My First Book

Damaged by Tyler Hewitt | Make Your Own Book

I've just published a book on Blurb.com. It's a book of photographs I made back when I was a student, trying a technique on a roll of film and having it come out completely wrong. The images turned out to be pretty interesting, despite the errors. I posted a few images from this project here about a year and a half ago. Follow that link to read more detail about what I was attempting to do with that film.

I'm excited about this book, It's something I've been planning for quite a while. I've got ideas for several more books as well.

Hope you enjoy it!

First Light

These are my first attempts at lumen printing, made yesterday afternoon.  I heard about lumen printing for the first time only a couple of months ago, and after seeing some really nice examples online, I know I would be trying it as soon as I finished school (and had a sunny day, which has turned out to be kind of rare this year).

Lumen printing couldn't be easier. Basically, you are treating regular photo paper as if it were printing-out paper. You take any photo paper (old, expired paper seems to work the best), lay objects on it (online sources claim that leaves and other plant material give the best results), cover it with glass, and let it sit in direct sunlight for a long time. These photos were exposed for about 50 minutes. I used Kodak Panalure paper that is at least 13 years old for these prints.

After exposure, the prints aren't developed normally (which would likely turn them solid black), but are fixed. The reading I did online suggested using highly diluted fix, so I made my fix half strength. Online sources also suggested toning before fixing. The only toner I had in my studio was an ancient bottle of selenium toner, so I mixed that up and threw the prints in for a few minutes.

I like the results, for the most part. Some lumen prints can have interesting shades of pink, purple and blue, but that is dependent on the type of paper and toner used. The deep brown/black tones I have here are more common. There are many variations to this process, and I hope to explore some of them over the summer. One thing I'm really excited about is what's seen in this last image. I had a couple of enlarged transparency negatives from a failed gum bichromate print in my darkroom, so I threw them onto a sheet of Panalure and made a lumen print, just to see what would happen. The results are much better than I expected, and I'm looking forward to trying a lumen print from a transparency negative made just for that purpose.

Still More New Collages (Part IV)

I've been working quite a bit more slowly on collages lately, but I am still making them. I'm also busy trying to maintain focus while finishing out the school year, and am doing a little shooting for some other projects I have in mind.

I had high hopes for the first collage in this post, but it just didn't turn out as well as I'd have liked. The red one I like much better.

This one's my most recent one, completed just a couple of days ago.

More New Collage Part III

Here's a few more new collages. The first one was made at the beginning of spring break, after drinking some absinthe. I'm not sure if that influenced the collage, but it might have.

This one was made the same evening, but before getting into the absinthe.

I've I haven't done much in the studio at all this week. Back to school, very busy work week, etc. Hopefully, I'll get some more done this weekend.

More New Collage

I posted some new collages last week. Here are a few more.

As I mentioned before, these are collages made without any large ideas guiding my work. I did set some rules, however, mainly to keep them simple and avoid storytelling.

Originally, I was only going to use black and white images against the colored paper backgrounds. The green one above was the first of these I made. That rule was quickly abandoned, however.

This one was done on a piece of wallpaper, which adds some interest (and content?), but it didn't dry very flat. I do like it, flat or not, and really should do some more.

I'm still making these, expect to see some more in a few days. Meanwhile, remember my print sale to benefit Japan disaster relief. 

Japan Relief Fundraiser

I'm sure you're aware of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In the past, I've made donations when tragedies have struck. Now, I'm trying something a little different.

To encourage donations beyond what I myself give, I will be selling prints and donating all the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization. They provide aide in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, while operating independently of any political, military, or religious agendas. They have already send a medical team to Japan, and will need funds to continue work there.

I will be selling ten prints. Each print will be approx. 7.5 X 10 inches, unmatted, on 8.5 X 11 inch paper stock (prints may vary in size-many of the images on my blog are square, which would mean a 7.5 X 7.5 inch print). They will be printed using archival pigments on Epson glossy paper, and signed by me. The cost is $50 per print, the entirety of which will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.

I highly encourage you to participate. Here's what to do:

1. Go to my Photo A Day blog.
2. Choose any image I've posted to the blog. I've been running the blog for just short of three years, so there are plenty of images to choose from.
3. Email me the following info:
-the title and date of the post with the image you'd like a print of (please list at least one alternate image, just in case). If a post has more than one image, let me know which one you want.
-the address you'd like the print shipped to.

If you're one of the first ten people to respond, I will send you a return message with info on how to make payment to my Paypal account. Once I receive your payment, I will send you your print.

If this works as I hope it will, the end result will be a $500 donation to Doctors Without Borders. It will also result in your receiving a piece of art.

Now go buy art and support emergency relief!

New Collage

I've been making collages over the past couple of weeks. Here are a few of them.

I didn't have any initial inspiration for these collages, aside from using up some sheets of fade resistant artist's paper bought for a project I finished several years ago. 

I did set some rules, however. First was size. I pre-cut 8X10 inch pieces of paper, to limit the size of these collages. Past experience has taught me that smaller collages seem to go together easier. The second rule was to keep things simple. I tried using as few individual elements as possible in these collages to avoid over working them.

The third rule was to avoid any attempt to tell a story or create a narrative. While not exactly content free,  they hopefully encourage the viewer to apply their own associations when viewing them.

I'll post some more in a few days.