taken from the Google LIFE image archive
In Photography
In the past, I've used negative scanners and photoshop to create digital negatives to make "old technology" prints (i.e. cyanotypes - it's advanced yet backwards cheating!). It makes it easier to enlarge negatives and make larger prints. It's also an interesting way for kids to learn basic print processes - for example, when I was at the Carnegie, I did a workshop with my students where we took a field trip to the natural history museum and posed with different animals in different exhibits - similar to the first travel photographers in the 1800s (well, supposedly anyway). I then printed them as digital negatives (using Photoshop) and we exposed them onto cyanotype paper in the sunlight (old technology) to learn about photography pre-digital. I don't think they understood completely, but it was amazing how amazed they were about cyanotypes and printing in the sun.
Now, I use the internet to inform my image-making process - I like sifting through the LIFE archive on Google Image to find pictures of figures or strange beauty rituals. For a time, I made drawings with figures that were often in "submission" or in positions of in-ability. Old photographs of hair salons and rural life seemed to contain imagery that resonated most with my work. It reminds me of the image archives they have at libraries, but online - still, it can be problematic because the imagery is so recognizable.
I don't feel strongly that either "ways" I use technology are concurrent with new media practices.
I don't feel strongly that either "ways" I use technology are concurrent with new media practices.
always plenty of fish in the sea, gouache and walnut ink on paper, 26 x 40 inches. 2010.
