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Photography: Processes, Preservation, and Conservation
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Effluent Holding Pond, Chemópetrol Mines, Bohemia, 1992
Emmet Gowin (American, b. 1941)
Gelatin silver print; 9 9/16 x 9 7/16 in. (24.3 x 24 cm)
Purchase, Charina Foundation Inc. Gift, 1994 (1994.325.1)
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Description |
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Description
Deeply concerned about man's relationship to the earth, Gowin photographs sites of natural and man-made environmental upheaval, such as Mount St. Helens, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, abandoned missile silos, agricultural fields, and mine tailings. Gowin creates an unsettling tension between the scarred earth and his exquisite, masterfully printed photograph.
To achieve a range of colors—from brown to blue-black—rather than the usual neutral gray scale, Gowin toned his gelatin silver print with both sulfur and selenium. This practice, sometimes referred to as "split toning," creates a multicolor image from black-and-white paper because some metallic toners react more vigorously with particular areas of a photograph, such as highlights, mid-tones, or shadows. Other contemporary photographers produce similar results using different toners, papers, and procedures.
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