Repik a Pampeliska

Nowadays I am focused on landscapes themes, which is a reflection of my personality. I come from east Slovakia, where cities and country side are integrated into a mixed setting. It is based on the relationship full of magic and imagination which can only be transferred to pictures thanks to colours and shapes, old technique and digital technologies, nature and man, rzepak and mniszek. I work with colors mostly by using an old technique of photography – gum printing. The biggest advantage of gum printing is that layer upon layer can be coated, and more than one negatives can be exposed. With such a process a full colour print as well as quite a wide range of effects can be achieved. It follows that the negative must be prepared, which with digital technologies can be done on transparent plastic foil. So, the photos simply have to be converted to negative, which can be done with 1 simple click, or the colour channels can be split, and 3-4 negatives can be prepared for full colour printing. Basically 3 components are needed: potassium or ammonium dichromate, Arabic gum and pigment. The variety of possibilities determines the result and the creative approach to be used. The ratio of the chemicals in the solution is determined for the final emulsion characteristics. By adding more dichromate than gum + pigment we will get an emulsion which is more sensitive to highlights, but which must be exposed for a much longer time. On the contrary, by adding more gum + pigment we will get an emulsion more sensitive to shadows, which will create a higher contrast and the exposition is shorter. Once the emulsion has been coated and dried, it becomes sensitive to light. The coated paper with the negative placed on it is ready to expose. Because it is most sensitive to the ultraviolent spectrum of light, the best option is to use a special light box. The other possibility is to expose it in the sun, e.g. outdoors. Developing is done in cold water. This part can be seen as the most creative, because the artist is manually working with the photograph to affect the final picture. The process is done by brush strokes through which the emulsion can be washed out in areas places where desirable. This brings numerous possibilities of working with photographs.