Leap, 2011 by Barbara Parmet
We know what you are thinking. But, no, really, that is not an Animal Locomotion image by Eadweard Muybridge. That is, in fact, an image made this very year by Contender Barbara Parmet. The word "photography" derives from the Greek words phōs, "light", and gráphein, "representation by means of lines." Together they mean "drawing with light," a romantic thought that eventually came true in the early 19th century. Although Parmet's images appear to have that vintage, daguerreotype-like quality to it, she actually utilizes digital photography and a relatively new printmaking process called "solarplate etching."
Meeting on The Shore, 2011 by Barbara Parmet
World-renowned artists Jerry Spagnoli and Chuck Close revitalized and reintroduced the daguerreotype for its unique image quality and process. Parmet finds the same inspiration and satisfaction in solarplate etching. For each image, she starts with casting, then goes through every role there is, from costume design to set design, from photographing to printmaking. She explains her passion in the statement for her The Measure of All Things project:
Ten years as a photojournalist trained me to get the "gestalt" of a situation immediately. My interests in archetypal symbols and gestures led me further to explore image making as a way to get at meanings deeper than the daily news. And after many years working in the darkroom with silver and platinum prints, I realized how much I still like the process of printmaking. Presently, I am working with solarplate etchings that allow me to combine all my interests into a form that weaves human, animal and plant worlds together into photographic illusions. I build the sets, sew the costumes and cast the simple roles to make these lucid dreams appear real. These personas take on a life of their own and suggest further adventures for new images. And finally, I love inking the engraved plates and putting them through the printing press, which satisfies a deep need to make things by hand.
Roundup, 2011 by Barbara Parmet
For 10 years, Parmet worked as a photojournalist shooting for publications like the Baltimore Sun, the LA Times, the Arkansas Democrat and the Santa Barbara News and Review. Since then, she has exhibited her experimental photography at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the SB Contemporary Arts Forum, Benham Gallery, Houston Center for Photography, San Francisco Cameraworks and Paris' Galerie Panique. The artist is represented by Wall Space Gallery.