The "dark" side of Craig Austin I met Vimpt or Craig Austin through the instagram and since then we have become close friends. Chasing him for several months, I managed to find him at Stroud, Cotswolds, in the west of England, and watched the whole dark process. Who is ultimately Vimpt or Craig Austin? First of all, it is the soul of instagram. Craig is a "craftsman" of the darkroom prints now. As a photographer for a long time, he worked for magazines, newspapers and record companies, but in the 1990s the fees in the field of photography began to fall and all were hunting for the same job and thus "moved" to the darkroom. For about 10 years, it has been working in black and white and color printing, and then the finances have also "slammed" into this field with the introduction of digital technology. So he moved to teaching ... He began to teach as a visiting professor at the University of Coventry, and then took over the direction of dark rooms at Westminster University for four
and a half years. The University of Westminster is a real cradle of photography - according to him, the most important in the country. â—? When did you start experimenting with all these old photo editing practices? While I was there (at the University of Westminster), I began to be interested in these practices, the Victorian processing practices. One day a student came to me and asked me to do a viking print on an image that showed me on the iphone she was holding. I did not know then if this is possible, since such types of prints result from the interaction of light and paper. We found a way to convert digital images to digital negatives and then to analog negative ones. We did not invent the method, we just discovered it existed! I was delighted with the ability to produce so beautiful "old" type prints with an original iphone! And just because there is such a sharpness in an
iphone image, it is possible to produce such beautiful prints. So I think that's how it started this whole thing ... Also, Jonathan Worth, the guy who had brought me to Coventry to teach for a while, had begun to deliver a part of the undergraduate courses through an open platform on Twitter, and at the beginning he had only 9 students, within five years the number of the people who attended his lesson reached 33,000! It was called Phonar. He then got this project and ran it to America. I watched what he did, I went and I visited him and I was impressed with the contact field opened with so many guys there. Almost 250,000 people had access to this special lesson and I wanted to somehow get into this whole thing. He did not know how we could do it, but he thought I could get access to their instagram accounts with a hashtag and print their photos for free.
â—? So that's how you started the story with instagram! Yes! They all used these people of all kinds of social media platforms where they could add a hashtag. So I did it for a while. And it seemed wonderful to me that with these children from the United States I did not know and who had just entered the world of photography, I could connect by printing the pictures they sent me from their phones in the form of digital information. They were taking a photo with their cell phone, sending it to me, typing in the darkroom and posting it to me. I was excited that this could happen! At the same time, I was studying interviews and films about Aaron Swart and Corey Dotrow, who are strong supporters of the free movement of information on the Internet. So, one day I sat in my car, I decided to open as much as possible to the instagram, to those people there, and to offer freely what I knew
about the printing methods of different seasons of photography in the same way that I was opened by Phonar : through a hashtag! And see what happens. I thought for a while how I could capitalize everything I did, but then changed my mind. Let me let go, I said, all this "photographic flow". Anyway, the value of all this has nothing to do with money. I secured a domain, I made a "bad" site overnight and then an instagram account ... â—? When did you start instagram? About a year and a half ago. â—? And why did you choose the name Vimpt? What it means; It means "very important" (very important)! Looking at what they use in their hashtags for children in general and outside the photographic community, what are their "dialects", I came up with this idea of this "word" that looks more like a graffiti signature. And it has to do with how
important this conversation about analogue photography seems to me, especially when it is conducted in a digital context. I was looking to see if such a domain is available and since it sounds good and strong, I went with that name. â—? Do you think instagram affects people very much? How do you feel they feel when you send them a print? Personally, I felt great joy when I received one of your prints, and that's what brought me here to meet you. I guess you've met several interesting people, right? Yes sure! Many interesting people from different fields of art whom I would not otherwise know! I did not feel the whole of this instagram community! And every time I am impressed with how many people there are working on such interesting projects and ideas, how they are connected, mutually supportive and promoting one another. Gradually, becoming part of this whole, I am really surprised. And that's all the reason we are here and we are talking, as has happened with
other people I finally met for living. ● But you do other things. Like the Rain Stations contest and the report that followed at the Waterloo station. Tell me what methods you use in your prints. Mostly I make salt and cyan prints. ● Can you describe the process you are following? Let's say I send you a picture of me. After; I take the photo - often with a screenshot - I open it in Photoshop, turn it into black and white and then create a negative one. From then on, I use the negative as if it were a negative film. ● Where do you print this negative? I use a digital video file converter - a simple but accurate process - and an ink printer. ● And the resulting film is transparent? Almost transparent. And holding the black ink, it works like the negative film. That is, the bright areas give it black in print and the dark
white. â—? So do you get it and place it on an analog printer? I first prepare the paper. I use arche-platine, but one can use any watermark paper, provided it is chemically neutral. For salt prints, the paper must be soaked with sodium chloride solution and left to dry. Then a silver nitrate coating must be passed and allowed to dry. Finally, place the negative directly on the paper and have a direct and contacting light that can be done either in daylight or UV exposure, which I personally choose because I have more control. â—? How long does it take with sunlight and how much under controlled lighting conditions? A photograph under UV exposure conditions takes about 3 minutes. Now with daylight ... it depends on whether you are in Greece or the UK! In Greece it takes less time ... About 8-12
minutes. â—? Then are you ready to send these photos? Not yet! They must first be rinsed for 5-6 minutes and see that silver nitrate has reacted with sodium chloride and has given silver chloride - and I see this in a cloudy, milky residue of aqueous solution. Then it is necessary to fix it to sodium thiosulfide, rinse again for 5-6 minutes and then ready for shipping! â—? Royal ... mail! Tell us about cyanophyta! Cyanoprint is the first method you learn, as it is the easiest of all the methods of processing photography in history. Again the same as before. Instead of salt, you impregnate the paper with potassium ferricyanide and citrate ... something ... haha ... again exposure to daylight or UV and washing. There is no need for fixing here. â—? And the blue color from where does it come
from? From ferrocyanide. Which does contain Cyanide, but it is "locked" in it. It must be "bombarded" with radioactivity or react with an acid to release it as Hydrogen Cyanide. â—? By using these methods and sending those prints - and indeed free - to people, do you think that 'spas' somehow all this attitude of impersonal communication that dominates social media? I guess ... yeah. How will I describe the impact of what I do? Photography and social media are forms of mass communication. The photo was one of the first. Closely linked, however, at first with all this work and the time it takes to print, to be there. Today, the way it works within social media is becoming more "fast". So what I'm doing is like trying to reverse this trend and contribute to a sense of commitment, commitment. A printing is one thing that works at slower
times. A printing is something tangible, there is space and time, while the digital snaps quickly, is lost ... ● Craig sends prints all over the world using just a hashtag in instagram. And everyone can get one! Exactly! Of course this also puts a dilemma. At the beginning there was a limited number of "tanned" images, while now ... ● How many "embedded" images are there now? Overall ... about 100 thousand. ● Wow! And how many prints have you sent so far? I think about 700 ... Craig Austin FRSA Vimpt.com craig@vimpt.com +44 7469 246 367
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