The Slow Camera Exchange, Issue 2, Spring 2024

Issue 2, Spring 2024

THE SLOW CAMERA EXCHANGE

CONTENTS 2

The Slow Camera Exchange Background Welcome An Analogue Photography Passion

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The Borrowing Library In Action How can I be involved?

Artist Orla Byrne’s Experience With The Cameras An Artist Perspective By Brian Mac Domhnaill

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New Moon Dance Collaboration With Hermann Marbe

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Young Peoples Reflections The Experience An Analogue Photography Passion

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Photo Essay: New Moon Dance

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Two Photographers One Story

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Processing Through other eyes.

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Plant Based Processes In Analogue Photography

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Sustainable Darkroom Collaboration A Mini-Residency with Ashleigh Ellis The World of Botany and Colour Meets Photographic Processes

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Photo Essay: Sustainable Darkroom

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Cyanotype Story

40 Acknowledgments

THE SLOW CAMERA EXCHANGE BACKGROUND

Welcome

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elcome to the Spring 2024 issue of The Slow Camera Exchange. This issue brings us to past projects and journeys and presents new creative work. It connects the past and the present in new conversations. It provides some context about the emergence of The Slow Camera Exchange and some of it’s current activities. The borrowing library is now up and running and over the last year a number of socially engaged programmes have taken place. In this issue you can find out how to get involved.

An Analogue Photography Passion around the world, to South America, USA, Japan and Europe, where he visited photographic fairs, flea markets and photography shops - some large dealers, others, small businesses with very rare and unusual finds.

As the project develops it has been important to explore the theme of sustainability and how analogue processes can adopt processes which minimise impacts on the environment.

You can find out about The Slow Camera Exchange’s engagement with the Sustainable Darkroom UK and with Cork based natural dye artist Ashleigh Ellis’s who engaged in a mini residency.

Artem Trofemenko presents a poetic photo essay that combines his photographic work with Hermann Marbes work.

Ten years ago Hermann collaborated with New Moon Dance Company Director Tina Horan and the dancers of the company. This issue revisits the project and the dancers who are now young adults reflect on their experiences as teenagers engaging with analogue photography for the first time.

The last photo series are mini cyanotype prints They are from the last roll of film that Hermann shot.

He printed some of them and the remainder I printed for this issue.

Jess Marbe

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ermann Marbe was a photographer with passion and a tireless fascination with all things photography. He was a collector of cameras, lenses and many different optical items and worked within a wide variety of photographic formats and processes. He loved to explore the potential of all types of lenses; from high-end Zeiss systems, to ones used for print reproduction or helicopter surveillance. He was intrigued even by the chance of achieving spectacular images from cheap plastic lenses.

He could often be found building, repairing and adapting equipment to help achieve his artistic vision to just to see what unexpected results would emerge. For Hermann, the darkroom was a space of quiet exploration and discovery as images revealed themselves. He worked with standard and experimental film darkroom processes; working with infrared, wet plate, albumen, bromoils, cyanotype, lith prints and emulsions on all sorts of surfaces, from wood to marble.

His collection is amassed from trips

Hermann’s life was immersed in creative explorations. He collaborated creatively with his partner, Jess Marbe, and worked as a supporting artist and collaborator with GASP artists of Cope Foundation. The creative journey with these artists was deeply entwined with Hermann’s life and passion and photography and film-based work were also integral to this work. He saw no limits to what could be achieved and was ambitious, quirky and innovative in the projects and initiatives he embarked on.

Hermann and Jess were not only partners in life, but also creative collaborators, with a fascination in creative expression that usually goes unseen and stories that are often unheard. They loved to work in spaces where participation in the arts is broad and accessible. They viewed creative expression as a right for all. It seems fitting for Hermann’s cameras to be made available for public use through The Slow Camera Exchange and to celebrate the creativity that will emerge from this opportunity.

It was exciting to receive funding from Creative Ireland to embark on The Slow Camera Exchange’s journey in 2022. One of my main hopes with the project is that people will connect with others and feel a sense of belonging while engaging in activities with potential to support their wellbeing.

