Aspen Study

Wow. that's beautiful, john.

You're doing some really nice work. doc

this is one of my most creative aspen images i've seen. good job on seeing a new view of an old subject.

Personally, I would have made this a vertical. Problem with doing that is that it immediately becomes 'Vertical Aspens'.

Nice tonal rendition of the trees.

It is a very striking image. The contrast makes the shot. In addition to the contrast it is nicely composed and expertly printed. (I assume that the upload is a scan of a darkroom print.) The shadow areas look solarized to me. Did you do any kind of special treatment to the shadows? The small pieces of sky that we can see look burned down quite a bit. Are the trees and ground cover simply burned or was some other technique used? In either case, the result is quite expressive and impressive.

I think the shadow areas are definitely solarized. The leaning trunk just to the right of the 3 aspens in the foreground seems to have a border solarization on it on both sides. It really makes the background interesting. I'm not sure if I like the larger patch of lighter shadow in the upper left hand. But it does lend a little bit of mystery to the background. For me, it interrupts the rhythm of the trunks going from left to right. I think I would make the image less square and more "panoramaish" to really bring out the flow from left to right (or right to left), but you are obviously a much better photographer than me, so I I'll just shut up. That background is awesome, especially on the right.

It must be noted that I do not mean for these comments to be offensive. They are made with a sincere interest in helping your photographing.

When I first saw this as a thumbnail I said to myself, "Ok, just another aspen picture." and wasn't going to look further. But then I did want to see what the comments were.

I think the sides look weak, but the printing of the 3 (or 4) centered trees is right on. I am sad that you took those trees and put them in so much context, which does nothing for the greater sake of the picture. In geting closer you could have interacted with the dark peices of bark and the dark negative spaces between the trees. The start of it is there with the two sharp points from the top and bottom, but it is only a start.

You titled this "Aspen Study", but is it a study of a type of tree or the way other people have photographed such things? OR is it just a title? It makes me want to ask, "How many ways did you look at it? How many negaitves did you make? Did you try to put the diagonal branch in the top right just on the edge?" (I think the feeling of the space would be much better if you did).

When I see the word "study" I think of the making of a series of negaitives, each based on what was seen and learned from the previous pictures. If that is what you do every time you look through a camera your picture making becomes a study of life. And then you have no need of such titles. You can call it, "Flagstaff" which is more personal than "tree study." Somthing like "Flagstaff" can make people recall their memories or feelings of the last time they were there, or their family vacation to the Grand Canyon. If you have that, as well as a deeply felt picture it can become a powerful thing.

Thanks for the comments. This image is one in a series of about 8 rolls of film taken in this stand of aspens. There is no intentional solorization of the print. I printed this image very dark as to get the tonal values in the background where I wanted. I then dried the print. I then used low tac frisket and liquid frisket to mask out the background. I then used a weak dilution of potassium ferricyanide bleach to drastically lighten the front aspens. The frisket kept the bleach from lightening the background. After bleaching I re-fixed, hypo cleared, then selenium toned to further darken the background.

John, a beautiful effect and I love the look of this one with it's almost surreal quality.

Thanks for the details of the printing...once again...you did a beautiful job on it.

I wish I could see the other 79 pictures. This masking/bleaching sounds like a technique I heard John Sexton uses.

With all that trouble, did you have a digital negative made of the master so you can simply contact print it later? I would hate to have to do it agian if I sold one. (or 10!!!)