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print this page"Now Showing," The Process of Hoarding Light
Lightning Round: Joshua Adkins
Saturday, September 14 - 9:00AM to 9:15AM
ELIF 305
My community opera house needs a projector. As an artist, the best way I can aid in the acquisition of the projector is by using my photographic skills to produce a creative, beautiful image of the historic Lead Opera House that can be auctioned and sold to aid in the acquisition.
I chose to capture the image on black and white film rather than with a digital camera because I feel that it adds to the historical aesthetic by the pairings of the opera house and the venerable process of film photography and silver gelatin printing. The archival qualities also lend it to being used as a historical reference.
To hoard is to "collect and often hide away a supply of," as defined by Merriam-Webster. With my large format film camera, I will be collecting the light emanating from a movie screen showing "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the last movie shown in the opera house. The inspiration for the image I am creating of the opera house comes from the work of artist, Hiroshi Sugimoto. In his series "Theaters," Sugimoto's photographs capture the last movie in degrading theaters before their destruction. My focus is to show the beauty of our opera house that was almost destroyed by fire before the renovation process is complete, preserving this part of its history.
The image created will be produced as limited edition prints as well as a series showcasing the beauty of the theater. Sugimoto's images were created using long photographic exposures, at times exceeding 60 minutes. This extended exposure duration allowed the light from the screen to reflect and disperse over the whole theater, giving an inviting glow to the space. To mimic this process, calculations were completed to ensure a proper exposure of the film.
Lacking a critical part of the process, I had a negative carrier for the school's enlarger created and printed in the university's 3D printing lab. This newly created carrier will allow for the entire negative to be enlarged in the darkroom. The final step in the printing process will be a gold and selenium toning process. These additional toning procedures will create a glowing contrast to the print, enhancing the intricacies of the theater. The toning process also aids in lengthening the archivability of the silver gelatin prints. To best showcase the details of the theater print, I have selected 20" x 24" paper to print on. This size is the largest available traditional silver gelatin paper stock currently available.
speaker
Joshua Adkins
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