The Cork City Library Service and the Cork Film Centre share this vision and have been the perfect partners to bring this project to fruition.

The Borrowing Library In Action

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ork City Libraries are proud to partner with the Slow Camera Exchange along with Cork Film Centre and Creative Ireland. The initiative is now firmly embedded in the library service as we became the first analogue camera lending library in Ireland and possibly Europe. Our camera library consists of over 60 cameras from the Hermann Marbe collection with some being over 100 years old. By lending these cameras to artists and creatives we are proud to continue Hermann’s vision of making the arts and creativity accessible to everyone through creative community engagements.

If you are new to analogue photography you are invited to sign up to the newsletter on the Slow Camera Exchange website and look out for a workshop opportunity hosted in one of the Cork City Libraries as an introduction.

the correct handling and use of the camera collection. Anyone with an interest and some experience in photography is welcome to register for the induction sessions and become a SCE Club member. We also have a library of camera kits that are available for artists and teachers with some experience to borrow to use with groups and this is an important aspect of the project in terms of making the cameras accessible to those with less experience.

We are also very excited to host sustainable photographic processes workshops in Tory Top Library where plants and natural materials are experimented with, and we look forward to discovering other sustainable ways of supporting the Slow Camera Exchange and introducing communities to the slow process of analogue photography to creatively engage with the fast paced city we live in today.

To borrow the cameras as an individual artist you need to be a member of Cork City Libraries and also become a member of the Slow Camera Exchange Club by meeting the guiding criteria for each of the categories and participating In an induction session. This helps to ensure

For me, working in the darkroom is not so much about ending up with an image. It’s more about exploration and discovery and physically intervening by playing with the light and chemistry to make something interesting happen.

The subtle yet distinct old camera smells from the camera collection gives

knew Hermann in a professional capacity and I was always astounded by the passion and energy he applied to his work with GASP, a group of artists he supported and collaborated with. Even though I knew he was an avid photographer I did not know of his analogue camera collecting. I now get to have that conversation by signing up for the Slow Camera Exchange (SCE) and getting to know Hermann the collector through borrowing and using his cameras.

For those of us who are inclined to collect analogue cameras it is a fascinating and sometimes expensive affliction. Some collectors want one example of everything, others want to rescue cameras and some aspire to be more selective, only collecting cameras they enjoy using.

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Artist Orla Byrne’s Experience With The Cameras

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Brian Mac Domhnaill is Director of Lavit Gallery, Cork and previously filled the professional roles of Programme & Operations Manager at Sirius Arts Centre and Studio Coordinator at Backwater Artists Group. He holds a MA in Art & Process from MTU Crawford College of Art & Design and continues to maintain an art practice of his own with a focus on analogue photography.

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Patricia Looney Senior Executive librarian with Cork City Libraries

henever I speak about the experience of using film I say these things: I am attracted to it because of its physicality. I love the material. I am besotted with the process.

An Artist Perspective By Brian Mac Domhnaill

them an aura of the distant past and, folded into that, there is the sense of a more recent past. A personal collection: legacy within legacy. To use them then, is to be part of a continuum. Each fresh exposure is like another blink of an eye, like the light of another day passing.

I love the photographs I have taken with The Slow Camera Exchange cameras. To me, they encapsulate my own growing awareness of the fleeting moment, of gaps widening, of shadows lengthening as time marches on.

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I currently have 18 analogue cameras of my own 5 were gifted to me and of those 5 I love 1, like 2, am indifferent to 1 and hate 1.

There are 4 that I purchased over the years that I wish I hadn’t and nobody seems to want them.

There are 3 I sought out, have no regrets buying but don’t use that often.

There are 5 I sought out, have no regrets buying and use the most regularly.

And there is one on its way from Germany. There is also a shortlist of other cameras I might have to own at some stage but we won’t get into that.

What I want to highlight is that those of us who collect analogue cameras and use them do so in our own particular way and for our own reasons.

