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Clark: “A Rose is a Rose is a Rose”

“A Rose is a Rose is a Rose”
Kelly Clark


Media: Lumen Print
Foliage exposed to sunlight on Ilford Multigrade black and white paper
Frame Size: 11”x14”
Print Size: 8”x10”
Price: $200


Process:
A lumen print is a type of camera-less photography. Objects or negatives are placed directly onto light sensitive photographic paper and exposed using sunlight rather than an enlarger. The actions of light and chemistry produce unexpected and often beautiful color variations from black and white paper. The resulting image becomes an indexical record of information specific to the time, weather, and physical content of the materials used. The image is fragile and will continue to change unless fixed, but often the fixing itself changes the colors yet again.

Most films and papers consist of silver halide crystals suspended in gelatin. Most sheet and roll films consist of multiple layers, as many as six: an acetate backing, film base, emulsion layer, adhesive layers, and a scratch resistant coating. The emulsion itself is a gelatin in which light sensitive silver halide crystals are suspended. Photographic papers also consist of these basic layers with the emulsion sometimes coated directly onto the paper and other times over a layer of resin. When light hits the silver crystals through a camera lens, they form a latent image that can only be seen after interaction with a chemical developer. In lumen printing the actions of heat and moisture as well as the chemical make-up of the material being used is what creates the image which does not need developer to become visible. This process uses ultraviolet light, not an incandescent bulb as an image produced by enlarging in the darkroom. That is why lumens are their own category and not classified as photograms, which are usually exposed under an enlarger and developed as you would a regular black and white print. The silver particles will however continue to morph during exposure to light unless they are fixed.

Description of Lumens printing by Anne Eder
Clark: “A Rose is a Rose is a Rose”