Artist statement: I have been photographing the bush around my home for over 40 years, always looking for new ways to engage with its arbitrary and indiscriminate revelations.
For this series of photographs I built an ultra large format camera to make wetplate collodion images on glass plates.
The complex process of making each plate balances a very considered and meticulous preparation with the serendipity of the moment and the material.
In these images the bush becomes a stage. The backdrop isolates, reveals, conceals and juxtaposes to create a formal visual tension with the surrounding random chaos.
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Also known as Giclee prints or bubble-jet prints, pigment ink-jet prints are generated by computer printers from digital or scanned files using dye-based or pigment-based inks. A series of nozzles spray tiny droplets of ink onto the paper surface in a precise pattern that corresponds to the digital image file. In dye-based prints the ink soaks into the paper, whereas in pigment-based prints the ink rests and dries on top of the paper surface.
Whilst the term is broad, pigment ink-jet prints have come to be associated with prints produced on fine art papers. They are the most versatile and archival method of printing available to photographers today. A wide variety of material on which an image can be printed with such inks are available, including various textures and finishes such as matte photo paper, watercolour paper, cotton canvas or pre-coated canvas.