Hermann’s collecting was undoubtedly

different to mine but there was most likely common ground. Those we leave behind might not necessarily know our rescue dog cameras from our pedigree shooters. I have signed up for the SCE knowing the cameras I will try first because they have crossed my research path before but there are others I might try out of curiosity and to show them some love.

The SCE initiative is all about providing access to classic cameras with some shared responsibility, albeit stewarded by those entrusted with the care of the collection. It is a novel and admirable idea and one I wholeheartedly endorse.

So why the fascination with these cameras over their more recent digital counterparts? Just as with classic cars the design and aesthetics are era-specific and delightful to behold.

The cameras are often made with more robust materials and can be easily repaired in comparison to later electronics-laden examples.

We now take for granted that the whole world can fit in a device the size of a slice of bread whereas not so long ago the idea that a 35mm film camera could be the size of bar of soap was a miracle.

Most importantly analog cameras are a joy to use, well if you choose the right one that is. Much of this joy comes from the fact that it offers us a break from digital devices and associated immediacy. With these older cameras you can see, hear and feel things working. We can work with these cameras to make art and to interact with the world. These cameras do not remove us from the world like our smart phones and that is the fundamental difference. Using an analogue camera makes us more present and aware of our surroundings and more conscious of what it is that we choose to see and record.

I am grateful the SCE borrowing library has become a reality and I wish the venture every success. I look forward to being one of their punters in the coming months.

Brian Mac Domhnaill, Photographer & Director of Lavit Gallery

Orla O’Byrne

WWW.THESLOWCAMERAEXCHANGE.COM

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A photography and dance collaboration.

Looking back 10 years later.

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Dance Through the Lens of Analog Photography

Tina Horan is a Cork based choreographer, mindful movement teacher, maker of short films and a sea swimmer.

She runs two Dance Companies in Cork city, New Moon Youth Dance and Still Waters Adult Dance Company. She teaches all age groups and she loves to work outdoors. Her background is dance and psychology. She danced professionally and choreographed in Los Angeles in her younger years. Over the last 30 years she has worked on many shows, plays, exhibits with many artists, organisations, schools and universities.

Empowering people through dance and movement is her gift.

Young Peoples Reflections on The Project

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rna Condon danced with New Moon from 2004 until 2011 so from the ages of 15 to 22. She is now a primary school teacher and integrates dance and movement into her work in a school. She shares some of her memories of this experience.

She describes her enjoyment of interacting with photography through the medium of dance. “Photography and dance mix very well and can provide many interesting opportunities for creativity and I enjoyed exploring this. I remember always being given great encouragement. I remember being given helpful direction which was always gentle and subtle leaving up with plenty of room for creativity and freedom of expression. I have lovely memories of working with photography and was always excited

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observed how Hermann viewed the world as a photographer.

His work was about form, light, shape, forefront and background, composition and textures. I could see how he was always ready to capture single moments and how magically the essence of what he photographed came through.

The elements that were important to him as a photographer are also important in my practice as a dancer and choreographer. I also have a strong interest in moving image and still image and creating with lens based work as well to capture moments in time.

He gave my students a very unique opportunity to experience in depth, an art form that children and teenagers rarely have the opportunity to learn. He taught them technical skills as well as how to look, how to take images, how to process images and how to collaborate.

He taught students how to make cameras out of paper boxes. He shared to see the results. I loved learning how dance could be elevated by working with different mediums like photography and how you can play around with both together.”

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va Linenhan started dancing with New Moon Dance Company in 2008 she was seven or eight and continued in the company she was 18.

She has just finished a masters in biochemistry and continues to dance for enjoyment and to stay fit.

She remembers the wide variety of ways of engaging with photograhic process from posing for portraits in the studio, taking photos around the city, at the Opera House, experimenting in shop windows like mannequins. She also recalls the process of developing the images. “The photos all turned out so beautifully and I was so in awe of the process, I learnt so much. I suppose I never, until now, appreciated the patience and skill it took to show this intricate process to a group of teenage girls. Working with Jess and Hermann, moving, photographing, and itching

New Moon Dance Company dancers engaging with Hermann’s cameras in 2013.

with us the magic of photography.

