lumen prints

Artist talks... so much more intimidating when you're the artist

The CCP ran a cute public program on Friday night to give the artists a chance to talk about their winning works. It was fun. Thanks for having me!

Judges & Winners Speak
Friday 8 December, 6–7:30pm
Join us after hours for a glass of wine and hear from CCP Salon winners speaking about their winning ways with photography.

I have organised and facilitated a billion artist talks over the past 10 years at MGA. I thought that speaking for five minutes about my book would be very straight-forward and with my public speaking experience, simple.

I was so wrong.

I now have a deeper appreciation for what I’m asking of artists when they speak at MGA!

Photos of the talk in action thanks to my hype girl Katie Tremschnig.


CCP Salon 2017 - Winner - Best use of natural light

Well, that escalated quickly…

Just a few months ago, I was pottering about in my backyard, making lumens for myself. I love the concertina photobook format, and I feel it works best with a small, cohesive series of images that can work individually or when viewed as a whole.

As I continued making lumens with plants foraged from my neighbour’s yards, I felt they would sit nicely together in this way, and worked towards completing the book for the end of the year. Having a deadline is always motivating for me, so I set myself the challenge to enter this photobook to the CCP Salon. I usually enter a print or two as a fun way to celebrate the end of year - but making a book, that was a whole other ball game.

Fast forward through many trials and tests – those following along on instagram would have seen much of this in my stories – I completed the book just in time to drop it off for the salon.

I attended the opening on an incredibly hot and sticky evening, and as the speeches were about to start I departed to avoid being stuck inside with a sea of humanity. The CCP salon opening is always well attended and if you’re in the room when the speeches start there is no way out until they end. The CCP Salon gives 30 separate awards…I had friends waiting outside who had given up on the heat half-an-hour earlier… It seemed like the best time to leave.

Not a moment later I got a call from a friend sensibly watching the announcement at home on a live stream, she wasn’t making sense ‘I HEARD YOUR NAME!’ she shouted. ‘Go back! You’ve won something!’. I naturally did not believe her. It turns out she was correct, and mine was the first award announced on the night. I missed my moment of fame by less than 5 minutes, cue: face palm.

I was both shocked and surprised (in a good way), and thrilled to have my handmade photobook awarded ‘Best use of natural light’ at the 2017 CCP Salon, the 25th iteration of the annual open entry prize (and second year that photobooks could be entered). The judges were: Hoda Afshar, Artist; Elias Redstone, Independent Curator; Pippa Milne, CCP Curator. Thank you so much to the judges, CCP and the award sponsor Vanbar.

You can see all the excellent winners on the CCP website

What a way to end the year!

New in PROJECTS: Capturing light: Lumen prints in my garden

in

Stephanie Richter Untitled (backyard lumen experiment 1 - Bottlebrush) 2017 gelatin silver print 20.3 x 25.4 cm
other details: Ilford fibre based classic glossy paper !0 minute exposure in full winter sun.

Photograms, rayographs, shadowgrams, whatever you want to call them, not much could simpler in photography.

Place your subject (for example, a plant cutting) on a light-sensitised surface, expose to the light source required for that surface, remove your object and then make the resulting image permanent. Volià - a photogram! The choices of light-sensitised surfaces are broad, I'm not exaggerating to say that almost all photographic processes can be used to create a photogram, from the early cyanotype through to the contemporary document scanner, and everything in between.

With Lumen prints, you're using black-and-white (gelatin silver) paper and the sun/UV light (some artists have been known to use starlight or a full moon). Plus some paper fixer to make the image permanent. It can be as quick and simple as you like (a plant-cutting and a 10minute exposure to the sun, as seen in my example) - or you can construct complex compositions, involve your body, or expose the print for 24hours/days. Variables in paper type, age, previous exposure to light (fogging) and paper surface will, along with length of exposure and moisture levels during exposure, give you varied depth of tone and colour in your resulting prints. Lumen printing is full of opportunities to experiment to your heart's desire. 

I'm planning to attempt some toning/staining of future prints with items from around the house (tea, coffee, red wine etc...) in my next experiment. 

WORKSHOPS: Coming up in late September I'm running some photogram Lumen Print workshops for MGA at the inaugural Bright Festival of Photography, in the picturesque Victorian high country alpine region. I'd love to invite you along, but the event has sold out! Keep an eye on MGA's instagram stories for the event.

  • Keep an eye under PROJECTS for the continuation of this series

Stephanie Richter Untitled (backyard lumen experiment 2 - Wattle) 2017 two gelatin silver prints 20.3 x 50.8 cm
other details: Ilford fibre based classic glossy paper ,25 minute exposure in overcast winter light