Roman Meyer photography
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The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to<br />
explain things with words.<br />
Elliott Erwitt
Salt print<br />
Salt print<br />
Titel: untitled | Format: Full plate: 16 x 21 cm | Technic: Collodion negative | Material: Salt paper<br />
were the earliest positive prints and were invented by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840, as a direct<br />
development from his earlier photogenic drawing process. A salt print is made by soaking<br />
a sheet of paper in salt solution and then coating one side with silver nitrate.<br />
This produces light sensitive silver chloride in the paper. After drying, the paper is put directly<br />
beneath a negative, under a sheet of glass, and exposed to sunlight. Salt prints were made<br />
until about 1860 having been gradually replaced by the albumen print which gave a clearer<br />
image although the process was sometimes revised later.
Gelatin silver process<br />
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Boris | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technic: Silver gelatin print | Material: Baryt paper<br />
was the a primary form of visual documentation in the 20th century. A suspension of silver<br />
salts in gelatin is coated onto a support such as glass, flexible plastic or film, baryta paper, or<br />
resin-coated paper.<br />
These light-sensitive materials are stable under normal keeping conditions and are able to<br />
be exposed and processed even many years after their manufacture. Currently only a small<br />
number of companies still produce Black and White photographic paper.
Collodion wet plate<br />
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Broken dreams | Format: 19 x 43 cm | Technic: Platin/Palladium | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
In 1851, the Englishman Frederick Scott Archer discovered that collodion could be used as an<br />
alternative to albumen on glass plates.<br />
This also reduced the exposure time when making the image. This became known as the wet<br />
plate Collodion. Collodion was also grainless and colorless, and allowed for one of the first high<br />
quality duplication processes, also known as negatives. This process also produced positives<br />
they are called Ferrotypes. The whole process is done in a matter of minutes, which means<br />
that the photographer has to carry the chemicals with him wherever he goes and a darkroom<br />
is needed.
Platin and palladium print<br />
Platin and palladium print<br />
Titel: La Habana | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technic: Gum over platin | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
This is a monochrome photographic printing process, based on the light-sensitivity of ferric<br />
oxalate. The ferrous oxalate reacts with platinum or palladium reducing it to basic platinum,<br />
which builds up the image.<br />
When the process was invented it was relatively cheap, but it quickly became more costly. At<br />
present a gramm of platinum cost around $ 40. The light sensitive chemicals are mixed from<br />
powdered basic chemicals, then hand applied with a brush. Because of the non-uniformity of<br />
the coating and mixing phases of the process, no two prints are exactly the same.
Gum over platinum<br />
Gum over platinum<br />
Titel: untitled | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technik: Gum over platin | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
is a historical chemical photographic process, which was commonly used in art <strong>photography</strong>.<br />
It is a very complex process, in which a specially-treated platinium print photograph is coated<br />
with washes of gum arabic, then re-exposed to the same photographic negativ.The finished<br />
process results in a sepia toned print, and has impart added luminosity and depth. It is sometimes<br />
called ‚pigment over platinum‘.
Cyanotypie<br />
Cyanotype<br />
Titel: Colatoral damage | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technik: Cyanotypie | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
also known as a blueprint, is considered among the easiest of all the historical methods. Dating<br />
from 1842, this classic Prussian blue process is a great place to explore. Cyanotypes are<br />
economical, permanent, have few pitfalls, and are versatile in that a variety of toning effects<br />
are possible.
Bromoil process<br />
Bromoil process<br />
Titel: Zocalo | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technik: Bromoil | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
was an early photographic process that was very popular with the Pictoralist during the first half<br />
of the twentieth century. The soft, paint-like qualities of the prints are very typical for this genre.<br />
In this a bromide print, which had the advantage of being able to be enlarged, was used as a<br />
basis for inking. Two actions were then necessary; the bleaching away of the silver image and<br />
the hardening of the gelatine in proportion to the amount of silver.
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Printmaking Photopolymer<br />
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Test | Format: divers | Technik: Photopolymer | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
The etching process was invented by the German artist Daniel Hopfer 1470-1536, etching -<br />
along with engraving mezzotint and aquatint - is one of the intaglio methods of fine art printing.<br />
In traditional etching, a metal plate, usually made from copper, zinc or steel, is coated with a<br />
waxy acid-resistant substance called ‚ground‘ upon which the artist draws his design with a<br />
metal needle, exposing the bare metal as he does so.<br />
I use my analog pictures and transfer them to a plate covered with a photopolymer film. Which<br />
then I can print on a large printing press.