Students got to use old cameras and new. Students and I got to experience being in a dark room and watch a photograph come to life. Seeing the image float to the top was a spiritual experience for me and the girls, One I will never forget.

The opportunity to work with Hermann was a chance to look through the eyes of another artist. I wanted to develop my skills and to refine and expand my artistry. We brought our art forms together and found ways of exploring, composing and capturing together.

Collaborating with Hermann was a hugely expansive experience. I saw up close how he cared as an artist, not just in how he expressed his art but in how he connected to others as he worked.

Hermann’s respect, love and honouring of all peoples, no matter how they present in this world was mind blowing. He could relate to all peoples

and truly saw the artistry and beauty in all. He was a wonderful example to me of loving and respecting everybody no matter their ability or disability... everybody was ABLE. Hermann deeply impacted me and showed me ways in which I want to work. My hearts desire is to do my very best to love all and never doubt the magnificent creation of people and what they are capable of. I will carry Hermann with me everytime I take a shot. He was an amazing mentor.

He was passionate about his photographic work, never without a camera. He and his cameras were one... no separating them. His glasses, with thick lenses, somehow completed the whole photographing experience for me.

He would hold a camera up in the air and click, he treated the camera as if it were a person, it had its own mind. As a result when I’m taking shots, I take shots without looking through the lens so as to see what the camera saw.

Tina Horan Choreographer

and printing witnessing the different ways Jess and Hermann blended multiple art forms together.”

She describes how her creativity was expanded as she explored how dance could be communicated through multiple mediums and other outcomes like getting closer to my fellow dancers, and gaining so much confidence.

“Looking back at all the photographs taken by Hermann I can see the individuality of every person shining through differently. I’m so happy to have some of the physical images.’

the project was developed as a group over many weeks of brainstorming.

It was so rewarding to see how our ideas developed and changed over time. We were shown many different kinds of cameras and allowed to test out each one. I loved being able to test the difference lighting, focus, exposure and composition had on the photos we took. We made our own cameras from shoeboxes to understand the principle of how an analogue camera captures images on film.”

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When they exhibited work in Fitzgerald’s Park she can remember the feeling of pride of what she and her colleagues had achieved. “I loved that I could see the input of each member of the group in the work and how all our ideas weaved together”. And came away with new confidence and understanding of creative processes.

“It gave me confidence in my abilities and taught me so much about patience, failure, collaboration, open mindedness and perseverance. “

aoise Donovan first started dancing with the New Moon Dance company in 2006 when she was six years old and continued right up through her teenage years.

Now as an adult she still enjoys to dance and has recently started to dance with Tina’s adult company Still Waters. She was 12 when she engaged with Hermann in the project She recalls and describes the process and agency the dances had in each step of the project. “The concept behind

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Processing I

TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS, ONE STORY

experienced so many quandaries about what to do with Hermann’s items after he passed away. T-shirts were cut into patches and created many square metres of blankets.

Socks unravelled and knitted, clothes restitched in to fit the kids and I, items donated, items shared. Items still in our lives with question marks about what to do with them. Many times I wish I could ask Hermann about some of the items, to find out if they were important to him, where they came from and to understand their purpose or their significance to inform decisions. During his illness we were focused on being and being together as a family with two small children. Our energy went into doing the best to keep him with us as long as possible rather than thinking about life beyond then. We didn’t speak of any of his wishes for after he was gone, not about the cameras, not about the images, not about his motorbike, not about our home, not about the kids- nothing about the future. I guess neither of us wanted to imagine the future without him.

This leaves a space of consideration around all of the photographic images Hermann produced.

In the early days after Hermanns death, almost 6 years ago, I had several peeks into boxes and stacks of images and became lost in the volume of images and the volume of memories and would pack them up again before late night hours when the kids slept would turn into sleepless nights of exploring and sorting and remembering.

