Gordon Chapple
Process to Contact
by Susan Kelley
as printed in View Camera Magazine, September/October 1995
Process to Contact
by Susan Kelley
as printed in View Camera Magazine, September/October 1995
Photographer Gordon Chapple definitely does things the hard way. His field camera of choice is an 11 x 14. His darkroom technique is a multistep carbon printing process which he continues to refine and make his own. The method is time consuming, admits Chapple. "If you tried to use it for commercial work, you could never produce enough to make a living."
But Chapple makes his living with his MBA in marketing from the University of California at Berkeley and, although compelled to spend much of his time in pursuit of his muse, is content to take as much time and effort as it takes to reproduce the image exactly as he sees it, in his words, "in his mind's eye." He has a deal with his family that the "avocation" need only pay for itself.
Chapple started photographing with 35mm. He was a science major as an undergraduate. His interest was in environmental biology so it followed that his first exposure was to be the work of Phil Hyde and Elliot Porter. Hyde was given a wide distribution by the Sierra Club books. "They were my teaching ground." Emulating the work of Hyde and Porter, Chapple started working in color. As his interest in landscape photography developed, he switched to 4 x 5. From there he got interested in black and white, learning from Brett and Cole Weston and Ansel Adams. For the most part he has learned from afar.
Then four or five years ago, while visiting the Gallery of Fine Photography in New Orleans, Chapple was impressed with several prints by photographer Rene Pauli. "The images glowed in the dark. They were unlike any color image I had ever seen. I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how they were done." He remembered an article he had read on trichrome printing. The gallery owner confirmed that was indeed what Pauli used.
Methodical and thorough by nature and by training, Chapple had been collecting articles on photography techniques in binders organized by subject since beginning to photograph. He had filed a Camera Arts article on Trichrome by Dave Sagarin. The article referenced Charles Berger and his UltraStable process which is a modern version of the trichrome color process used by Pauli. Chapple tracked Berger down in the Santa Cruz mountains, drove down to his studio and spent the day in his darkroom learning to use Berger's process. He went from C prints to pigment prints and has printed his color images in this manner ever since.
Then a View Camera article on carbon printing (Nov/Dec '90) by Michael Sandquist challenged Chapple to try a similar effect with black and white. He hired Sandquist to teach him how to carbon print. Since then Chapple has continued to modify the process and make it his own.
Carbon printing involves layering a series of carbon tissues to build the image zone by zone maintaining control over each of the tones. To start this process Chapple begins with an undercoat of titanium dioxide coated on mica which gives the paper a pearl essence that shines through in the finished print. On top of this he slowly builds the image, transferring from two to seven layers of black pigment. Most images require at least four black image transfers before he is satisfied with the density of the shadows.
The multistep process allows one to use a warm tone for highlights and a cold tone for shadows. Chapple uses a warm black Sumi ink for his pigment. To build the shadows he cools off the yellow in the Sumi ink by adding a cobalt blue pigment which he mixes himself with a mortar and pestle, producing an image that is literally '10 degrees cooler in the shade.' In addition the process of layering the gelatin tissues gives the image a 3D feeling.
Why does Chapple print this way when so many easier methods are available? "I like dark room work and I like hands on sort of stuff," he comments. "It's like a big chemistry experiment. It gives you unbelievable control. You can't have a lot of variables. You must be meticulous in record keeping in order to produce repeatable results."
|
Alcove, Neon Canyon, Utah, 1995
Chapple uses the 11 x 14 camera because the carbon printing process is a contact printing process and no other size produces a satisfactory end result. Chapple loves using his big camera. "Looking at the image on the ground glass of an 11 x 14 is like looking at the TV screen," he explains. "It makes composing easy." Between the camera and other necessary paraphernalia, it is quite a load to haul into the field and the field is where Chapple does the majority of his work. He spends several weeks a year in Southern Utah, packing into a canyon with a commercial outfitter and establishing a base camp. From there he packs his equipment himself on day trips in search of his locations. He has high praise for Dick Phillips, who first built and then modified his camera. "He is a great guy . . . a pleasure to deal with. He hand made modifications on my camera to make it as light as possible. It weighs 11 lbs. without lens or tripod and folds into a compact package that fits into a custom designed rucksack." The film holders for the camera are bulky so Chapple hikes into the back country with only 8 sheets of film loaded into the holders. Each holder weighs 3 lbs. Working with an 11 x 14 is very slow compared to shooting with a 4 x 5. It takes Chapple 20 minutes to unpack his camera, set it up and expose a sheet of film, compared with the four to five minutes he usually takes with his 4 x 5. "You only expose one sheet on a scene," he explains, "and so you take your time getting it right. If you sacrifice film by bracketing for an image, you can't do much work in a day. It's a long walk back to camp." Once back at camp, Chapple uses a Harrison film changing tent in the field which he says works great. It took time getting used to the larger format. He learned by trial and error how to best manage the mechanics and mobility of the larger equipment. He speaks enthusiastically about the help he received from large format equipment manufacturers, especially Ries, who spent a lot of time tracking down the tripod he needed, and Phillips. "There is nothing more satisfying as having the right equipment and doing something that you enjoy."
|
Bush with Angled Rocks, Neon Canyon, Utah, 1995
One of the reasons Chapple was driven to carbon printing was to find a place for himself among an ever growing number of landscape photographers. Chapple observes that, "part of the difficulty of producing original work is that as more photographers gain similar technical abilities and more and more serious hobbyists are doing landscape, it is harder to look different. There are some places, like Escalante, that attract a lot of photographers. Maybe these places are more productive than other places. Maybe the light is better. These are places where the photographers almost literally put their tripods in the same holes in the sand. My rendition of the image provides a different look."
Chapple clearly enjoys being part of the expanding view camera world. "I've met a lot of photographers in the field. When you see someone carrying sophisticated large format equipment, you assume you have something in common and strike up a conversation."
"I once met Cole Weston because he was parked in a spot I'd come to think of as mine in the White Mountains of California. We ended up camping together and stayed up until 1:00 in the morning talking about one of his images I admired."
"It's important to find a way to photograph that is one's own," Chapple continues. "Sometimes it's opportunity that will set you apart. Sometimes it's technique. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. Adams, for example, had a unique opportunity spending 27 years in Yosemite, but he was a master of technique as well. He had a marvelous eye for grand landscape."
"I'm developing a technique that will give me the look and feel that I want. I tend to focus more on the middle distance and I spend as much time seeking opportunity as I can."
After a long week as a senior marketing executive for corporate America Chapple retires to his darkroom where, depending on his mood, he listens to Beethoven, grooves with The King, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry or belts out a chorus with Willie Nelson and cheerfully begins the painstaking process of layering the many layers of pigment together to create one image that glows in the dark.