The essence of photography

Growing up in Los Angeles, I always found it hard to appreciate the place, and couldn't wait to find a way out. I didn't like the crowds or traffic, and decided I preferred the more relaxed vibe of Austin, Texas. It was a good move for me and for a long time I did not return to my old home town for years at a stretch. More recently, though, I've had occasion to visit every two years on a semi-regular basis, and, although I hate to admit it, the place has started to grow on me.

On my trips back to the Southland, I will always make time to spend most of one day hanging out at the Getty Museum. Even if the exhibits are not to my taste, which is almost never the case, the landscaping, architecture, and views are all pretty spectacular.

A photography exhibit I saw at the Getty about five or six years ago had a huge impact on me -- I actually purchased the catalogue despite it's size and weight (I really prefer to travel light). The show was called "Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography". In the introductory essay, Virginia Heckert pointed out that throughout its history, "photography has been shaped by a desire to understand the essence of the medium". The exhibit featured seven contemporary artists who were 'interrogating and reinventing' the medium of photography through their work.

This exhibit was where I first came in contact with Alison Rossiter's work. She scours the Internet to find old (up to a hundred years old) photographic paper and then processes it in her own darkroom. No camera; no lens. The results are stunning abstract images that also maintain a strong connection to the history of photography. Pretty great.

I knew right away that I wanted to experiment with some expired darkroom paper on my own. So I went to eBay and picked up a couple of packages of 3x5 inch paper that expired in 1968. It was actually difficult to find anything; I guess Alison really did buy everything up. I just developed it in a tray of Dektol, and this is what happened.

Of course, you can explore the properties of digital media, too. Earlier this year, I picked up an old Canon 5D (the original version) that had been converted to an IR camera. I wanted to find out how hard you had to push to 'break' the image files. By carrying out some simple experiments, one can arrive at interesting results.

I think it's important to have a thorough knowledge of our chosen medium. Experiments sometimes lead nowhere, maybe most times they lead nowhere obvious. But sometimes new knowledge is discovered, and isn't that kind of the point?