While more and more casual photographers these days are turning to the likes of Instagram and VSCO to digitally “filter” their photos, photographer Jon Verney uses analog photography and a very unusual process: he dips his photos in thermal hot springs.
Verney says he has always been fascinated with the alchemy of film photography. While working as a darkroom tech at an Italian school years ago, a professor there commented that the high concentration of sulphur in thermal hot springs could give bleached photos a natural sepia tone.
So, Verney tried it, and the process has come to define his work.
The “redevelopment toning” is a 2-step process. After printing a 4×4-inch photo with traditional processes in a darkroom, Verney places each shot in a bath of potassium ferricyanide. This bleaches them and reverts the silver in the emulsion to being “undeveloped” again.
Next, he brings a batch of his bleached photos to various geothermal locations around the world (e.g. Iceland, Wyoming, California) and immerses them in the waters of thermal systems.
These waters redevelop the photos, with the new color, tone, and texture based on the geochemical makeup of each pool of water.
“Essentially, each photo absorbed aspects of the landscape, so it was really kind of a collaboration with these geological entities,” Verney tells PetaPixel. “They had equal agency in the making of the work.”
You can find more of Verney’s work on his website.
Image credits: Photographs by Jon Verney and used with permission
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