New to Backwoods and Beyond:

The Exploritorium–A process journal for my year long alternative printing project.  

Several years ago I did a workshop with Eileen Rafferty and Elizabeth Stone on Alternative Processes where I was introduced to a smorgasbord of photographic printing techniques, including the historic processes of cyanotypes and VanDukes, and more modern possibilities, ranging from image transferring to encaustic.  I was immediately hooked.  The possibility of integrating the subject with the style of presentation opened up a whole new world of exploration for me and I loved the idea of hand crafting unique pieces of art.  Over the next few years I continued my explorations in a number of workshops put on by the Photographers Formulary with such extraordinary teachers as Kerick Kouklis, Dan Burkholder, and Christina Z. Anderson.

This next year I am embarking on a project using salt printing and gum dichromate processes with a portfolio of Yellowstone photographs taken over the years in the wintertime.  Visiting Yellowstone in the winter makes one feel as if you have stepped back in time, so one of the earliest processes–salt printing, will express that historic feeling and combining it with gum dichromate, the earliest color process, will emphasize the unexpected rainbow of colors created by the hot springs.  I am hoping to share my process in this journal as I work over the next  months.