David Michael Kennedy Photography

On the Road 1

PALLADIUM AND POLAROID PRINTS

Kennedy shot most of the images on his trip with an old homemade 4x5 camera he had found years before in a camera shop. It was a strange looking contraption, especially after he had strapped it with black tape to stop light leaks. It combined front and back standards made from a regular 4x5 view camera attached to each other (so there were no bellows). It had a Polaroid 4x5 film back. Kennedy mounted a Helix focusing mount to the front lens board along with a 65 mm Schneider superangulon lens. Then he added a Contax 21 mm eyepiece to the top. It was designed to be hand held while shooting with fast film, though Kennedy used Polaroid Positive-Negative asa 25 film which, being extremely slow, necessitated using a tripod.

Taking photographs on the road everyday was not a problem for a shooter like Kennedy. But printing them in the Airstream required some ingenuity. He processed film a couple of times a week in the trailer's remodeled kitchen and bathroom. If there was a huge backlog of film he rented a motel room for the night or used a friend's darkroom. Once a month he made 4x5 palladium contact prints in the trailer darkroom, editioning them "APOTR edition of 15," which stood for "Artist Proof on the Road."

Culling from thousands of photographs Kennedy chose his best images to print in the palladium printing process from Polaroid Positive-Negative film, methods of printmaking that are rapidly vanishing as traditional photo technologies give way to digital. Sensitive to the edges of the prints, Kennedy was in the habit of using feathery dark borders around his palladium images for added impact. However, the dark, veiled borders on many of his photographs made on the road were a signature of the Polaroid Positive-Negative film he used. As always, his printing skills were meticulous and versatile. Wispy clouds were rendered with the delicacy of a watercolor. A glowering cloud bank was transformed into dynamic abstraction. The dusky, sepia colored images ranged from straight forward portraits of people and places, to moody, passionate responses to form, light and atmosphere.