J. Jason Lazarus

Just a quick bit of self-promotion here: I’m teaching three classes at UAF this summer and I’m shooting this out toward the local community in hopes of attracting just a little bit more interest in some of the classes. I’m offering, through Summer Sessions at UAF, two sections of Basic Digital Photography and a single section of an exciting, new course: Alternative and Historical Photo Processes.

Basic Digital Photography is a perfect class for a wide array of people: if you’ve only used a point-and-shoot camera and want to learn more or if you’ve already got a dSLR and you’re trying to refine your understanding, this class is perfect for you. It’ll take you through the bare bones of understanding exposure, aperture and shutter speed settings, manual operation, digitally editing along with exploring topics like Depth of Field, Motion, Composition, Portraiture, Abstraction, Negative Space, Flash & Studio Photography and Photojournalism.

Alternative & Historical Photo Processes allows you to explore dozens of different photographic processes – spanning through its entire 170 year history! Explore Pinhole Photography, Cyanotypes, Van Dyke Browns, Salted Paper Prints, Gum Bichromate, Albumen Printing, Gel Medium Transfers, Inkjet and Polaroid Transfers as well as how to do all of these processes without the need of a traditional darkroom! No darkroom experience required! Learn how to coat your own paper, expose it to sunlight and other light sources and how to make your work something that’s truly different than the norm!

Let me know if you want any other information about these classes – ask soon, though, classes start at the end of May!

Due to a request by one of my fellow grad students, I’ve been pseudo-documenting my trips out to my locations.  I talk up a lot about what I have to do to get to some of these shots because it’s not only part of the exhilarating adventure that my weekly homework trips take me on but it also illustrates the remoteness of these locations.  A few weeks back, I shared with my twitter followers a video of me heading out to a mine about 35 miles north of town – about 7 of which required a snowmachine:

I had the pleasure of testing out a GoPro HD camera for that trip, so the video came out fairly good. This was my second time riding on the toboggan back to the mines; it is by far the funnest mode of transportation I’ve had the luxury of trying to get out to these mines. For a guy that’s never wanted a snowmobile before, these sorts of trips have really started to change my mind.

The second video ( admittedly a horrible iPhone video where my fingers got in the way) is a quick shot of my trip to Hatcher’s. Nowhere near as special as the first video, but I thought I’d quickly share, nonetheless:

It’s been two weeks since I was taking photographs in Hatcher’s Pass but I’ve finally found enough time to share the following images with you…

Independence Mine, 2012. Van Dyke Brown.

I’ve been wanting to get out of town for the last month and use an entire weekend, away from the family, to focus on photography.  I finally got my chance during AAU’s Spring Break – rushing south as soon as I dropped Aidan off at daycare on Friday.  I, admittedly, didn’t have high hopes for getting anything done – two of my three locations I hoped to scout were longshots due to weather-related issues.  I had initally hoped to scout out a little east of Healy – an area where a huge active coal mine is but remnants of older operations are scattered about.  The breakup weather, however, didn’t agree with my plans and huge puddles that could’ve easily swallowed up my tiny Yaris were between me and the roads I needed to access.

The more I work on this series… the more I live in Alaska… I curse the fact that I don’t have a AWD/FWD vehicle…

So, my heart sunk and I limped back to the highway… driving five more hours south toward my next longshot.  In fact, to call Hatcher’s Pass a “longshot” is to give it credit it doesn’t deserve; that valley and I have a tumultuous relationship at the best.  More than half the trips I’ve planned to Hatcher’s have ended in heartache as the valley seems to be a natural collection point for every single dark cloud that the Cook Inlet can muster – and what few times I’ve managed to hike into Hatcher’s, most have relied on little to no planning and me carelessly gunning it from Anchorage.

So, you can imagine when I turned the corner into the Mat-Su Valley and found no clouds my heart leapt and then immediately sunk; I had good weather – but the second week of April?  How clear were the roads going to be?  The Mine wouldn’t be plowed… how far was I going to have to walk?

I rushed getting up there – as it was, it had already gone past 3pm and I was just heading into the valley.  I snaked my little Yaris all the way up to the end of the plowed road – the mine was within my sight and, by my estimation, a mile away.  A mile away – at 3000 feet and with four feet of snow below me.  I hesitated.  Was this smart?

Independence Mine, 2012. Van Dyke Brown.

Screw it.  I am 324 miles into a 325 mile trip and I am not going to let a little hike through the upper alpine stand between me and getting these pictures.  I put on my snowshoes and started huffing my way up.

And huff I did.  About a quarter of a mile into it, I realized all the water was left in the car – thankfully, fresh snow surrounded me – so yet another thing that was trying to force me to turn around was ignored.  Huff… huff…

*Turning back* Huh.  The car is not only far away but it’s much… lower… than I am.  How far am I up now?  *Turning around*  Huff… Huff…

After 25-30 minutes, I made it all the way up to the mine – the weather held and I was able to get some stunning images even though it took me nearly 3 hours to get enough shots for 2 shots for my project.  I was so paranoid that I shot digital backups of the film shots just so that I didn’t have to do it again.  I must’ve had all of the skiers shaking their heads at me – as I was the only one without a quick-and-easy way up into or out of the valley.  I could’ve stayed the entire evening up there – it’s not only one of my favorite places in Alaska but it was a perfect wintery day.