A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.<br />
Edward Steichen
Thoughts on analog <strong>photography</strong><br />
Analog photographs have a charm of their own. They are unreproducible, each is a unique<br />
creation, and even when several are printed from a single negative, no two are exactly the<br />
same. A high proportion of personal creativity goes into each photograph. Every picture is<br />
different – produced by a different process, on different paper, with different tonality.<br />
I love the emotion that film captures and the tonal qualities that are created by silver reacting<br />
to light. By using film I am required to contemplate and compose a portrait or landscape more<br />
thoroughly due to the limited amount of shots I can take, because every picture costs money.<br />
The cameras I use have only manual focus lenses and I need to set the aperture and the time<br />
I will expose the film. I actually decide and preconceive how the picture will look like. I prefer<br />
to shoot one or two images just right than 25 and then not even worry because I can use<br />
Photoshop later. There’s also the added benefit of having 70+ years of camera equipment<br />
to choose from.<br />
The magic of the darkroom In the age of Photoshop and instant digital imaging, it may seem<br />
futile to spend hours in the darkroom printing test strips and adjusting settings to find the right<br />
exposure, contrast and color balance for a single photograph. But there is something magical<br />
about the alchemy of <strong>photography</strong> and the tactility of handling the paper, mixing the chemistry<br />
and making prints by hand.
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Che and Camilo are watching her | Format: 30 x 40 cm | Technik: Silver gelatin | Material: Baryt paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Djenne | Format: 30 x 40 cm<br />
Technik: Silver gelatin | Material: Baryt paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: La Habana | Format: 30 x 40 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Werner | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Silver gelatin | Material: Baryt paper
Titel: Hommage a Lartigue | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper<br />
Gelatin silver process
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Sunday afternoon | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Titel: Niederalp | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper<br />
Gelatin silver process
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Karakorum highway | Format: 30 x 40 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Karakorum highway | Format: 30 x 40 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Ladi Di | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Titel: Niamey | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper<br />
Gelatin silver process
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Niger | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Titel: M‘hamid | Format: 20 x 25 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper<br />
Gelatin silver process
Platin and palladium print<br />
Titel: Cigar tester | Format: 40 x 40 cm | Technik: Platin/Palladium | Material: Aquarelle paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Taxista La Habana | Format: 30 x 40 cm | Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
Gelatin silver process<br />
Titel: Timbuktu beauty | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Gelatin silver print | Material: Baryt paper
A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the<br />
less you know.<br />
Diane Arbus
Ten days before World War 2 ended german<br />
and russian trops were involved in<br />
heavy fighting around Szczecin/Poland.<br />
A surviving soldier wrote in his diary:<br />
“At approximately 8:00 a.m. on April 20,<br />
1945, Soviet artillery commenced a 45-minute<br />
artillery bombardment. Both sides involved<br />
in the fighting suffered heavy losses.”<br />
Seventy years later my House was built<br />
on the riverbank of the Oder 6 km south of<br />
Szczecin. We found artefacts as well as the<br />
remains of soldiers in a mass grave.<br />
My pictures show some of the objects I<br />
found in the garden. I decided to photograph<br />
them as Tintypes using the wet collodion<br />
process. The original picture sizes are<br />
8x10 inch and 7x17 inch.<br />
The Titels of the pictures are from a poem<br />
of Brecht.<br />
Gegen Verführung von Bertolt Brecht<br />
Lasst euch nicht verführen!<br />
Es gibt keine Wiederkehr.<br />
Ihr könnt schon Nachtwind spüren:<br />
Es kommt kein Morgen mehr.<br />
Lasst euch nicht betrügen!<br />
Das Leben wenig ist.<br />
Schlürft es in schnellen Zügen!<br />
Es wird euch nicht genügen<br />
Wenn ihr es lassen müsst!<br />
Lasst euch nicht vertrösten!<br />
Ihr habt nicht zu viel Zeit!<br />
Lasst Moder den Erlösten!<br />
Das Leben ist am größten:<br />
Es steht nicht mehr bereit.<br />
Lasst euch nicht verführen<br />
Zu Froh und Ausgezehr!<br />
Was kann euch Angst noch rühren?<br />
Ihr sterbt mit allen Tieren<br />
Und es kommt nichts nachher.
