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Next page: Ken Keen FRPS standing in front of the famous latticed window at Lacock abbey, where William Henry Fox Talbot created the first photographic contact negative.
STAYING IN CONTACT
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STAYING IN CONTACT
by Chelin Miller
There is something beautiful about hanging your own photographs on a wall. We live in a modern era of digital images, bombarded by photographs on screens everywhere. But we’ve lost touch with the intimacy of holding a photograph in our hands, flicking the pages of a photo-book, or sticking holiday pictures on a family album. There is something magical about printing your own photographs using historical processes. It requires time, patience, craftsmanship and love. Ken Keen FRPS introduced me to the Cyanotype Rex method – Terry King’s variation of the original cyanotype. The chemicals involved are inexpensive and relatively safe. Photography is Ken’s main source of creative satisfaction. You can imagine what a blow it was for him to lose most of his sight following surgery to remove a nasal tumour almost twenty years ago. However, as Ken says: “the ‘Art of Seeing’ is all in the mind and it was only my sight that was lost”.
“Perception is, I believe, the key to unlocking the darker world, a world as it appears to many with visual impairment. Living as I do, in such a world that appears but dimly lit, living in a state of permanent twilight, gives me a great and beautiful feeling of peace.” Ken works with a 10 x 8 Gandolfi camera by ‘touch alone’. He photographs interiors of medieval churches. Ken has established a routine and method to help him take and make the pictures. Much of the time that he spends inside a church is spent in trying to capture on photographic film the quiet peace and the tranquility that one can experience within medieval and holy places; and that is precisely what his photographs reflect. This photo-essay shows Ken Keen’s method of cyanotype Rex printing, step-by-step. Chelin Miller England, Winter 2015 5
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Ken coats an area a little larger than the negative with a solution of ferric oxalate and oxalic acid using a ‘hake’ brush. He endeavours to create beautiful brush marks, making every print unique.
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Ken assembles his 10�x 8� Gandolfi by touch alone during a visit to Winchester Cathedral.
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The Gandolfi camera is incredibly easy to set up, even for the visually impaired. Ken has established a routine and method to help him take and make the pictures.
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Detail of the wide angle 150mm Linhof lens mounted on a traditional Gandolfi 8� x 10� camera.
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Ken has converted his spare room into a dark room, where he develops his negatives and produces his prints. Here, Ken is checking the negative’s density and suitability for the cyanotype Rex process. 14
All chemicals are well labeled and stored. Method is essential for Ken. He is visually impaired and must know exactly where everything is in order to find his tools and equipment easily. 15
A solution of ferric oxalate and oxalic acid in purified water is measured into a saucer.
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Ken dries the surface of the coated art paper with a hair drier and then stores it in a dark cupboard to dry thoroughly for an hour or so. He covers his face with a mask, to avoid breathing in any chemicals. Once the paper is ready, it will be sensitive to ultra-violet light, but will not be affected by the light of a regular bulb. 17
When dry, the negative is exposed, in contact with the sensitised paper, to an UV light under a sheet of glass. The negative should be taped at one end to the paper to allow it to be lifted to check exposure until faint detail can be seen in the highlights. 18
Timing the exposure is essential, this image looks best after 15 minutes.
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The second solution for the cyanotype Rex process, the developer, is a mix of potassium ferricyanide in purified water.
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Ken was left visually impaired after an operation to remove a nasal tumor many years ago. His materials must be very well labeled so he doesn’t confuse the chemicals. He uses a magnifier to read the labels on the bottles. 21
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Ken develops the print in an 8% solution of potassium ferricyanide for a few minutes.
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Ken give
es it a short and gentle wash until the water runs clear, he checks the brush marks and tonality of the print and then hangs it to dry.
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Close inspection of the finished print in daylight.
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Ken Keen FRPS in his office, where he keeps his prints, books, and most treasured photos of his friends.
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“When an original image has been handcrafted onto beautiful paper but then, copied and shown as a computer generated image, the essential nuances of both the Light and the Darkness, can be lost.� A mounted cyanotype Rex print by Ken Keen FRPS
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Prints by Ken Keen FRPS Text and photos by Chelin Miller as part of the course MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography London College of Communication University of the Arts