This photograph is a meticulously constructed studio image that juxtaposes ice-cream cones with a royal crown. It is the fourth in Redgate’s series WORK-TO-RULE 1986–87, which also includes photographs of cotton reels and playing cards. For this series, Redgate moved away from the plastic cameras she’d used previously and instead employed a professional 6 x 7 inch camera and all the necessary equipment used in studio photography. She adopted many of the conventions of advertising photography, including special lighting techniques to emphasise and glorify her subjects. Redgate printed the works in this series at a 1:1 scale so that her subjects are presented at life size when printed. These techniques allowed Redgate to comment on photography’s inescapable link to the subject it records as well as its ability to glorify and flatter its subject. This series combined Redgate’s interests in sculpture and photography and led her to produce other photographs that interrogate the relationship between these two media.
(2016)
A silver dye bleach print is a subtractive positive-to-positive colour photographic process used for the reproduction of colour film transparencies on photographic paper. The prints are made using a triacetate, polyester or resin coated paper support coated with layers of azo (synthetic) dyes mixed with light sensitive silver gelatine emulsion, which are selectively bleached out during the development process. Silver dye bleach prints are characterised by their image clarity, colour saturation and stability. The most commercially successful silver dye bleach product was Ilfochrome (which was also commonly known as Cibachrome).