In the last year I have opened the boxes to consider more carefully how to share some of the work. The approach that made sense for me was to engage in a creative process and a conversation.

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Since I met Artem Trofimenko and saw his photographic work and his passion for analogue cameras and his interest in Hermann’s cameras, I often imagined them immersed deep in conversation together over cameras and over images they created.

When I look at images Artem has created I often see echoes of Hermann’s work or images that I feel resonate through connection of motifs or styles. Sharing the cameras and the images with Artem seemed like a way to allow unspoken conversations to take place and new stories and creative expression to emerge. I feel that Hermann’s creative spirit and his ability to connect, create and share can live on in these processes. I invited Artem to browse through thousands of images and to select some that resonated with him and to work on making a visual story combining Hermann’s images with his own images. In this process I was intrigued to see what images he would select.

He was coming with fresh eyes. When I look at Hermann’s images I come to them often knowing the context, location, and the year it was taken. I often have memories of being there when the image was shot. I was curious about how Artem would approach the images coming to them with fresh eyes. I am intrigued about his intuitive and instinctive engagement. I am equally interested in the future to explore other ways to work with the images in conversation with Artem and others. Hermann was both curious and collaborative in his nature and in many of his creative processes. It feels fitting to work collaboratively with his images.

Jess Marbe

Through Other Eyes S

ometimes you don’t even notice it, nothing has changed but you look at things through other eyes.

Who’s eye? Those who have come before, maybe it’s more of a resonant space, or acknowledgement of things unseen.

“All truth is parallel, and all truth is untrue” Rozz Williams Life has a way of filling space, some days we may turn and catch ourselves in another. The passing of my father was a sudden and delayed realisation of what grief is. There are many conversations that I never had, yet are alive and pressing, yet other things can take that place, sometimes brittle things heard in passing, sometimes only at a glance. Sometimes eyes are faster than our tongues, giving turn before the bend.

I never met Hermann, which is strange considering how early I entered the artistic community in Cork.

I was a regular at the analogue photography meetings at Camden Palace Hotel, where I volunteered and learned dark room from Naomie Smith back in 2012. I was 15 years old. It was the first time in my life that I felt that I had somewhere to belong.

This was followed by a journey of introducing others to the darkroom wherever I went. This was followed by time in Crawford College of Art and Design and eventually finding a home for my darkroom practice at Cork Film Centre. Ever since working with Jess and tracing back the story of Hermann I can’t help but find parallels in our approach. For me it’s a delicate balance, the spontaneous connections that arise from working in community, and a hidden private world that requires space and opaque light to nurture. Hermann had a role in his community, his family, he left a mark, a shape. I never met him but I met his gap, an absence of his presence.

I hear echoes of Hermann on every turn, the people he touched approach me constantly since I took on this role with the Slow Camera Exchange.

Many people I have known, yet did not realize their connection to him.

All this time his absence is tinted with my sincerest aspirations, recognizing the basic value of simplest things. Like Hermann, I have amassed an extensive archive of prints and negatives that I work with, returning to recurring motifs. Under the weight of memory arises a need to forget, to see things as if for the first time, this step repeats at

every turn of the process. We set an aim and find our way to reconcile the distance, sometimes it’s nothing but a moment, an embodied distance, an attempt to erase ourselves from the weight of memory.

This attempt in its form is a suggestive and open gesture, a tapestry of images, another voice.

Soon after Jess invited me to her home I found myself among hundreds of disparate images, some done in community, some personal and others of more abstract nature. I am grateful to Jess for the trust and freedom given to choose what touches me. The series of images presented in this issue are traces of inquiry into the images I left with that day.

Artem Trofimenko

Artem Trofimenko is a Cork based artist/photographer.

In 2018 he graduated from Crawford College of Art and Design with BA Hons in Fine Art. His work was published in Source Magazine Photographic Review in summer 2018.

He helped establish Cork Film Centre’s F-stop analogue photography/darkroom group, where he provides technical darkroom support.

