Nick Brandt – Ostrich Egg Abandoned, Amboseli, 2007 28x36 inch Platinum Print |
“The prince of all media” — is how Alfred Stieglitz, Photo-Secessionist and founder of Camera Work, once referred to the platinum printing process. Indeed, platinum printing lives up to this moniker as it is one of the oldest, most refined, and stable of all black and white procedures in photographic history.
Like most other alternative photographic processes, platinum's roots stretch back into the nineteenth century. Born of noble metals, platinum prints became prominent among photographers in the late 1800s and early 1900s as they sought to elevate photography’s artistic status by creating images both elegant and handmade. Therefore, platinum images continue to carry a painterly and dramatic legacy.
Kevin O'Connell –Chord 12-9, 2000, 6x4 inch Platinum/Palladium Print |
Kevin O'Connell – Jet Trail #4, 2001 5x7 inch Platinum/Palladium Print |
Soft, sombre, vast, and graphic, Kevin O’Connell’s Plains depicts a rarely seen side of Colorado. Bathed in a nearly golden tone, the flat western land is carved by agriculture, staccatoed with clouds, and punctuated by lone man-made constructions. Elegant and otherworldly, O’Connell’s 5x7 inch prints exude cautious serenity, mystery, and awe. See the complete portfolio.
James Pitts – Peony Flowers and Bud 4x5 inch Platinum/Palladium print |
Using a large format camera, James Pitts photographs flowers in a human context. Cut from their natural environment and primped for home display, these objectified blooms speak obliquely, but poignantly, about culture’s desires to examine, arrange, and beautify. These immaculately detailed prints live in luscious warm mid-tones and long subtle gradations. See all of the images in James' Flowers portfolio on the photo-eye gallery website.
Nick Brandt – Gorilla on Rock, Parc des Volcans, 2008 28 x 32 inch Platinum Print |
For more information about James Pitts, Kevin O’Connell, and Nick Brandt — or to see any of these outstanding platinum prints in person — please contact photo-eye Gallery Director Anne Kelly: gallery@photoeye.com or by phone at 505.988.5152 x 121.