South Devon Photography by Ivybridge Photographer Mark Coombs

News Press Releases Articles Equipment	Before Photoshop There Was Jerry Uelsmann Way back in time when flares, platform shoes, kipper ties and Chopper bikes were the “In” things to have and wear, I was fascinated by the paintings of Boris Vallejo and Roger Dean. Amongst my posters of Queen and Black Sabbath (and of course the Tennis Girl) I had posters of a semi clad female warriors by Boris Vallejo and amongst my vinyl record collection were various album covers by Roger Dean of far off mystical worlds. Both of these artists paint magical fantasy worlds and characters which appeal to me as much now as they did back then and so when I saw the work of Jerry Uelsmann I was immediately captivated. His work appealed to me because of the fantasy worlds he created and also because of my interest in photography.	Floating Islands by Roger Dean
		The High Couch of Silistra by Boris Vallejo
	I came across the work of Jerry Uelsmann in 2004 whilst researching a project for my "A" Level photography course. I decided that I would not follow the norm and look at the work of Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson and other such well known photographers and would find someone different. I thought Jerry Uelsmann’s work was absolutely astonishing, particularly because all his images are created in the darkroom.	Jerry Uelsmann
	Jerry Uelsmann’s images come under the heading of Surrealist Photomontage. Surrealism is an artistic style that is made up of images from the subconscious mind and with no intention being logically comprehensible and photomontage is the process (and result) of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The composite picture is sometimes photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print.
	Untitled - Jerry Uelsmann	Untitled - Jerry Uelsmann
	Prior to entering the darkroom Jerry has to take photographs in a particular way that enables them to be used for photomontage. For example Jerry regularly uses an image of a bird in a virtually white sky because it is easier to burn in due to the white background. In his darkroom he has 8 enlargers but rarely does he use all 8. Generally he uses up to about 4. Sometimes he blocks the light from the enlarger immediately below the lens, which causes a very soft edge, to keep part of the paper white so it can receive a second or third image. At other times he will mask on the base of the enlarger with black paper to create a hard edge. Jerry also uses other masks and dodges and burns parts of the images. He exposes the first negative on the photographic paper then moves it to the next enlarger and exposes the next negative and then moves the paper to the third and if necessary the forth enlarger. He then processes the image as normal. The images are carefully planned and executed although sometimes over-obvious, but it is hard not to look at some of them without at least mentally exclaiming 'Wow!
	Untitled - Jerry Uelsmann	So how does he he do it? Below is a step by step guide of how he produced the image on the left. To create this image four negatives were used in four separate enlargers.
	Black card was used on the easel at the base of the gates to give a straight edge to keep the bottom of the image white. The top half of the image was blocked below the enlargers lens to fade off to white. The negative of the gate was then exposed to the photographic paper.
		The sphere, which is part of a fountain, was also masked on the easel with black card. The hard edges from the sphere image and gate image were slightly over lapped. The negative of the sphere was then exposed.
	The negative with the clouds against a dark sky was blocked below the lens so it would fade to white in the area above the gate then exposed.
		The hands were photographed poking through a torn piece of white paper. They were printed through a vignetter in the light area of the globe, which was dodged back during exposure.

	During an average day in the darkroom Jerry will get through 50 sheets of photographic paper and will only produce 1 or 2 images that he is happy with. He will then make a limited edition of 6 images. Over the years he has discovered that of the 150 images he produces in a year only 10% survive.

	Of course all this can be achieved a lot quicker and a lot easier with the arrival of digital technology and digital editing and manipulation software. Will digital imaging take over from darkroom manipulation? Yes, I think so. It’s quicker, easier, more convenient, cleaner (no chemicals) and there are a lot more possibilities with the hundreds of filters available. Having said that work in the darkroom will not totally die out. There will always be the purists who prefer to work in the darkroom slaving over an enlarger to get the perfect image. From a personal perspective I hope the darkroom process of photo manipulation does not die. For me the skill, perseverance, time and effort that goes in to producing an image like Jerry's is something that should not be forgotten and should be passed on. At the end of the day the term "photography" is painting with light and that is exactly what is done in the darkroom.

	To see more of Jerry Uelsmann's images visit www.uelsmann.com
	“Simply stated… my hidden agenda is to amaze myself.” - Jerry N.Uelsmann