Jul 8, 2009
www. thevistaonline. corn
Iran crisis grabs local attention Ryan Saylor
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Emotions are still running high in Iran following the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad, running for a second term as the Abadgaran Party nominee, ran against Mir-Hossein Mousavi of the Independent Reformist Party, who is a former prime minister of the county, as well Mohsen Rezaee of the Independent Conservative Party and Mehdi Karroubi of the Eternad-e-Melli Party. The election was expected to be close between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. Polls taken before the election showed the candidates within the margins of error. Some polls also had large numbers of undecided voters. Then on June 12, with record turnout, it was announced by Iranian state television that Ahmadinejad had won reelection, even before all of the votes were counted. The final vote count, as reported by BBC Persia, had Ahmadinejad winning about 62 percent of the vote while Mousavi only won a little under 34 percent, well below the predictions of the polls. The early victory declaration and the vote totals led many Iranians, as well as many western governments and journalists, to question the outcome of the election. Iranians, unhappy with the election results, have taken to the streets and are demanding action. Dr. Lou Furmanski, chairman of the Department of Political Science at UCO, says that the election has seriously affect-
ed the government of Ahamdinejad. "He has lost a hell lot of legitimacy," Furmanski said. "There is enough evidence to assume that the election was rigged." Evidence that exists includes the fact that over ioo percent of eligible voters voted in over 5o cities, this according to Iran's own state-run English news channel, Press TV. This means that people either voted twice or that there was other, more organized voter fraud taking place, Furmanski explained Even if the June election had turned out differently, Furmanski said Iran's foreign policy would probably not change. "The candidates have to be approved [by the Guardian Council]." The Guardian Council, Furmanski explained, is a council of mainly religious leaders who must approve candidates for the election. Due to the fact that the council chooses the candidates, it seriously limits much of a difference in candidates' views and policy positions. When asked about the differences between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, Furmanski said that Ahamdinejad was more populist and in touch with the needs of the poor and lower class, while Mousavi was campaigning well with the middle and upper class of Iran. And while there have been many demonstrations due to the election in and around Tehran, the nation's capital, other regions of the country are not having the same reactions. Dr. Baha Jassemnejad, see IRAN, page 3
Photo by Musleh Alkhathami
Kodi Weatherholtz, who graduated last May, finds the coffee shop in Chambers Library a quiet place to prepare for his post graduate studies which start next Fall.
UCO photography student explores salt print process Tiffany Brown StaffWr iter
She removed her dark sunglasses as she introduced herself. She sat in a burgundy armchair with a smile on her face. Surrounded by a few patrons and Cafe employees, gourmet coffee was not the reason why Belinda Kinney visited the local Edmond Starbucks. As slow tempo music played in the background, Kinney recounted the experience of being the first photography student at UCO to create a photograph partially by using a historical photographic process created more than loo years ago. The salt print was developed in the mid1830s by William Henry Fox Talbot. Talbot began experimenting with salt and silver nitrate in an attempt to find a way to permanently fix an image to a paper. This process was the antecedent to print negatives. It became one of the first times in history negatives were made to create images that could be used to reprint photos. Talbot called the process he created photogenic drawing. The technique included the soaking of photographic paper in a salt solution, and coating it with silver nitrate. An object was placed on the paper and exposed to sunlight for up to two hours. The process was used until it was replaced by a new process. Now, there are few people who use the technique. Kinney had pondered the idea of creating a salt photograph in April 2009. "I was enrolled in Photo Process Non-silver in April when I decided to do the Salt prints," Kinney Photo by Dr. Bob Palmer said. She consulted Dr. Bob Palmer about creating a salt print. Belinda Kinney displays her salt print process photos in Dr. Bob Palmer's Palmer taught the Beginning Photography classroom, located in the College of Arts, Media and Design building. Class Kinney was a teacher's assistant for in June 2009. Palmer gave Kinney a non-silver processing book, and helped her find the resources she needed to make a salt print. process. "It's the whole idea of not knowing," Although Palmer has had several years the process himself," Kinney said. "Salt print was something that had never Kinney said. of experience in photography, he had never Since the technique had not been taught been taught at UCO," she said. As a result used the salt printing technique. "He kind of or used before, the photography studio Kinney had to do additional research on the 'ust let me loose." Since he had never done
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didn't have the chemicals she needed. Some of the chemicals came from the chemistry department she said. "You have to be patient in trying new things," Kinney said. Compared to traditional photography, Kinney said it is hard since it is not easy to determine what the image would look like. With traditional photography, test strips could be used to avoid waste. The chemicals and supplies used for salt prints meant mistakes could be costly. "It's more expensive," Kinney said. For two days, Kinney drove eight-to-ten miles from her home in Oklahoma City to UCO to complete her photograph. She combined both modern technology and the antique photo technique. Unlike traditional photography that uses a roll of film and silver particles to create negatives, Kinney began the process of salt print by creating the negative she used in Photoshop. Normally it would take about hour to make a traditional print depending upon the supplies used. This includes the time it takes to remove the film from the canister and develop it; to the time the negative is used to transfer the image onto paper and placed in chemicals to make the image permanent. It took about 18 hours to make a photography using the salt technique. "I was there from about eight in the morning until five in the evening," Kinney said. Even though some of the same steps are used with the historical salt process, it took more time to expose the negative, develop it, wash it in a stop bath solution to further prevent the image from developing, fixing chemicals to prevent the image from further reacting to light, a final rinse, and then the drying process begins. This is the process used with traditional film developing. Kinney simplified the process by lying out supplies before they were needed. "I got a lot more accomplished by prepping," Kinney said. see PHOTOGRAPHY, page 3
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