Original Cibachrome Photograph
Pristine condition
certified authentic
Details
Description
Original Cibachrome photograph by Christopher Burkett, “Telluride Aspens.” Individually handmade by Christopher Burkett from 8×10-format transparency film. Mounted on cotton rag Antique Rising Museum Board. Signed in pencil on mount with title, date and edition number on mount verso.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“In 1997, my wife Ruth and I went on our annual fall photo trip, traveling first to Colorado, then on the east coast. We happened upon Colorado at just the right time for the changing of the Aspen trees. The aspens slowly change color but after they reach peak color, the leaves hang on by only a thread and one windstorm will drop them to the ground overnight. Also, they’re not called “quaking aspen” without a reason, as even the slightest breeze will cause every leaf to flutter and shimmer in the wind. So it is necessary to have no wind, not even a slight breath, in order to have a sharp photograph. As you can imagine, this is not easy to come by in the Rocky Mountains in the fall! That fall, we photographed for about a week in Colorado, traveled up and down the mountains throughout the state. At the beginning of that week, the leaves were at or near peak color and at the end of the week, they were all on the ground. We were fortunate to come away with a few good images, including this one and Radiant Mountain Aspen. This image was taken just outside of Telluride, on the road that goes to the gold mine east of town. It was a hot afternoon and Ruth and I were looking for a place to rest up a bit from our travels. The road runs right along the side of the steep mountain slope. We parked along the side of the road and took our miniature schnauzer, Smoky, for a walk. I was struck by the beautiful light coming through the trees, which was made more luminous by the deep blues of the distant mountainside in shadow. I knew that if the wind would allow, that this was a rare photo opportunity. The exposure of the film was critical, as the tonal range of the scene surpassed the ability of the film to record all of the values. Even so, I knew that the film was only barely viable, even using extraordinary masking techniques. I was not sure if it was possible, but the scene demanded photographing! I used a 300mm Schneider Apo Sironar-S, a modern, highly-corrected lens. The camera was set up and carefully leveled, using the rising front to nearly its full extension. This avoided any key-stoning effect and gave the required composition. I exposed three sheets of film, using the same exposure for all of them, in order to insure against any subject motion. As expected, the transparency was extremely difficult to work with. I had to remake the contrast mask numerous times. The problem lies in the extreme contrast of the transparency. When reducing the contrast, it is an extremely fine line between having an image which is too flat and loses shape and brilliance and one that is too contrasty. Even so, very precise dodging and burning is required in order to make the final Cibachrome. Each one is quite difficult to produce, treading a fine line to achieve maximum luminosity in every part.
To me, the golden leaves in the final Cibachrome, surrounding the progression of trunks in the foreground, appear almost as flames, set against the cobalt blues of the background. To me, there is a sense of that “fire of life” which breathes life into all of creation.”
Condition
All Christopher Burkett photographs sold at Photography West are new and in pristine condition. HD videos of the individual piece you are purchasing are available upon request. For more information, please
Artist
Christopher Burkett has labored for over four decades to create what many regard as the most impeccable and luminous color photographs in the history of photography. Gifted with a contemplative spirit as well as painter’s eye, Burkett has an uncommon ability to capture the natural world in a manner that simultaneously reflects “the world behind the world” as Minor White and Paul Caponigro might have put it. And although Burkett has been compared by curators to American color landscape photographers Eliot Porter and Ernst Haas, whose genre of American landscape photography he extended, neither of them exclusively developed their own film, nor attempted the darkroom standard clearly in evidence upon viewing Burkett’s original Cibachromes.
Medium
Cibachrome, also known as Ilfochrome, is among the most stable of all color photographic processes. The dyes reside within the emulsion layers, giving the photograph its characteristic color saturation. The base is a polyester triacetate, rather than fiber-based paper, which adds to the longevity. It was a positive-to-positive photographic process based on the Gasparcolor process, created in 1933 by Bela Gaspar, a Hungarian chemist. Purchased after the merger of Ilford UK and Ciba-Geigy Photochemie of Switzerland, the process was first trademarked and marketed as Cibachrome in 1963. Each Cibachrome is composed of ten layers containing various combinations of light-sensitive silver halides and dyes that are sensitive to blue, green, or red light waves, which gives it an incredible depth and three-dimensional quality. After exposure of a positive, either through an enlarger or direct contact, the Cibachrome must be developed with black-and-white developing chemicals. This step creates a silver negative image within the layers. Next, the photograph must be bleached. The bleaching rids the photograph of dyes in proportion to the amount of silver that has been developed in the previous step and produces a positive dye image in color. In 2011, Cibachrome/Ilfochrome products were discontinued and it is now considered a historical process.
