  Chain of Rocks Bridge POLAROID TRANSFER PRINTS Polaroid image transfers are created by migrating the dyes in the emulsion of a peel apart print to a receptor surface such as watercolour paper. The resulting one-of-a-kind image looks like a combination of photography and painting. | Capturing the moment is the photographer’s interest, but mainstream photography has usually focussed on the subject and its treatment. Film isn’t the most tactile or flexible medium. Processing requires planning and the results depend largely on a rather distant manipulation of the elements, literally fumbling around in the dark with tongs and hypersensitive chemicals. With the emergence of digital photography, the potential for image altering and editing becomes infinite. In some ways, this plethora of options could be interpreted as freedom from the limitations imposed by more archaic methods, but it also adds such complexity that a single vision becomes difficult to achieve. Push against this medium and it doesn’t push back – it adapts and expands. Only the artist can decide which moment out of a million is worth preserving. CYANOTYPE PRINTS In her work, photographer Jane Linders revisits the relationship between subject, medium, and process. The cyanotype of the Brooklyn Bridge below is printed on a page torn from a 1939 Sheet Metal Handbook. Cyanotype prints are a crude photographic process during which an absorbent surface is soaked in a solution of water, potassium ferricyanide, and ferric ammonium citrate to render it photosensitive. Objects or negatives are placed on this surface and exposed to light (traditionally sunlight) and then the material is rinsed with water. The result is a white print on a blue background. The process was widely used for copying architectural plans, the origin of the term blue print, and adds an additional layer of interest to Linders' series of architecturally themed images. Image credits: Jane Linders |
Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, USA
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