All told, I drove 900 miles over three days for 2 photos for my project and a day worth of “fun” shooting at Whittier (which I’ll hopefully post soon).  That last mile I hiked for those photos also sent me an extra 450 vertical feet (which explained the car size) but as much as I was exhausted, it was a perfect trip.  I can’t wait to go back this summer – and hopefully the valley will welcome me.

This was shot last Thursday out at a mine that I haven’t ever been able to reach except during the summer (thanks again, Charlie).  I used two separate exposures to get the detail in the snow to really pop out because I loved how the layers from the freeze-thaw cycle made it almost look glaciated.  I’ve paired it with a found object out at the mine – which was an old belt just hanging on a nail in one of the corners of the stamp mill.  I’ve already made a Van Dyke Brown of the image but I really favor the contrast in the B&W.  I could talk for a long time as to why I like this image but I’ll just let it speak for itself and make this a short post.  Enjoy!  Comments welcome.

Mining Apparition, Cleary Mill House. Photo: 2011, Van Dyke Brown: 2012

The past couple of weeks have just been a flurry of activity in my home darkroom. Quality of my prints have skyrocketed and I’ve begun processing anywhere from 2-3 new prints per week while going through my archives, reprinting old ones or creating digital negatives of old work for VDB processing. Looking back, I’m surprised I posted the prior “new” VDBs because of their poor quality – because, finally, everything has begun to fall into place and the quality changes are like night and day. After several critiques from my grad instructor noting the poor quality of the emulsion coats on my VDBs – and the fact that practice was NOT making everything “perfect” (but actually worse!), I went seeking some advisement.

During APIS 2011, I was pushed toward several Alternative Photography Forums and had, admittedly, never given them a second thought until this semester’s issues. Call me stubborn, I enjoy figuring out things on my own – as I’ve taught myself so much about the darkroom, digital photography and alternative processes, I had it in my mind that I’d just stumble through a problem until I fixed it. It’s only been during the last 18 months that I’ve started to slowly grow out of that stubbornness – starting with my eye-opening Photoshop class last semester, which has revolutionized how I edit my pictures, and now with being humbled that a mere 15 minutes worth of online research solved what had been a constant source of frustration and anguish for weeks:

Mining Apparition, Near Grant Mine, Fixin' the Old Gal Up, 2012

Lack of Humidity.

After signing up for APUG’s mailing list and scrounging around the forums a while, I found another person having a similar issue with emulsion wisping away during the fixing process to produce a print that looked unevenly coated even though it was diligently applied.  As soon as I started reading the post and its replies, with their suggestions to coat the paper with water first, the lightbulb in my head went off – Alaska is notorious for being dry and I haven’t helped my paper out any by storing it in the back of a boiler room.  Along with that, I realized that this reminded me of a similar issue coworkers had that required them to spritz their inkjet paper with water to get it to print properly. My impatience further complicated my issues:  I had been drying the paper with a hot hairdryer in an effort to speed up the process.  All of this caused the paper to “lock up”, for lack of a better term, and when emulsion was applied, it just bonded above – not into – the paper.  Slowly, the wet emulsion would attempt to bond with the paper, but before it could, I was drying it with my hot hairdryer – insuring all the thin layer of emulsion did was cling to itself and not to the paper.   Once the print hit fixer, it washed off the emulsion that hadn’t bonded well with the paper – along with a good portion of my images.

Cleary Garage w/ a advertisement on how to pass military tests, 2012

I was eager to try this new method of coating – first painting on a fairly thick layer of water and, after letting that dry, applying emulsion to what was now presumed to be “open” paper – paper that would soak up the emulsion rather than dry it on top of its surface.  Even this coating method had some trial and error associated with it, but my success rate for a “perfect” print went from 1 in 8 (w/o the water precoating) to 5 in 12 – so, a great improvement!  With my last print in a set of 12, I finally realized that the emulsion coating was applied perfectly when the paper was still ever-so-slightly damp.  My prints this last week rendered 5 in 6 prints perfect with the last one producing an issue unrelated to coating.  Success – and proof that humbling yourself can be one of the most rewarding experiences as an artist – heck, as a person.

Mill Building Stamp Presses w/ Westinghouse Power Box Instructions, 2012

I’ve been a printing fiend lately – printing way more than is expected for my classwork though I’m determined to have an impressive Midpoint Review and Thesis Project Proposal for the summer – so I’m trying to get any of the bugs worked out as soon as I can.  As it is, I think this shows great progress!

As always, critique is more than welcomed – at this point, I’m practically begging for it.  Even though I’m proud of my prints, that doesn’t mean I don’t want criticism; if I’m ever to be successful with this, I have to hear it.  Other images can be seen at THIS LINK and begin on the 9th image down. I’ve got a couple up to look at that work as “before” and “after” shots – quite a change in quality, if you ask me. Enjoy!