Tag Archives: waxed negatives

back to the 1920s

Sep

2017

ive traced my roots in photography, to the 1920s i think. my values seem to revolve around people like the dadaists and rusian constructavists and surrealists more than

the new traditionalists of today. while some of my contemporaries seek untouched lands they can transform into an emotion filled black and white or color terrestrial view, or a portrait that shows honesty, i have veered left into what has been a fun ride.

while i enjoy looking at terrestrial views and i love making portraits lately, at least i have found a new interest in sketching ( doodling? ) on paper and transfering that drawing onto hand made photo paper.

the drawing is made on regular old thin xerox/copy paper, and waxed with paraffin to make semi translucent. the receiver paper is made with an under coat of hand made emulsion ( see previous posts ) and a top coat of foma liquid emulsion … they are not developed out in the darkroom but left in the sun so the image on the paper burns itself into the photo paper

the dark image with white lines is then scanned and sometimes inverted, sometimes left as is, and color added to give the image dimension. in my days learning how to render and architectural drawing this would be like doing a sketch and adding watercolor to the top.

enough talking about it …

here is one i did recently .. another is being exposed as i type this ..

sketched, waxed printed

Posted in alternative process photography, liquid emulsion Also tagged "home made emulsion", paper negatives, xerox |

a few prints

Jun

2017

by jnanian | 0 Comments

this first prints were made by a digital overhead transparancy at my local copy shop
originally it was a digital files taken in a snow storm at a local park. one was taken on jamestown island ( the windmill )
a few weeks ago. all 3 of them were made using expired photo paper behind the digital negative and left in the sun by a window
for a few days. i scanned the images and used levels a little bit as i do every scan

sun print blue removed

windmill on jamestown

xerox machinenegative

i made a nice few images using the new emulsion made the other day

a few photograms

fast sun print took minutes!

sunprint

and a waxed negative

suprint made with waxed negative through the back of the paper

Posted in images on hand coated paper, liquid emulsion, technique and style Also tagged "home made emulsion", paper negatives, sun print, traditional photography |

contact sheets

Dec

2016

by jnanian | 0 Comments

aside from sending rolls of 110 or 127vp to the local drug store or fotomat, or mail away to yorks i processed my own black and white film. when i was in high school i learned about developing film, and putting the developed, procesed black and white negatives into those plastic sleeves. for the better part of 10 years i put a sheet of photo paper under the developed film and exposed it in a bright light for a few seconds, and then into the developer and fix and wash like a lot of people, contact sheets were my go-to way of viewing negatives after they were shot, processed and ready to print.

i’d look at the sheets, and circle or “X” the views to print or not to print, and keep track of things. in some cases the contact sheet is all i have left after i had a flood and a bunch of my best negatives turned to clear film / emulsion soup. as time wen ton for some reason, maybe it was becasue $$ was scarce and i wanted to save my paper for prints, or because so many of my exposures were all over the place that a contact sheet would only show part of the story, or maybe i just got lazy, and stopped making contact prints. i got good at looking at the negative and seeing the print reversed. i saw the contrast and somehow decided it was good enough.

i miss making contact sheets, but unfortunately 27 years worth of procesed film to make contact sheets of ,or 4×5 or bigger negatives to make contact sheets of is a daunting task and i would rather not bother. back in the late 90s i bought a umax1200 scanner and it was fantastic. it did everyting i needed, and i think i still have it in a box. it was nice becasue i could scann all size film upto 5×7. and i started scanning film instead of making contact sheets and it worked out as a good compromise.

i use a couple of nikon digital slr’s as well as film, they aren’t new but a d100 and d200, they do what i need them to do, and i like that. when i make a bunch of exposures i still make contact sheets of them believe it or not, sometimes they are postiiveprooof sheets, and sometimes they are negatives. today i wandered around the streets or providence ri, and have plans for digital negatives. i worked on the frames and turned them into contact sheets to bring to the xerox shop. im not a machine gunner, i don’t click and look except once in a while to make sure the meter was working. the camera is set to 1 frame at a time and i take my time as if i am using a film camera. if i had a film camera i would have shot just as many views and sat on the curb or stone wall to unload and load the camera and maybe i would have runout of film. i’ll be heading out to staples tomorrow to see what is what. my local copy shop charges 10x what staples charges for regular copies, so whilei want to support my local shop im not that rich. i’ll be getting paper as well as OHP film to see if there is a difference and making cyanotypes soon.

walkabout

Posted in alternative process photography, Misc., photographs Also tagged cyanotypes, nikon, xerox |

waxed field and photograms

Oct

2016

by jnanian | 0 Comments

another from a recent slew of waxed negative cyanotypes

waxed negative 2 day exposure

one of the last coated papers from the winter/spring when i coated and coated to use up my sensitizer. the paper is yellowish from being bleached a little bit, maybe 10 seconds with sodium carbonate, but the reverse side of the paper has a clear image as if the cyanotype embedded itself inside the paper. i almost scanned THAT side instead of the actual side i exposed on.

