CCLaP Photographer Feature: S. Nicole Lane

Chicago Center for Literature and Photography Photographer Feature September 27, 2013

S. Nicole Lane

You Were Asleep By The Time I Found You

Nicole Lane is a recent graduate from Guilford College where she received her BA in Photography — ­ primarily focusing on traditional techniques in the darkroom. She was first introduced to film photography at the age of 13 when she was gifted a camera by her uncle. Upon entering college, she explored with alternative processes and eventually chose the method of Caffenol, which includes Coffee, Washing Soda and Vitamin C. Currently, Nicole is interested in book binding, large prints and planning her move to Chicago.

What is the process of caffenol? How does it affect the picture differently than conventional solutions?

I have decided to use this method due to its availability; I can easily run up to the grocery store and pick up the three items I need.

Through trial and error, I was able to find a recipe that best suited the film I was using and a recipe that was successful in the darkroom.

For each person, each recipe may vary to their liking. I have been playing around with recipes since I first discovered caffenol; it’s daring but sometimes it’s worth it.

Caffenol creates a warm sepia tone to most of its images and the film is definitely more of a brown tone than film developed with traditional chemicals. If I don’t mix up the coffee well with the washing soda, sometimes it creates dark spots on my photograph or on my film; this is an affect that I really love and hope to achieve.

What was your concept, going into You Were Asleep By The Time I Found You? I am inspired by the otherworldly, reality vs. surrealism, and the abstraction of bodies. I had been shooting figures for some time through the experimentation of extended exposures and the movement that the models made. However, by painting on the caffenol developer, I decided to not only shoot the figures in an abstract manner but to build on that abstraction in the darkroom.

You have a way of depicting visually the sense of touch; the photos feel very physical and visceral. How do you create that sensation in a picture?

I was born a painter and spent most of my time in front of a canvas until my freshmen year of college. I don’t miss painting subjects but I do miss the range of motion that I was able to create with my own hands. With this series I literally painted the images in the chemicals; moving the caffenol where I wanted it to touch without reaching every inch of the paper. I think that by having layers of developer and not developing the paper evenly, it creates a three dimensional illusion for the viewer.

Much of the set seems to have to do with identity, especially female identity and female sexuality. To what extent was that a consideration in your creative process?

A huge consideration. I began by masking the identity of the model which stemmed from my idea of having a body simply being what it is — a body. As an artist, I wanted the series to seem sexually freeing. In order to accomplish this I did not think that the faces of the models were important. In one image, I have two men facing one another completely in the nude; gripping each others’ arms and straddling their legs.

I wanted to abstract the body, as I stated previously. Sexuality is important to me, and this importance led me to the identity of these individuals. I primarily worked with two phenomenal models and by the end of my work, I wanted their faces to be shown - only slightly. In several of the images the viewer is able to see the mouths or the profiles of the models who owned the bodies that I wanted to celebrate.

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