Liquid Visions

(click on the image to enlarge)

At the studio © Flavio Martín Morante_2014

Nikon D200

I have been really busy lately, reason why my absence on this space. Besides work, which is always good to be busy with, I been working a lot on my own projects. One is the fact that I will be doing a big show with my work "Marinas" (around 30-40 images) on June at Port's Gallery 224. The photographs I have chosen I am transferring them to wood panels, as the one seen above. It is a pretty simple process as I came to experiment, but one that requires a LOT of patience at the same time that asks of you to embrace all the pros and cons of the process and its materials.

By doing this the pictures acquire a new look, which can differ from the pretty nice silver gelatin print, but knowing from the starting point that this will happen and knowing that the process was chosen with strong reasons (which I will go more into it on the future), it becomes a pleasant experience to see how the wood (and its patterns) become part of the image.

The other thing that I found interesting about this process, something I did not think about it until the moment I started working on is that somehow it has the same magic that the darkroom work has on photography. To explain mayself I will give a little description on how this works.

(click on the image to enlarge)

At the studio © Flavio Martín Morante_2014

Nikon D200

I have seen all the photographs selected for this project to show up slowly under the developer in the darkroom, which I always say is one of the most magical things about photography. Then while doing the wood transfer process, which requires you to create a "negative" or inverted image as a laser print, you place it on a wood panel that has been coated with a gel medium in order for the pigments on the print to be transferred into it. After drying time (usually 24hrs) the real work starts as you need to submerge the whole front of the wood panel in water in order to make the base of the paper to start dissolving as you gently rub with your fingers in order to make the image "appear" again, something that resembles the act of having the image come to life on the darkroom. I have to say it takes forever because you have to be careful of not rubbing too much and also you have to repeat the process several times as it is a little deceiving while the wood/paper is wet. Sometimes it takes few more hours before is enough dry for you to see how much residue has to be worked out of the picture yet. Still, even the scratches on the wood or even the textures on it become something that it is easily appreciated it as "happy accidents" as you are trying to create a unique object with all the imperfections that come with it.

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"The Ghost Sentinels" at the studio © Flavio Martín Morante_2013

Nikon D200

I have worked and finished already the first 6 panels and it is coming out good, so I am in good in order to have everything ready by June.