Jack X Proctor has been working in darkrooms as a tech and educator for the past decade and has been a photographer since she was a child. As soon as we met Jack, we knew which pending project to whip out of our inventory of maybe-someday-ideas; the alternative processing and experimental printing workshops for analog photographers. Jack jumped right in and is single handedly responsible for developing the curriculum for our first twenty workshops. You can now apply to participate in these workshops with Jack, here.
Why are you interested in designing and leading this series?
As an artist I see myself as an agent of human relationships and connections. A key part of this is being a teacher. Up to this point I have worked with kids and have assisted in the community college sphere. At CSULB I began a photography club that strived to push each other and maintain accountability. Working with SOVO// has been something I felt I was working towards since SOVO// began; I have been endlessly inspired by everyone’s dedication and vision. These workshops are a way for me to share what I know as well as learn with and from others.
Why do you think SOVO// is the right place to start something like this?
SOVO// is a unique collective and publication in its dedication to film. I am of the opinion that you can recreate the film aesthetic in the digital world but it drains the soul, the moment and the interaction from the image. The unspoken, unseen, unidentifiable energy that is conveyed through film photography is something that SOVO// values above all else in my opinion.
What is your background with photography/darkroom arts?
As a kid I believed I was a photographer, running around taking pictures of my feet and thoughtless images with a disposable camera. Growing up in the digital world, I wanted a camera so badly but couldn’t afford it, so throughout high school I used disposable cameras. I began formal photography classes as a senior in high school, learning darkroom techniques through the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) at CalArts, an introductory course at Santa Monica College, and a photography class at my high school. CAP is an amazing program which buses students to the campus, provides them a roll of film a week, a 35mm camera, and free chemistry. I remember in the beginning feeling so beaten down,getting frustrated and crying under an enlarger table. Without the freedom and support to explore in this way I don’t know if I would have been able to push through the hard part to get to where I am now.
Crystalized Projections, Kalitype, 2014
What or who sparked your interest in alt processes?
Wet plate, as with all alternative / experimental processes generally is only considered alternative as new technologies arrive. For me, alternative processes are preserving something unique. To learn wet plate, which is the first photographic process before film and plastic were ever invented, is to preserve something. The dialogue of this chemistry, the thirty second exposures, the stillness and vulnerability that occurs in this interaction is a gateway to something special when brought into the modern world. Other photographic techniques where I am mixing in ashes, soaking papers, etc. are bringing this same idea of multiplicity in on itself. Each image, print, and interaction has to be tailored to the idea and concept of the work.
Currently, what are your favorite kinds of experimental techniques?
I shift between processes based on the concept. I have used a 4×5 camera more than anything else in the past couple of years, which slows me down in a way that makes it harder to capture a sense of vulnerability from the model. It is very different from holding a camera to your face the way you would with 35mm or looking down through a twin lens reflex, etc. I am most interested in how materiality and meaning inform each other, and fabricating objects to make images.
What do you hope to learn by leading this series?
I hope to learn from others as well as explore techniques that are new to myself as well. This series started off as a list which I called “Alternative Process Wishlist”. Working with SOVO// has allowed me to dream about all the things I would want others to know as well as the things I am eager to learn more about.
What do you hope others will learn from participating?
I hope others will be able to gain a technical basis which can be applied to a multitude of processes, andbecome invested in exploring these processes further. The goal is to spark a desire to create something that maybe hasn’t been done before, or at the very least is exciting and new to us as individuals.
Tintype portrait of Naomi by Jack X Proctor. Malibu Creek, 2016
Why should anyone give a shit about this stuff anymore?
I don’t think that anyone who doesn’t give a shit about this stuff should try to give a shit because they don’t get it, or haven’t given it the chance. When I try to characterize why these different processes are so special, I think about an interaction I had while photographing a woman who was in the middle of her transition. During the 30 second exposure her face muscles relaxed, and she sat into herself in a wildly vulnerable way. I became both a spectator and facilitator of the interaction, and captured something raw. When she saw the image, she cried out of seeing someone she was burying. This honesty, this release of how we want to be seen becomes mandatory part of the process. Creating moments which are necessarily vulnerable, uncomfortable, and honest are a vital part of all alternative processes.
