Modachrome

Man Ray’s solarized portraits have fascinated me since I was a kid. Until I can set up a darkroom in the studio, I’m stuck recreating it digitally haha.

The theory is he’d flip the light switch for a second or so in the darkroom, intentionally destroying it but just briefly enough. I’ve seen some recreations but until I give it a go, I’m not fully convinced that was all he did.

It’s one of my favorite examples of knowing the rules so you know how to break them, but that’s also a method that not everyone agrees on. Dom and I have these conversations often - is art subjective enough that making things without the knowledge is its own form of art OR are “mistakes” more impressive when it comes from someone who knows how to manipulate the mistakes?

I wonder if Man Ray discovered solarization bc someone walked into the darkroom and turned on the light. Or did he just knew how to break very specific rules? What are your thoughts on knowing the rules? Is it necessary?

This is painfully easy to recreate digitally. It didn’t occur to me until just this moment that I should’ve made a how-to lol so lmk if that interests you.

Hi internet friends, I think I’m back from my self-imposed hiatus. I was in Florida helping my dad through the last few months of his life. He passed away on March 19th.

Losing my dad made me reevaluate things. We’re always told we have finite time, to make the most of it, all of that. Watching it be slowly taken from someone was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen.

I’ve had a lot of time for self-reflection in the last few months. I’ve gone through a major physical change and a mind-numbing shift mentally, so I feel pretty outside of my own self and discombobulated right now. I don’t feel like the same person I was at the start of the year but I can’t figure out exactly what’s different. It’s hard to pin something down when you don’t know what it is you’re looking for.

I know what I’m passionate about and I’m exploring how to harness my creativity to express myself more authentically, which slipped away from me a long time ago. The validation of influencer culture is empty, for me. So much of what I do (or don’t do) stems from fear and I just don’t feel like there’s much room for fear anymore.

A lot of you have followed this from start to finish on my other page and some of you are just learning about where I’ve been since January. Many of you have reached out, gave condolences, shared your stories, cried with me and even laughed with me. Thank you, I needed you more than you realize.

See you soon 💕