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Biography
I was born in 1967 in Best,
The Netherlands. My Interest in photography started at the age of 15. I used
a minolta X-300. All was photographed in slides because printing
photos from negatives was very expensive. My basic adult
education was followed at the Leonardo Da Vinci school where I
learned to work with my hands, followed by a education in higher
Computer Science where I earned my bachelor degree. I became member of a photo club in the village
where I live. In 1995 I started taking
pictures in black and white and created a darkroom at the attic
with a meopta black & white enlarger. A friend of me Krishna
Joeloemsingh helped me to get started.
After some years I bought a medium format pentax camera which I
used for theatre work and weddings. I also developed the colour pictures myself with a jobo cpa2 processor. Due to the digital
age I stopped with this because there was no longer interest in
good pictures anymore. People just want cheap and fast pictures
and that’s why I stopped this kind of photography. My drive was
gone. A second reason was that I joined a little company that
just had been started to build up a business in Digital Signage
software as a software architect.
Nature calls
Because my interest was more and more heading towards nature
and still life, I bought a 4x5 field camera and a LPL 7451 (4x5)
enlarger. I spend a lot of time in the woods around my village
which is changing rapidly in to a nature park by
“natuurmonumenten” and “brabants landschap” which is called “het
groene woud”. These organisations prevent the nature to be
disposed by the hunger for houses in this area. The more you
walk In these areas, more is there to be seen. With the shen hao
6x12 back I shoot slides which give a beautiful panorama effect.
In 2007 I also bought a manual Hasselblad set.
Art
Besides working
in the nature, I started taking still-life photos. I got a Sinar
technical camera and made my own studio. Since 2007 I got a
increasingly interest in art and started taking courses in
photography and art and got a mentor to help me out besides the
baseline which helped me to get further. Besides
that I started sculpturing to find out what the 3D effect on
sculptures did, and how it could help me in taking still-life
photographs. In 2008 I founded a new community called
FFotone
for analogue photographers who come together each 2 weeks to
talk about photography.
My
Photographic Alternative Process history
In 2005 I started developing photo's with liquid silver
emulsion which I could use to coat aquarelle paper and even wood.
This got me into the alternative photography section.
2010
Daquerreotype
Workshop Daquerreotype by Marinus Ortelee and Charlotte Edam
(The Netherlands)
This was the first publicly announced photographic process
(1837).
A polished silver plate (sensitised to light with iodine
vapour ) is developed with mercury vapor and gives an
astonishing image.
2009 Wet Collodium Plates
Workshop Collodium by Quinn Jacobson (USA)
A mixture of chemicals(collodium) is poured onto a cleaned
black glass plate and made light sensitive.
Direct after this the wet plate is exposed in a camera and afterwards
developed. This results in a positive image.
2008 Lith
Workshop Lith by Wolfgang Moersch (Germany).
The visual appearance of a lith print is grainy, dark
shadows and soft delicate highlights, different colours and
hues can be achieved as the developer gets older which adds
to the unpredictable effect and probably the appeal of doing
the prints in this manner. One last thing, lith development
is confusing frustrating, virtually unrepeatable and time
consuming, but, the rewards are worth it.
2007 Bromoil
Workshop Bromoil by Jeroen de Wijs (The Netherlands).
One starts with a normally developed print on a silver
bromide paper which is then chemically bleached and hardened.
The gelatine which originally had the darkest tones, is
hardened the most, the highlights remain absorbent to water.
This print can then be inked like the oil print.
2006 Palladium & Platinum
Workshop Palladium / Platinum by Witho Worms (The
Netherlands).
Non silver process that uses palladium. This process has
nice and long tone scales.
2005
Liquid Light emulsion & Cyanotype
Liquid light emulsion is a silver emulsion that can be
heated and painted onto surfaces. After that the surface is
exposed using an enlarger with a negative and developed. The
result is an image print onto a surface. I even used wood to
create a image onto.
Cyanotype also called Prussian blue or blueprint was
invented in 1842. By combining two parts of iron salts these
get a blue colour when exposed to ultraviolet light. First
the solution is painted onto aquarelle paper that does not
contain any chemicals which could start reacting with the
solution. After drying a enlarged negative is placed on top
of the paper and this is exposed to ultraviolet light. At
the right snatch point the paper is washed in water to remove
the non exposed solution and the photo is ready.
Pieter Brueghel Art centre
Art centre where I follow courses and get responses back
from my work/projects
Why using
Alternative Processes?
These old processes result in a image that contains more
than a picture. The structure of the material used adds a
special feeling to the artwork. Each process has its own result
and by combining the right image to the right process the
outcome can be heavenly.
I only use analogue photography equipment and use film to catch
the scene. For me a photo is a (silver) emulsion on a paper base
on no ink. The feel of real paper and emulsion cannot be copied
by using a digital way.
Website representation
The work shown on this website is scanned with a Epson 3200 or a
digital photo made from the original print and
is just a impression of the real picture.
Not the negative, but the print is photographed/scanned mostly to get
the most realistic impression of the original work.
Willie-Jan Bons. |
