The creative process begins with my selection of a subject, after which I bring the living subject into the studio, where I sculpt it with surgical tools to manage its form and opacity. I then move into the darkroom to manipulate the subject on my imaging easel into the shape of the vision within.
The easel I work on is surrounded by a safety fence of wooden 2x4s to avoid electrocution, is composed of a piece of aluminum sheet metal floated in a solution of liquid silicone, and is sandwiched between two sealed pieces of 1/8” thick Plexiglas.
Once satisfied with basic aesthetic issues, I go into total darkness to build the exposure matrix on top of my easel. First, the 8x10 inch color transparency film is laid flat on the easel with the light-sensitive surface face up. Then the sculpted subject is placed on the film, sometimes with and sometimes without layers of diffusion material, which are laid on top when used. The subject is then wired to a grounding source with cable and clamp.
The actual process of imaging begins with the introduction of high frequency, high voltage electricity into the exposure matrix to create the ultraviolet aura of ionized gas that surrounds the subject. Then a variety of light sources including xenonstrobe, tungsten, and fiber-optic light are used to illuminate the subject by hand so the light is scattered through the diffusion screens, through the subject, and onto the film where the exposure energy is recorded.
I developed this method of imaging in March of 1999, but its component parts have long and well-known histories. Popularly recognized as “Kirlian Photography”, the electrical component of this method is associated with Semyon and Valentina Kirlian, Russian scientists who devoted their lives to the search for the new and the cultivation of the hidden. As for contact imaging, this technique is as old as photography itself, having been used by English gentleman Henry Fox Talbot in 1834 in his earliest experiment with silver-nitrate paper that is considered by many to be the birth of photography.
With the addition of fiber-optical devices to provide a greater degree of control in the delivery of the exposure energy to the subject-film-diffusion matrix, this work represents a new interpretation of a time-honored art form.
-Robert Buelteman
The easel I work on is surrounded by a safety fence of wooden 2x4s to avoid electrocution, is composed of a piece of aluminum sheet metal floated in a solution of liquid silicone, and is sandwiched between two sealed pieces of 1/8” thick Plexiglas.
Once satisfied with basic aesthetic issues, I go into total darkness to build the exposure matrix on top of my easel. First, the 8x10 inch color transparency film is laid flat on the easel with the light-sensitive surface face up. Then the sculpted subject is placed on the film, sometimes with and sometimes without layers of diffusion material, which are laid on top when used. The subject is then wired to a grounding source with cable and clamp.
The actual process of imaging begins with the introduction of high frequency, high voltage electricity into the exposure matrix to create the ultraviolet aura of ionized gas that surrounds the subject. Then a variety of light sources including xenonstrobe, tungsten, and fiber-optic light are used to illuminate the subject by hand so the light is scattered through the diffusion screens, through the subject, and onto the film where the exposure energy is recorded.
I developed this method of imaging in March of 1999, but its component parts have long and well-known histories. Popularly recognized as “Kirlian Photography”, the electrical component of this method is associated with Semyon and Valentina Kirlian, Russian scientists who devoted their lives to the search for the new and the cultivation of the hidden. As for contact imaging, this technique is as old as photography itself, having been used by English gentleman Henry Fox Talbot in 1834 in his earliest experiment with silver-nitrate paper that is considered by many to be the birth of photography.
With the addition of fiber-optical devices to provide a greater degree of control in the delivery of the exposure energy to the subject-film-diffusion matrix, this work represents a new interpretation of a time-honored art form.
-Robert Buelteman