# wood photos



## anua (Apr 22, 2004)

hi, 
im new in this section - so i've decided to show you some of my 'wood pics'  first -)

this is a light - emmulsion on the wood,  -->  developed,  - than i've carried out some odd experiments  with chemistry on it (im glad im still alive -)) and , at the end  - i 've painted it.












and two on the paper













im very curious what do you think?


----------



## oriecat (Apr 22, 2004)

I think those are very very cool!!  Tell us more about what kind of experiments you did with the chemistry!  And keep up the good work!


----------



## anua (Apr 22, 2004)

thanks orie!
i would like to tell you more about experiments, but i have to find all this strange, chemistry words in dictionary -)) first!!
my english is not good, but it IS -  my 'chemistry vocalbulary' doesnt exist at all -)))

i've tried to find the word for the chemicals i used here, but they're not in dic!  
....hrrrmmm.......this is something with copper...not very friendly to our health....i'll try to find the name!


----------



## terri (Apr 27, 2004)

These are fantastic!   I love this kind of stuff....very surreal and beautiful images.   The wood lends a texturey feel.   I have definitely been interested in wood as a receptor surface.   Did you have any trouble getting it prepped?   

Wonderful work!!


----------



## markc (Apr 27, 2004)

Very interesting and beautiful. I especially like the first and last one.


----------



## Harpper (Apr 27, 2004)

Really cool pictures anua. The wood and paper definitely gives them a nice texture. I also like the faded colors from these pictures. With the texture and color, it really changes their mood in a pleasing way. Good work.


----------



## tr0gd0o0r (Apr 28, 2004)

Anua,  can you tell me about the process you used to do the wood photos?  I've been wanting to do some stuff like that ofr a long time and will have the opportunity of the summer.  My thought process is paint on some emulsion, let it dry, then treat it more or less like paper.  Anything i'm missing?  (how do you do test prints)  Do you recommend any type of emulsion?  Where can i get it?  thanks for the info


----------



## anua (May 8, 2004)

hi!  
thanks for comments everyone!



> can you tell me about the process you used to do the wood photos? I've been wanting to do some stuff like that ofr a long time and will have the opportunity of the summer. My thought process is paint on some emulsion, let it dry, then treat it more or less like paper. Anything i'm missing? (how do you do test prints) Do you recommend any type of emulsion? Where can i get it? thanks for the info



hrmmm.....im not a good expert in 'liquid light' stuffs - i've just started to learn more about it - but i can tell you how i do my 'wood photos' -

first of you have to buy (or prepare it by yourself(!) -->>yes, i know some people preparing it at home (!) :shock: ) an emulsion.
I use 'work' by tetenal, but i've heard that 'jessops' is also good. I have never used 'FOMA's, but they say its ok, and (what's important i think) 'foma' is 4* cheaper than 'work'. -)

The darkroom has to be well ventilated, otherway you can be ill next day- (belive me, i know what im talking about -))) )

Next thing you have to buy is tan (im not sure if this is the right english word for it ? ) ->  the tan is necessary to strengthen the liquid. You can put the tan stright into it, or (and this is what i do) add it to fixative.

Surfaces/wood/paper/others : there are many ways of preparing it, - my way is to coat it with 7%solution of gelatine.

Painting:you can use brush, or roller , put 1 or 2 leyers of liquid - all depends what kind of effect you want to get - (if you put only 1 leyer the brush will be visible).
ah, and beware of bubbles  :twisted: - it can ruin your photo! -

Developing is very similar to paper's develop - the only thing is - you have to put the tan into a fixative - and be very careful while rinsing - the emulsion is very delicate thing! -

When your photo is dry you can cover it with special varnish or (and this is what i do - ) start an odd experiments with chemicals and painting  -)

The next steps are just *my* steps - i dont know if this is a proprietorial behaviour with chemicals (in fact ->> im sure it is not -  :twisted:  ), but i can tell you what i do with my 'woods' -

when the wood is completely dry i paint it with other chemical - this is the one i couldnt find the english name for -     ( the german name is 'verstarker' &lt;- (maybe it will be helpful )- this is  a popular chemical  - usually its used for fixing less contrasted negatives - it gives a nice brown tint to emulsion, and makes the contrast higher)
anyway... maybe ill find the english name some day....
its a bit similar to 'sepia photo toner', but i like this colour more and a special mat i get.

ah, almost forget - if you work with this chemical, - first - you have to do it fast - put this for 5 sec - 2 min (you can see the chem. workin'), and then rinse well - otherwise the pic can disappear ! :shock: 
 - second - its caustic a bit, so please dont drink it! -))

.....and next i paint it with my oils - 

hrmmmm....i think thats it....it was loooong , hard speech for my broken english -  
but i hope it will help you with your work, tr0gd0o0r!

cheers!


----------



## anua (May 8, 2004)

ah, and about test prints.....you can paint a small sheets of paper with emulsion, and than use it for tests - but its always 'more less'...you just have to try .... -
i cant wait to see your pics!


----------



## terri (May 10, 2004)

Thank you for these details!   Your work is very beautiful here.   I've heard of tan, and have seen a forumla for it - it isn't too hard to do.  

Great work, and I hope you post some more!


