You’ve been experimenting with different processing techniques, including alternative processes. Do you have a favorite? What interests you about it?

I make my photographs with both digital and analog cameras. I fell into the alternative process rabbit hole with a class on bromoil at PCNW taught by Gina and then followed up with a week-long workshop offered by David Lewis. I was immediately attracted to the process because the hands of the photographer are directly connected to the image through the use of brushes and ink. The resulting image can be modified by softening or hardening the ink, by modifying the number of layers, and by the type of brushes used. Coincidentally, as I learned about bromoil, I discovered that my great aunt had worked as an assistant to Frantisek Drtikol in Prague in the 1920s and I have several bromoil prints that she made from that period. So, I guess it runs in the family.

From there, I have learned about platinum/palladium, cyanotype, salt prints, cyanotype-on-glass, kallitypes and most recently, gumoil. And, this year, to bring color into what has been a monochrome world, I’m starting to chase down the tri-color gum bichromate process. I don’t have a “favorite” process. Now, when I work on a project, I think about which of these processes is going to be most applicable. I think about what I want the texture and tone to be – in the prints and I think about how the limitations of each process are going to enhance or detract from the final result. I may test several processes with a few sample images to pick the process that most closely matches the mood that I want to portray. In the last year, I have worked extensively with the gumoil process which uses oil paint to create photographs. Gumoil was “invented” in the 1990s by Karl Koenig who has Seattle roots. This process results in images that have a lot of texture – it matches really well with images of urban ruins or character portraits that have lots of detail. Using oil paint is interesting – one benefit is that you can easily create a monochrome image with a wide variety of color shades. One drawback is that the oil paint can go anywhere. I make my prints in my studio basement because Gina’s never going to let that paint get into the sinks in the alt process room. I’m attracted to gumoil for the process, the broad range of pigments that I can use, the fact that every print is essentially unique and, finally, because it is very uncommon. An internet search turns up only a handful or two of photographers that employ the process consistently.

Is there a common theme or thread in your work that you can identify?

I’m probably more old-school than I’d like to admit. I like to see photographs on paper. Ideally paper that has some kind of exposure to a darkroom, chemicals and water where the presence of my hand is visible. I often go into the world without a plan and make photographs from what I see and experience. I used to say that I made picture of things that did **not** talk back at me but I broke that rule in 2019 with a series of street portraits in Cuba that I printed as palladium images. In short, now I try to think of how I can break the other rules.

How do you choose the subjects for your work?

I know it when I see it? Seriously, sometimes I fall into a project with a burst of activity on a single subject when the images just fit together seamlessly. Other times, I get an inkling of an idea with a few photographs and then manufacture a project by digging around my archive of old images to see if I have any photographs that might match that theme.