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Profile: Gary Auerbach
by Larraine A. DarConte
The Permanence of Platinum
I met photographer Gary Auerbach at Two Coats Trading
Co., a gallery in Tucson, Arizona, where his work had been on exhibit.
Though he was in the process of removing prints from the gallery,
he was kind enough to show me his work-8x10 and 11x14 platinum contact
prints. Admittedly, it's the first time I ever really longed to
touch a photograph-the surface of each print was like, I don't know,
velvet! They were the most luxurious, exquisitely detailed, perfectly
printed images I'd ever seen.
And no matter how good a job this magazine does of reproducing Auerbach's
images [note: they are reproduced here in four-color-Ed.], it won't
be able to do them justice. His platinum prints have a life of their
own and need to be seen up close and personal to be truly appreciated.
Auerbach, who has been photographing for approximately two decades,
began exploring permanent printing processes when he became dissatisfied
with the untimely deterioration of some of his early work. "I
had a pet peeve about the fact that a lot of my early silver work
was already beginning to deteriorate. I didn't like that. RC paper
is garbage, really," he continues, "it's for proofing,
submissions, and times when the image is needed for a short period
of time. Even selenium-toned, fiber-based prints have a cadre of
problems related to the coating of the paper and the inability to
totally clear out hypo effectively," he notes. "So, to
avoid various types of degradation that occurs from the breakdown
of the silver compounds, I decided I needed to find a way to make
a permanent photograph."
The Platinum Cocktail
Since Auerbach resides in Tucson, where the Center for Creative
Photography is located, he decided to make use of its vast resources.
"I started researching how to make permanent photographs, and
I discovered there were several ways to go about it, one was using
carbon (for a carbon print), which produces a very beautiful print.
The other way to produce a permanent print is by using the platinum
metal group-the noble metals-platinum, palladium, and Iridium. These
metals, which are totally inert, can be used in the photographic
print-making process. I work with metal salts and light-sensitive
photographic materials," he continues. "I mix them together
and hand-coat them on a piece of organic material such as Crane's
100% cotton paper, and then I contact-print a negative either by
using the sun or an actinic light source such as florescent or mercury-vapor
lamps.
"They're permanent. They're beautiful. And everybody talks
about how beautiful they are," Auerbach states, "but I
keep coming back to the fact that they're permanent. And that's
the most significant thing about my photography and me as a photographer.
I'm a proponent for higher quality archival prints. I'm an advocate
for using materials that have greater archival qualities, so that
three, four or 500-years from now people can look at the photographs
from this era. Because what we're producing now by the billions,
is materials that will self-destruct in a very short time period.
The best silver prints will last 150, maybe 200 years."
According to Auerbach, making platinum prints is so simple, even
his 14-year-old son can do it. "You don't need a chemistry
background," he explains, "all you need is a 'platinum
cocktail'-a whiskey shot-glass, a sheet of rag paper, and a little
help from the sun. The printing process is very low-tech, high-quality.
It took me 2 years to learn to produce a print somewhat efficiently-after
five years, rather efficiently. And after six years I have a little
bit more control over it. Though my images are only 8x10 and 11x14
in size, I am 100% satisfied with my quality."
But the actual work for Auerbach begins behind the lens, in the
field, "loving the big camera! That's the real work,"
he exclaims. The negative is the key to a good platinum print. Auerbach
photographs with Wisner 8x10 and 11x14 cameras. "I traded a
Hasselblad Superwide for a generic 8x10 'box' and a 450mm Nikkor
lens and two film holders," he confides. "A swap. It was
a terrific trade." Auerbach generally uses Kodak Tri-X film
with the 8x10 camera and Ilford FP4 for 11x14 images. "Sometimes
I use Elinchrome strobes in my studio; but in the field, generally
I use available and reflective light."
Image is Everything
Steichen, Stieglitz, and Edward Curtis are photographers whose work
Auerbach admires and emulates. "These photographers were working
in contact-print methods, using platinum and gold-tone print methods.
They made beautiful fine art, documentation, and sociological prints
for museums"-something that Auerbach not only aspires to, but
has accomplished.
"My photography deals with people and architecture. Native
Americans are a sub-focus," he notes. Auerbach earns a living
with commissioned portraits for people who want photographs that
will last for centuries. "The work I do on a commission basis
helps pay for things. Then I have the opportunity to do my own work.
(Auerbach is also the resident photographer at the Hacienda del
Sol, in Tucson.) "I grew up in New York," he states, "then
came out to Arizona to study at the U of A. I also came out here
because I wanted to see cowboys and Indians," he laughs. "I
didn't see too many in New York, but they're here. I now deal with
museums because they study civilizations. For instance, my studies
of the Apache Indians really appealed to the City of Geneva Museum
of Ethnology (Switzerland) because it had a lot of artifacts from
100 years ago, but no real photographs of Apache peoples and what
they looked like.
"There's a real transition occurring in the Native American
community," explains Auerbach, "similar to all American
communities, relating to generation gaps, differences, adherence
to traditional ways. They aren't running around in loin cloths anymore
because it's not realistic or practical. I'm trying to find interesting
faces and personas that strike me to photograph. I went to a pow-wow
the other day and parked in the lot while different groups of Native
Americans changed into their attire, which is very elaborate. I
looked at some 300 people coming and going that afternoon and I
chose one guy to photograph. I took him to a spot that I pre-scouted
out, spent about 45 minutes with him, and took two pictures."
Some of Auerbach's Native American subjects are introductions, some
he meets at events. "I've established a linkage at the reservations,"
he confides.
Library of Congress
That "linkage" has helped him bring his work to a much
larger audience. "Recently, I went to a Society of Photographic
Education Conference held in Tucson. I was prepared to go through
some revues, so I had two boxes of prints with me, one of Native
Americans, and the other, architectural prints. One of the people
I had the opportunity to revue with was Marisha Battle, Library
of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division; she's an assistant
curator there. She looked through my prints, and said 'We'd like
to have some of these for the library. She helped take me through
the process: I had to go through six curators-the architectural
curator, the Native American curator, and two other assistant curators
and a department head." Eventually, Auerbach and the Library
of Congress agreed upon a purchase-donation proposition. With every
six images it purchased, Auerbach donated six.
"I donated the Native American work," he said. "I
didn't want moneys that were designated to go to Native American
photographers for Native American photography to be spent on me.
The library accepted two different bodies of work from me, and I'm
continuing with this project. They'll receive another 12 prints
this year."
In the near future, Auerbach intends to write a grant proposal to
the Smithsonian, "to revisit some of the tribes that Edward
Curtis photographed and to try and find-and photograph-some of the
same families. I also want to continue to develop my work for the
Library of Congress, and hopefully for other museums around the
world. I love doing what I'm doing," concludes Auerbach. "And
I figure, hopefully, that I've got another 20 years to go. It's
been exciting so far. I believe the whole photography world is based
on doing good and exceptional work and having a few lucky breaks.
And if your intent is good and you're putting good work out there,
luck finds you anyway."
To learn more about platinum printing, view additional works by
Auerbach, and/or to order prints, visit his web site at www.azstarnet.com/platinum.
Lorraine DarConte is a writer who lives in Tucson, Arizona.