He has taken part in numerous exhibitions, including ‘Grá 3x2’ at 3 Walls Gallery Dublin 2019 and the IOVA group show, Dublin 2020 and 2021.

During the pandemic he completed a photobook “Tuuli”.

In 2021 he received a Visual Arts Agility Award resulting in the photography book ‘Quiddity’ which is in process of publication with Static Age publishers.

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Sustainable Darkroom Collaboration

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n September 2023 we had the privilege to host Hannah Fletcher of the Sustainable Darkroom to run a workshop in a variety of plant based processes. The Sustainable Darkroom is an artist-run research, training and mutual learning programme that helps equip cultural practitioners with new skills and knowledge to develop environmentally friendly photographic darkroom practices.

Botanical Adventures in Sustainable Photography

https://sustainabledarkroom.com/ pages/about.htm A group of artists had the opportunity to engage with a variety of processes including Chlorophyll Printing, Anthotypes, Phytograms, building mini pinhole cameras to create paper positives with waste developer and also printing with Seaweed

Hannah Fletcher works with and researches the many intricate relationships between photographic and not-so photographic materials.

Intertwining organic matter such as soils, algae, mushrooms and roots into photographic mediums and surfaces. Fletcher questions the life cycle and value of materials by incorporating waste from her studio and workshops back into the system of making.

Working in an investigative, ritualistic and environmentally conscious manner, she combines scientific techniques with photographic processes, creating dialogue and fusions between the poetic and political.

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Hannahfletcher.com

A MiniThe World of Residency With Botany and Colour Ashleigh Ellis Meets Photographic F Processes

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ears ago when I was studying in Crawford College of Art and Design, I had to choose an area of study. It was the most difficult choice to make, and after choosing textiles I reluctantly left the magic of the darkroom behind.

My practice has taken a journey through the world of botany and colour, and it’s been an unexpected joy and privilege to rediscover the excitement of developing photographic imagery while working with some of Hermann’s negatives and antique glass plates. This residency has been rich in discovery and also nourishing in connecting with local photographers and artists.

There is a surprising amount of overlap between low impact photographic processes and the natural dye world; the chemistry of plants is central to both. In the workshops I hosted we explored 5x processes; plant emulsions for Anthotypes, Phytograms working with plants as developers on darkroom paper, Chlorophyll prints on leaves, Cyanotype blueprints working with UV light and iron emulsion, and Toning Cyanotypes with natural dyes. I shared my practice and experiments to date, and we spent time exploring their possibilities.

During my research I discovered Annette Golaz’s contemporary book ’Cyanotype Toning’. Annette is pushing the envelope with toning cyanotype blueprints with plants and her research blew the door open for me, providing a direct extension of my practice into the world of photography.

I played for many hours in the studio with negatives from Hermann’s collection and the dye plants I had to hand, with some unconventional ones too. Fenugreek happens to be my favourite! Along with Weld and Madder Root, both native plants and traditional natural dye ‘Grand Teint’s’. Logwood (or ‘Ek’ in Mayan) creates the richest blacks. Some can be found in your kitchen, like Wheatgrass and Parsley.

These had the interesting effect of slightly bleaching the prints.

During one of our Slow Camera Exchange workshops I met Joleen Cronin, a photographer and fellow creative professional who rocked up with the most intriguing collection of antique glass plates originating from the 1920s. She generously allowed us to make initial cyanotype prints with them revealing striking images of what appears to be an expedition to a jungle setting, botanists at work, plant and animal details, and locals navigating jungle rivers.

“The photographer behind this series is William (Willie) Farr, a native of Passage West who dedicated his life to a career at sea as a merchant seaman aboard cruise liners. While he returned and retired to Cork in his later years, he embarked on a journey across the globe through his work at sea, visiting destinations like the Caribbean, South East Asia, and more. Willie Farr’s passion for photography was evident, and family anecdotes suggest that he purchased some of his photographic equipment in Singapore during his travels.

