ron reeder
The floral images in this portfolio combine all of the above interests but also incorporate digital age technology. The compositions are formal and were captured with either a 4x5 or 8x10 view camera on black and white film. To introduce color, each negative was scanned with a digital scanner and the image was colorized using tools in Photoshop.
This approach is essentially a high tech equivalent of hand coloring a photo. The result is that all colors in the image are imaginary and need not bear any relationship to the true color of the object.
The way in which I print the colorized image is the result of a happy collaboration between classical platinum printing technique and a modern digital printer. In essence, the color portion of the image is laid down with the archival inks of an Epson 2200 printer. Then the colored paper is coated with sensitized platinum solution and a full size digitally produced negative is used to over print the black portion of the image.
The result is a traditional platinum print with a judicious amount of color added. The details of this printing proceedure were worked out in collaboration with Brad Hinkel, have been published in both View Camera and Camera Arts magazines, and are fully described on my web site, www.ronreeder.com.
I am fundamentally a large format photographer with a strong tendency to view the world upside down on a ground glass screen. If an image looks good under the viewing cloth, there is a chance it will also look good when processed and printed. Of course, working with large, clumsy, tripod-mounted cameras somewhat defines the type of images I can capture. Whether the subject matter is the grand Western landscape, or portraits, or tabletop set-ups, the compositions tend to be more serene and formal than if I had shot them with a hand-held 35mm camera.
Along with a predeliction for large cameras, I enjoy the softer, more romantic look of many images made by the pictorialist photographers of the 19nth and early 20th century. To achieve that look in my own images I am continually experimenting with older printing methods, in particular with various methods of printing in platinum/palladium.
The goal with these images is not to make a social statement, but simply to make objects of beauty. I hope you enjoy viewing the images as much as I enjoyed the process of making them.
