#jerry uelsmann

[fashionlandscapeblog]

Jerry N. Uelsmann

[weirdlookindog]

Jerry Uelsmann (1934-2022) - Memories of Max Ernst, 1997

[lascitasdelashoras]

Jerry Uelsmann, 1965

[undergroundrockpress]

Woman and Lake Solarization by Jerry Uelsmann, 1972.

[psikonauti]

Jerry Uelsmann (American, b. 1934)

Small Woods Where I Met Myself, 1967

Gelatin silver print

[joeinct]

Untitled, Photo by Jerry Uelsmann, 1982

[sonimage1965]

[sharpenededges]

[gacougnol]

Jerry Uelsmann

Every Leaf already Knows

2018

[fromthedust]

Jerry Uelsmann (American, 1934-1922)

When I was an undergraduate in the early 1970s Jerry Uelsmann was a visiting artist and gave a slide lecture showing his photographs at the school. I was enamored of his work, and when I took photography classes I tried (unsuccessfully) to emulate his work. My problem with that was that I tried to do it in the camera rather than in the darkroom.

Uelsmann decided the contents of the final print after rather than before pressing the shutter button — his photomontages were all done in the darkroom. Uelsmann constructed his dreams like a visual poet with results that often seemed emotionally more real than the factual world. His work influenced generations of both analog and digital photographers. Although he admired digital photography, he remained completely dedicated to the alchemy of film photography in the black and white darkroom — no Photoshop.

Prior to his sessions in the darkroom, he would study hundreds of negatives using contact sheets (proof sheets). The final print could take hours or days to resolve, but the journey was always magical according to Uelsmann. Trial and error were essential steps. A persistent theme was about the never ending mysteries of life. Beginning in the mid-1960s Uelsmann preferred the title, Untitled, for most of his photographs to invite various interpretations. He described his persona as “an unapologetic romantic” who loves working in the darkroom. Uelsmann produced composite photographs with multiple negatives and extensive darkroom work. He operated up to a dozen enlargers to produce his final images drawing from a large archive of negatives. When beginning a photomontage, he had a strong intuitive sense of what he was looking for, some strategy for how to find it, and an understanding that mistakes are inevitable and are part of the creative process. His darkroom session began by studying his negatives. He covered a large drafting table with hundreds of proof sheets. He folded and overlapped various contact prints, explored the visual possibilities, then brought the options into his darkroom. The negatives he had chosen were placed into different enlargers. He moved the photo paper progressively down the line of enlargers building up an image. Uelsmann was a firm believer that the final image need not be tied to a single negative.

[fashionlandscapeblog]

Jerry Uelsmann Untitled (hand and flying figure), 1987

[weirdlookindog]

Jerry Uelsmann (1934-2022) - Navigation Without Numbers, 1971

[topcat77]

Jerry Uelsman  American surreal photographer

[lascitasdelashoras]

Jerry Uelsmann

[ofleafstructure]

Small Woods Where I Met Myself (ph. Jerry Uelsmann)

[psikonauti]

Jerry Uelsmann (American,b. 1934)

Navigation Without Numbers, 1971