Jainming Zhong (China)
Old Courtyard Suzhou – Carbon Transfer Printing
Carbon Transfer printing is a beautiful permanent process with an enormous tonal range. Carbon printing is created by sensitizing pigmented gelatin with dichromate. The pigmented gelatin becomes insoluble in water proportionate to the UV light received through a negative. The exposed pigmented gelatin is transferred onto a support. Hot water washes away softer pigments, revealing the photograph on the underlying support. This creates the unique signature of a bas-relief effect. The carbon process originally used lamp black as discovered by Alphonse Poitevin in 1855. Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron later adapted it to colour through the use of pigments in 1868.
About Jainming Zhong (Nanjing China) Professor at Nanjing University of the Arts since 2001 Department Chair of Photography, Nanjing University of the Arts Courses taught: Photography Education, Photography Research, Photography Theory, Commercial Photography, Art Photography. Pivotal in the role of connecting artist working in the hand craft of photography across China and the rest of the world.
Since we as humans always wish to preserve the original essence of what we see, the separation between the photographic document and our lives get increasingly narrow. The image not only conveys what the photographer saw, but also his/her imagination, his/her personal vision. Subjects in my images are about what I prefer to remember, preserved visually in their younger, earlier, brilliance.