Salt Print

An 8x10in Salt Print. This was created from a picture in the Grand Canyon. I have been there so many times and every trip is an amazing experience. While famous for the spectacular views the canyon also offers interesting vignettes if you take the time to look around. This plaque is from Psalm 68, I like the ESV version: Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;his name is the Lord; exult before him! This print will be available for sale as soon as I get it protected with bees wax…

New Cyanotypes

Blog / Cyanotype

New Cyanotypes! It was a fun day doing prints in my break time! There was lots of weather moving through Wisconsin yesterday and that made for light that constantly changed. This gave me a wide variety of exposures. I did try and compensate but not an easy thing to do. The good part is this ended up being an interesting batch of cyanotypes with 4 different looks. When you use the sun the sun has some say in the end result! I am not sure which one I like the best! The darker is nice but the lighter ones are…

Sand and Shells and Sun

Blog / Cyanotype

Footprint on the beach in Florida. A 10in x 14in cyanotype from a 35mm film negative. I have always loved the beach. Something about the sand and the ocean that touches me deeply. I always get the nostalgic feeling when I am on the water. That last days of Summer feeling. Hard to describe but if you know it you know it. This print is from a 35mm film picture (black and white) that I took on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. Footprint supplied by my beautiful wife. I think the graininess of the film is a good complement…

My First Salt Print

Blog / Salt Print

My first salt print! Salt printing was one of the first successful photographic processes. Salt printing was invented by Henry Fox Talbot in the 1830's. The basic process is the foundation of film photography still used today. I am so proud of this print and think it is amazing (probably amazingly lucky) that I was able to get this good of a result on my first try! Newer prints have gone up in quality dramatically - but this will always be special as it was my first! Back to my Blog