Featured in CAN Journal: Dark Silver film portraits

Featured in CAN Journal: Dark Silver film portraits

I'm thrilled for this in-depth piece by Brittany Hudak in Collective Arts Network Journal, the first in their series entitled "Makers". In it she describes her experience sitting for one of my Dark Silver film portrait sessions, and delves into process, history, and aesthetic:

'When you see one of Mastroianni’s portraits, what you are looking at is actual silver – bits of silver attached to a piece of paper by chemicals. As reductive as that might sound, it’s true. But what I see in them is much harder to measure – I see the personality of the sitter, which has traditionally been a goal of portrait photographers, even in the nineteenth century. The immediacy of Mastroianni’s work calls Julia Margaret Cameron to mind, the British amateur photographer who made portraits that were rather unconventional in their intimacy.  Her subjects included some of the greatest thinkers of the time: Thomas Carlyle, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Sir John Herschel, and Charles Darwin to name a few.  Cameron’s approach was to try to capture the inner spirit of her sitters: “When I have had such men before my camera my whole soul has endeavored to do its duty towards them in recording faithfully the greatness of the inner as well as the features of the outer man.”'

I've been a photographer since art school, and have always loved traditional b&w film and darkroom work above everything else. It's been tremendously gratifying to re-explore the process over the last few years, and offer it to a whole new generation. More than just a gallery project, I also offer the opportunity to create real film portraits printed on real silver gelatin paper on commission. Contact me to set up a portrait session.