Plate # 41: Ceiling Ruin, Grand Gulch

This very special 800 year old Anasazi ruin site, hidden in a remote canyon in southern Utah, was located only after an extensive half day exploration.

I photographed this dwelling with a 58mm lens on my 4×5 view camera, using a #58 green filter to bring out the contrast in the orange ceiling. The fine art print is fully realized only through a great deal of darkroom manipulation. First the negative is selectively selenium toned in the ceiling and dwelling areas to accentuate local contrast. When the enlargement is made, I use 2 exposure masks during multiple printings with the low and high contrast filter settings on my enlarger to bring out the inherent design elements of the scene. Flashing of unimportant areas in the composition is a further step that I use to accomplish the task of creating a center of interest. As a final step, I use Potassium Ferricyanide bleaching on select highlight areas to complete the print.

The print process described about illuminates the complexity of making a traditional darkroom print on silver gelatin paper. Unfortunately, papers to do this work , are hard to find. Therefor only under very special circumstances can I offer this image as a Gelatin Silver print. Photo © copyright by Robert Hansen.