Titel: Lasst euch nicht verführen! | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate<br />
Collodion wet plate
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Es gibt keine Wiederkehr. | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate
Titel: Ihr könnt schon Nachtwind spüren. | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate<br />
Collodion wet plate
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Es kommt kein Morgen mehr. | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate
Titel: Lasst euch nicht betrügen! | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate<br />
Collodion wet plate
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Das Leben wenig ist. | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate
Titel: Schlürft es in schnellen Zügen! | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate<br />
Collodion wet plate
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Es wird euch nicht genügen. | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate
Titel: Wenn ihr es lassen müsst! | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate<br />
Collodion wet plate
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Was kann euch Angst noch rühren? | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate
Titel: Ihr sterbt mit allen Tieren. | Format: 20 x 25 cm<br />
Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate<br />
Collodion wet plate
Collodion wet plate<br />
Titel: Und es kommt nichts nachher. | Format: 19 x 43 cm | Technik: Collodion | Material: Aluminium plate
Bone hunters<br />
Bone Hunters<br />
In September 2014 ukrainian workers where doing some groeund work for<br />
our house in Siadlo Dolne/Poland, they discovered human bones.<br />
Because they wanted to keep working, they dug a new hole a few meters<br />
away, burying the bones with vodka and bread as it is a custom.<br />
My wife wanted the human remains to be properly buried.<br />
So the workers went on digging and finding more and more bones. My<br />
wife then went to the local police. The police officer in charge told her that<br />
she has 2 options:<br />
1. She could bury the bones in the forest.<br />
2. The police would initiate an investigation which would delay our<br />
construction project for up to 6 months.<br />
The policeman told her that the decision was with her, but he did not officially<br />
tell her. He also said that there was fierce fighting in this area before<br />
the end of the war and that they had already dug up 40 sacks of human<br />
bones. The village is located close to a bridge which crosses the Oder.<br />
The German troops fought for 4 days 20.4. until 23.4.1945 against the<br />
Russians around this bridge. In the village of Siadlo Dolne / Niederzahden<br />
there were 650 dead and countless injured.<br />
The next day we found even more bones and also skulls. A total of 4 skeletons<br />
lying on top of each other, in a mass grave.<br />
After another call to the police, the policeman said we should inform a<br />
priest and have him bury the bones.<br />
We visited the local priest, who said he could bury the bones, but he needed<br />
an official death certificate issued by the local authority.<br />
At the local comunity we were told that they would issue the death certificates,<br />
but in order to do so, they needed the papers of the deceased and<br />
a medical certificate of the cause of death.
Bone hunters<br />
Finally, we found about a Polish/German institution which carries out excavations, and funerals of war victims. After 3<br />
months in our cellar, the mortal remains of the 4 soldiers were picked up by the Association for the Salvation of Fallen<br />
in Eastern Europe.<br />
The forensic medicine in Szczecin examined the bones and took DNA samples. The identities of the soldiers could<br />
not be determined.<br />
On June 9, 2015, in Choina, 60 km south of Szczecin, the remains were buried in a Russian military cemetery.<br />
A bottle of vodka and a bread we gave to the unknown soldiers.
There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and<br />
the viewer.<br />
Ansel Adams
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Beijing | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Titel: Welcome | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
Printmaking photopolymer
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Montserrat Caballé | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Titel: Pavarotti | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
Printmaking photopolymer
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Caruso | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Titel: Home | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
Printmaking photopolymer
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Home Nr. 1 | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Titel: Home Nr. 2 | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
Printmaking photopolymer
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Istanbul | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: San Francisco | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Ikarus | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Phobie | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Body Nr. 4 | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Body Nr. 5 | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Body Nr. 6 | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Titel: Body Nr. 7 | Format: 76 x 108 cm | Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
Printmaking photopolymer
Printmaking photopolymer<br />
Titel: Test Nr. 5 | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper
Titel: Test Nr. 8 | Format: 76 x 108 cm<br />
Technik: Photopolymer etching | Material: Aquarelle paper<br />
Printmaking photopolymer
© <strong>Roman</strong> <strong>Meyer</strong> | +41 79 333 44 69 | roman@romanmeyer.ch
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