tools of the trade

desaturated cyanotype

the absolute last cyanotypes from last winter/spring,

and a few comments …

pre coated paper lasts a long while but gets slower every day it sits in a light safe. even darkish weirdly colored paper still has some juice left in it and it just takes a little extra time in the sun. waxed prints bleed through the paper but the image isn’t as clear or nice on the other side. #10 envelopes make great cyanotype paper. they are fun to coat and expose on and a great aspect ratio. when they are washed all the glue that holds them together lets go and it leaves you with wings they can be ignored or included in the final piece. this time i ignored them but next time i won’t. cyanotypes are so much fun i almost want to stop using a camera and film and photo paper ! … almost.

as i type this entry i have some more ideas to do with photo paper and hand coated emulsion. ideas that will give me black paper because the black paper i coated bled black dye all in my chemistry, because i dont’ want to deal with black glass, and while i have exposed and processed and re-coated with liquid emulsion regular photopaper in the past i might have stumbled upon something easy and fun to do that doesnt’ require double dipping in photochemistry.

Posted in alternative process photography Also tagged cyanotype, photogram, sun print, xerox |

emulsive

Sep

2016

by jnanian | 0 Comments

i thought i posted a link to this but i guess it got away from me.

i was interviewed by emulsive.org a little while ago about film and emulsion and what i am up to. in case you don’t know about emulsive org what i am up to here is the link what’s emulsive.org ? feel free to go there, its a pretty interesting site

well worth the click !

I am John Nanian and this is why I shoot film

Posted in film development technique, technique and style Also tagged cyclone, dektol, dry plate tintypes, dry plates, film, hand colored photographs, paper negatives, photogram, rockland colloid, sumatra, traditional photography, tricolor |

recent cyanotypes

Sep

2016

by jnanian | 0 Comments

just made a handful of cyanotypes lately using paper coated and left in a light safe in a humid basement for the last 7 or 8 months. the paper was not the best but it worked (sort of) made some photograms ( some i watercolored ) i made a contact print with a waxed rubbing and tinted it in photoshop and i also converted some digital images into black and white negatives on xerox paper and waxed and printed them.

i have some more negatives to print and cyanotype paper to use up before i mix new.

rubbing waxed negative

photogram, watercolors

photogram, watercolors

photogram, watercolors

waxed paper negative

waxed paper negative

photogram, watercolors

as usual most of my work is on imagekind ( jnanian.imagekind.com ) feel free to browse. through the end of september

i will be donating a portion of every purchase ( 70% ) to relief efforts in louisana.

Posted in alternative process photography, images on hand coated paper, technique and style Also tagged "home made emulsion", black and white, cyanotype, hand colored photographs, paper negatives, photogram, photographs, xerox |

5×7 glass

Apr

2013

by jnanian | 0 Comments

rather than expose 6 5×7 emulsion coated glass plates as ambrotypes or glass in camera negatives
made contact prints and photograms with them.

2 bath developer.

1 bath fxer ( with hardener )

finished plates are drying now.

very little frilling, no sub coat ..

Posted in alternative process photography, images on glass and metal, photographs, technique and style Also tagged ambrotype, ansco130, black and white, contact prints, dry plates, paper negatives, rockland colloid, traditional photography |

more waxed paper negatives

Mar

2013

by jnanian | 0 Comments

over the past few months i have been using paper negatives instead of film, and making photograms
when i make cyanotypes. in other words, instead of using a film negative and making a contact print
or just putting objects on the paper to record their shape and or shadow, i have used paper, and charcoal
and made rubbings. the first photographic negatives were paper negatives, and they were usually waxed
before they were printed as a positive / salt print. while i have the materials to make salt prints
( paper sized in salt water, smeared with silver nitrate and exposed to UV and BLUE light to make a photograph )
i am making cyanotypes. an IRON not SILVER photographic process that uses 2 chemical compounds
which when mixed together are sensitive to light. then the paper is washed in regular old tap water,
iron rinses out and the print is deep blue in color. most of the time i bleach the blue, so the image isn’t so … blue
and i paint or use crayons to color the images by hand.
rather than making rubbings of things i have close by … parts of doorframes, tables, cameras, floor tiles &c
i chose to take an image or two that was taken with a digital camera. i reversed it to turn it to a negative, and had it printed onto xerox paper.
i waxed the paper and used it as a negative …

these are a few of the prints i came up with ,,,

waxed, painted bleached

bleached cyanotype, waxed negative

bleached, waxed negative

Posted in alternative process photography, film development technique, photographs, technique and style Also tagged black and white, cyanotype, hand colored photographs, sun print, traditional photography |

another rubbing print

Dec

2012

by jnanian | 0 Comments

getting the hang of making rubbings and converting them to cyanotype negatives ..

people who do rubbings, make it look so easy. i watched some lady on youtube making a rubbing
of a delicate leaf or something like a feather .. 34 seconds later it was on the paper, perfectly rendered.
i can barely do a piece of iron, i can’t imagine how i would do something that may be intricate.

rubbed onto paper, waxed with parafin on the stove then put out in the sun to print

Posted in alternative process photography, film development technique, photographs Also tagged contact prints, cyanotype, hand colored photographs, paper negatives, photographs, rubbing, traditional photography |

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