art beat / By Bob Doran

Photographic Alchemy

Bruce Barnbaum’s stone photos

(Feb. 28, 2008)  Call it alchemy. It isn’t, really, but there is a certain degree of sorcery involved in the creation of a fine photo using the old-school method. You know, the kind of print made back in the day, when photographers used film and did their post-shoot work in a darkroom, not at a computer screen. More specifically, we’re talking about the type of black and white photograph that utilizes light-sensitive silver halide salts in a gelatin base on paper.

Photographer Bruce Barnbaum calls it “traditional photography.” The Washington-based fine art photographer and teacher has a show of luscious traditional black and white prints opening this weekend at Piante Gallery in Eureka’s Old Town.

‘Hollow and Points, Peach Canyon,’ silver gelatin print by Bruce Barnbaum.

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Of course, Barnbaum’s work wasn’t deemed traditional when he began as a hobbyist in the ‘60s — it was just photography — but you could say he draws on a tradition. Looking at his images of mountains and deserts it’s not hard to see the influence of photographers like Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. In conversation he mentioned that the “one and only” photo workshop he ever took was one run by Ansel Adams in Yosemite in 1970.

As his skill developed, Barnbaum started leading workshops of his own. His home in Granite Falls, Wash., includes a large multi-station darkroom where he teaches master classes on the fine art of printing. He also leads photo expeditions into remote areas: the Great Smoky Mountains, rocky canyons in Utah and the tropical forests of New Zealand, and one he calls “The Art of Seeing and Creating,” as it relates to fine art photography.

The Piante show, titled “Stone,” is one slice of his large body of work. Whether the prints show sandstone walls in Southwest canyons, rocks pockmarked by the ocean or man’s use of stone for buildings (particularly the sweeping arches of cathedrals), the subject is always the play of sunlight on surface and the myriad shades of gray that light creates.

When it comes to capturing that play of light, Barnbaum is unequivocal: traditional silver prints are better than digital prints. “That’s an unalterable fact. It’s richer in every respect,” he said, going on to explain that even the finest digital print cannot achieve the deepest blacks found in a silver print, nor the range of tonalities. Barnbaum has a lot more to say on the subject. He’s laid down his opinion of digital photography in an essay on his website (www.barnbaum.com).

On Friday afternoon, before I called the photographer at his home in Granite Falls, I went to the Art Center in Eureka to see his work. Sandy Flippin, resident framer (and Art Center owner) was preparing to cut mats for the 33 pieces in the Piante show. As I was helping Flippin unpack the mounted prints, I shared some of Barnbaum’s thoughts on digital photos.

Among other things, the photographer mentions how easy it is to use Photoshop to remove something like a lightpole that mars your image. The danger in that ease is that it can lead to something he calls digital abuse, “an acceptance of initial sloppiness [in composition] with the thought that it will be corrected later.”

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