Final

Over time with the advancement of modern technology, photography as an artist media has drastically changed. Once a process of pure chance, luck, skill and patience, photography is now more commonly seen as a digital art – quick and efficient. When thinking about these differences I questioned the integrity of each version of the media, and wanted to blur the boundary between traditional and new.  I shot the images in digital format and 35millimeter film and then developed the film by hand in the darkroom. I experimented with different developing techniques, mainly Solarization – a process that involves re-exposing the image to light in the developing process.  I chose this technique because I felt it closely resembled a digital editing technique that can be done easily in Photoshop by altering tonal levels. However, though it can be done easily in Photoshop, I feel the results I obtained in the darkroom were much more rewarding and organic. I then decided to take these hand-processed images and alter them in ways that would be incredibly difficult in the darkroom by using Photoshop to overlap other images and create variation in transparency. Through this series I deepened my understanding of the strengths and weakness in both digital and wet process photography, and found a pleasing balance between the two distinct variations of the media.

Variations in Solarization technique:

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