Al Olson
Photographer
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
My objective is to promote work that addresses the criteria of fine art photography. I am not a graphic artist… I do photography. I elect not to ‘Photoshop’ my work… I prefer to use the photographic darkroom to preserve the integrity of the image as I visualized it, composed it, and recorded it on film.
With the rapid growth of digital imaging, it has become popular to alter images with Photoshop. The modern fad is to over-saturate colors, over-sharpen the edges, exaggerate contrast, and add garish colors until the image appears more cartoonish than photographic. These are effects that I choose to avoid. It is my opinion that ‘Photography’ is what is created in the camera, not what is altered in Photoshop.
Examples of such camera techniques include extended exposures under low light conditions, use of infrared media (both B&W and color), use of slow shutter effects, and employing multiple exposures (on a single frame). I prefer to use negative films and have a special interest in low light photography and the use of infrared films. A photo lab is maintained at my residence in Pagosa Springs for processing color and B&W films and prints.
In recent years I have evolved to more intensive use of medium format and large format cameras (as large as 8x10”). These negatives produce enlargements that have imperceptibly fine grain. Depth of field is highly controllable. Tonality is excellent. In addition the higher cost of the sheet film, combined with the necessary manual adjustments to the camera, impose a discipline upon the photographer to compose his compositions more deliberately. Overall results are superior to those produced by the smaller format cameras.
None of my prints are manipulated in Photoshop. Black and white prints are made in the darkroom on silver gelatin emulsions. Color prints are a true chromogenic process where the dye couplers surrounding the exposed silver grains are activated within the emulsion by the developer to form the dyes that define the image. The colored dyes formed by this process are embedded in the emulsion, not laid on the surface of the paper as with ink jet prints.
Processed archivally, washed thoroughly, and protected from ultraviolet light silver gelatin has an archival history of over 150 years. This is a proven history, not a laboratory estimate. Each print is processed manually, a process that entails several hours of darkroom work. Because of batch variations in chemicals and papers and other variables such as time, temperature, and changes in chemical strength, no two prints will be exactly identical, although differences may be difficult to detect by the human eye.