----------



## Luminosity (May 14, 2004)

These are beautiful anua   . I like all four of them but my favourite is the second one and last one. 
I find them soulful .... the subject in each piece seem alive and its like they're inviting us into their world....to learn their story...
My nephews aunt ( on his dads side ...I'm the aunty on the maternal side  ) was doing photography thru her high school and she did a great range of wood/photographic pieces , all of them with my nephew as the subject....I actually asked her the other day to show me how she did it, when she has time....will get back with any info soon as I get it   

Cheers - Tina


----------



## anua (May 29, 2004)

hey,  
there is more of wood photos i did -
maybe some of them are not good, but you can see here how the emulsion (and chemicals) behaves on different surfaces...


#1, #2 - i was trying to use different kind of wood here, much cheaper, but as you can see it was worth its price....i think they put too much of glue into it, so the emulsion didnt want to stick properly...  












here i wanted to see how does emulsion behave when you put only one leyer of it...hmmm ...you can see every move of brush :twisted: 
i think next time i should be more careful with my dash brush -))
but you can get some nice effect with it , too














definitely too much of brush here -














last two shows how the chemical(?still dont know the name -;() is working....
they're not good, but you can see here how fast you should be with this thing...

here, on natalia's hairs (light brown patchs, he he) i left the chemical only few sec longer than i should....(i think it must work different in dark/light areas...im not sure...)






same here...look at her back...  








sorry for the looong post, but i thought that seeing my mistakes can help you to avoid the situations like mine -)


----------



## anua (May 29, 2004)

he he, i've just checked out the english name for the 'cheaper wood' at my dictionary - its: 'felt' or 'hardboard' or 'fibre-board' ...i dont know which one is correct...but you shouldn't use any of them -)( i mean - the wood - )

cheers!


----------



## GerryDavid (May 30, 2004)

I think I got the wrong idea about the way this works.  :0)  I hope you can clearify.

My way of thinking is your painting the photo sensative material to a surface like a wood board.  Then you expose the picture on it like you would to paper and then do the paper fix, stop and bath.  Which would be rather hard to do horizoontally.

That or you take the emulsion from a picture and stick it to the piece of wood with those things you listed.

Sorry if this is a dumb question.  :0).


----------



## anua (Jun 6, 2004)

> I think I got the wrong idea about the way this works. :0) I hope you can clearify.
> 
> My way of thinking is your painting the photo sensative material to a surface like a wood board. Then you expose the picture on it like you would to paper and then do the paper fix, stop and bath. Which would be rather hard to do horizoontally.
> 
> ...





he he, its not a 'dumb question' at all -
my english is bad, so maybe i said something not quite right -)))

1. right, i paint the wood board with a sensitive material (emulsion)
2. expose, and do the fix, stop and bath as it was paper.
3.what do you mean 'hard to do horizontally?', cause i didnt get it...(english, english :twisted: )
4.im not taking the emulsion from a wood, cause its already there -...i just treat the wood board as i treat bw papers -
5. next, when it's dry, i do all the 'chemical stuffs' and painting....

....i hope it makes more sense now.....
ah, and sorry for my broken english again -)


----------



## GerryDavid (Jun 6, 2004)

Glad its this way, the other way seemed cheap to me, hehe.  This way sounds like it would have a nice look.

By horizontally I mean say your doing a picture on a door, do you take the door off of the hinges and lay it down to do the work on it or would you leave the door up *which is verticle* and do it that way?  I cant really see doing it that way cuz it would be hard to do the dev, stop and fix since it would run down the door cuz of gravity.  :0).  But if you have it laying down *horizontal*, I dont really see how you would keep the developer, stop and fix on it unless you created a boundary border around the emulsion so the solution wont run off of the door and onto the floor.  Also it would be hard to stir the solution to keep the chemicals from settling in some spots and not develop parts of the picture. I cant think of what this is called.  Im thinking agrivate but that cant be right.

So the other thing im wondering about is how do you expose the picture on the door?  Shine the picture from the enlarger onto the door, do the size and focus, then turn the enlarger off and paint the board with the emulsion?

I really like the sound of this, and could be a good money maker to offer as a service.  :0).

Thanks for the info and for reading my lengthy question, hehe.



			
				anua said:
			
		

> he he, its not a 'dumb question' at all -
> my english is bad, so maybe i said something not quite right -)))
> 
> 1. right, i paint the wood board with a sensitive material (emulsion)
> ...


----------



## K8 (Sep 11, 2004)

Just came across this thread. WOW, it is BEAUTIFUL work!


----------



## Corry (Sep 11, 2004)

Agree..I wanna do that!


----------



## Lula (Sep 13, 2004)

Wow...I'm kinda late in this thread ..... 
Beautifull shots and nice work Anja  8) 
I also wanna try do do it  8)  hehehehe


----------



## Lula (Sep 13, 2004)

By the way the 1rst pic in the thread reminded me a picture I've seen of David Bowie hehe 8)


----------



## jadin (Sep 15, 2004)

anua said:
			
		

>



HOLY COW ANUA!

These are simply amazing. I'm speechless.


----------



## santino (Sep 15, 2004)

Wow... those are great! Belate congrats anua!!!!!!


----------



## ksmattfish (Sep 15, 2004)

Beautiful!  I love the look of the brush marks in the hand coated emulsion.  I just bought a recently (in the last few decades) republished edition of Alfred Stieglitz's 'Camera Work; A Pictorial Guide', and I'm falling for the pictorialist look of the "older" processes.


----------



## anua (Sep 18, 2004)

oi! ive had no idea the thread is still alive!!!

thanks guys!!!

oh, and ksmattfish - i envy you the book! ha ha, im still thinking about trying this "gum/water developing" process, but i find it soo difficult! ...well, maybe its not - but it looks difficult at least!


----------

