New Work

Lately I've been hungry to become more abstract in my pinhole imagery so Iive been experimenting with solarization.

The images are of oak trees in Mt Diablo State Park which began as 4 x 5 Kodalith negatives taken in a Pinhole camera. Once I take the initial exposure in black and white film, I duplicate the negative and solarize the copy using a mix of chemicals. Sometimes, at light speed the chemicals alter the negative, sometimes I can see gradual effects unfolding. I then layer the original and it's 'mate' together and print them on color paper. There is nothing digital in this process. Color in the final image is created by the interaction of the various developers and film fixes with the print paper and it's chemicals.

I wanted the energy of the living tree to be reflected in the patterning of the fluids under the influence of the hand held light I used to flash the positive. As fluids move thru space and living things they create paths that are completely singular and unpredictable on the most foundational level. An individual oak tree cannot duplicate itself identically, it is always subject to the medium it exists in, so as it is in solarization and in the process of photography I aspire to.

- Claudia Wornum