Additionally, he gained an interest in botanical specimens, most notably demonstrated by the family story surrounding his gift of a Monkey Puzzle tree to his parents, which they planted in Passage West near Toreen Terrace and became a talking point of the village.” - Joleen Joleen and I met after the workshop to develop more plates, and then I took these images and experimented further with toning them. These experiments have deepened my appreciation for just how tied colour is with our emotional reading of an image.

Ashleigh Ellis

ollowing on from the workshop with Hannah Fletcher, The Slow Camera Exchange invited Ashleigh Ellis to do a Mini Artist residency. We were interested in her experience and immense scientific knowledge of natural dyes and dyeing processes and how that knowledge could be combined with photographic processes.

We invited Ashliegh to spend some studio time in exploring processes and also to run some open explorative workshops with artists where she could share some of her experiences and discoveries and also create space for the artists to explore.

Ashleigh Ellis is passionate about working with natural materials and reclaiming our place in ecology through life affirming practices. She has facilitated art and textile workshops for 14 years, gives dye plant talks and teaches eco art processes.

These include natural dyes and growing dye plants, eco/botanical printing, ink and pigment making and cyanotype to name a few. Gardening and respectful foraging are two important aspects of her practice. For two years she ran The Natural Dye Project Cork in collaboration with Green Spaces for Health, growing dye plants with communities and focusing on plants which provide habitat and food for pollinators. The historical knowhow and relationship with these plants are of immense interest to her and inform her workshops and sharing of skills as a social-engaged artist. The SCE workshops explored the use of plants and their chemistries in alternative, low impact photographic processes. Topics included the chemistry of natural pigments, pigments’ sensitivity to light and how to expand their longevity, and how to shift their colour to reveal multiple colour palettes from one plant. www.ashleighellis.ie @ashleighellis_natureartist

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Above: Lone Tree: Cyanotype prints by Ashleigh Ellis from a negative by Hermann Marbe. From Top Left to Right: Toned with Wheatgrass powder, Madder Root, Ek, Fenugreek.

Left: Third Eye Girl with Leaves: Cyanotype print toned with Fenugreek, Ashleigh Ellis 2024. Altered positive film from Hermann Marbe’s Collection, The Slow Camera Exchange. Model: Patricia Pena Mazo.

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Above: Four of Willie Farr’s glass plates:toned cyanotype prints, Ashleigh Ellis 2024. Courtesy of Joleen Cronin. Top Left to Right:Toned with Elderflower, Madder Root, Ek, untoned cyanotype blueprint.

Right: One of Willie Farr’s glass plates: cyanotype print, ’Fruit-like Nest’. Courtesy of Joleen Cronin.

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The Final Exposures

In Hermann’s last months on this planet he missed his dark room. We were in Germany for treatment so he had no access to a darkroom. He took lots of images, some negatives yet undeveloped. In Germany he bought a medium format camera in order to create negatives of a size that could be printed directly as contact prints. He got a dark bag in which he could process the negatives without needing a darkroom. He printed placing the negatives over a cyanotype emulsion he prepared, placed them under glass and exposed them to natural spring light. Above is a short photo story capturing moments during these short few months.

Jess Marbe

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE

THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING COLLABORATORS CREATIVE IRELAND CORK CITY LIBRARIES- PATRICIA LOONEY AND ELIZABETH MCNAMARA CORK CITY ARTS OFFICE_ SIOBHAN CLANCY AND MICHELLE CAREW CORK FILM CENTRE CHRIS HURLEY F.PROJECT COLLECTIVE THE SUSTAINABLE DARKROOM MTU CRAWFORD COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN

IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHAT WE DO, VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.THESLOWCAMERAEXCHANGE.COM OR FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: @THESLOWCAMERAEXCHANGE ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK @SLOWCAMEXCHANGE ON TWITTER

TO EVERYONE WHO ENGAGED IN WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS. THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES.

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FRONT COVER: AISLING MCCARTHY 2013. BODY PAINTING: NIAMH LEONARD. PHOTOGRAPHER: HERMANN MARBE