Carbon printing, once considered the premier photographic printing process, is a lost art that simply fell victim to progress and the need for professional photographers to produce volumes of work with faster, silver-based printing processes. This highly-regarded and aesthetically unique printing method is now practiced by a few dedicated artists. Among them, your instructors, Vaughn Hutchins and Jim Fitzgerald are considered masters of the process.
This class will encompass the entire printing process including:
Making the carbon tissue
Sensitizing the material
Exposing the image
Developing the print
Since the fabricated carbon tissue normally takes two days to dry, students will initially be using tissue provided by the instructor to make prints. By the third day, their own materials will have cured and they will undertake the entire process from scratch.
Here is both an opportunity to learn the process to craft these striking images with a gifted instructor and to spend time in nature’s grandest classroom, Yosemite Valley.
Renown for their stability, three-dimensional topographic qualities and long tonal range, carbon prints are considered by some to be the ultimate monochromatic photographic expression. The making of carbon prints is a meditative process ideal for those who care about quality rather than quantity and who are looking for an additional dimension to their photographic imagery.
As elegant as the prints are, the process is not difficult to undertake. With many of the required materials readily available at local grocery and art stores, all that is missing is a patient and knowledgeable guide to help you avoid the pitfalls of inexperience and identify the key components of success. For Vaughn, sharing this rare process is a labor of love. Doing so in the inspiring surroundings of Yosemite makes the task even sweeter.
This class welcomes beginning to advanced students alike, whether you have little to no experience in a darkroom or have printed your own work for years. The goal is that students will easily and eagerly continue the carbon printing process when they return to their homes.