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About Steve Ritchie's Work

Discover the reasoning behind the art! If you have any questions regarding Steve Ritchie's artist's statement or his work, contact him today.

Artist's Statement

Steve Ritchie

"Each person's vision, his/her view of the world, is unique. A photographer's vision must discern the difference between how the eye sees, and the brain interprets, verses how the camera sees, and the film interprets the scene. Most people see the world as you would skim a page in a book.

They view a stream of images evaluated in general terms. A good photographer must pick and choose among those images and use his tools of camera, film, and light to record unique slices of time that we call photographs.

Light is the primary tool of the photographer. The word photography comes from the Greek words meaning "light writing". With B&W images, shadows and texture dominate. A photographer's vision must change from seeing the world in color to visualizing it in shades of grey. This, then, is my personal vision, my discrimination, my confrontation, and my ART."


Statement of Materials & Techniques

"I use traditional black & white photographic tools and techniques. I shoot with medium and large format camera equipment for maximum quality. Once the negatives have been processed, they can be scanned and printed digitally, printed using the archival process on fiber based paper, or printed using the more modern "RC" black & white paper. The differences involve time, cost of materials, and the intended audience.

The archival process involves printing the negatives using double weight, fiber based photographic paper, using traditional chemicals. The water wash has been lengthened to wash ALL of the residual chemicals out of the paper base. The photographs are then toned using selenium toner. After the prints are air dried on fiberglass screens, the prints are stored or framed using acid free, archival materials. The sum of all this additional effort is that the prints, properly cared for, will last for decades if not for centuries. Museums and collectors often require archivally prepared photographs.

The alternative to this fiber based, archival process, is the more modern "RC" or resin coated paper. The advantage of "RC" papers is the fact that these papers don't absorb chemicals. This means that the process and wash times are dramatically reduced. The cost savings in material and in time mean I can offer the same image for less cost to the buyer. For those who wish to own photographs

In most cases there is very little difference in the appearance of the photograph. The primary differences between the two processes is longevity or permanence and price."