Chris Coffey

Working with large format view cameras made between the 1920’s and 1950’s, I make large format negatives that range in size from 4×5″ up to 7×17″. Most of my work is gelatin silver (enlargements) made in a traditional darkroom or Platinum/Palladium contact prints where I hand coat watercolor paper. These prints are exposed in sunlight (ultraviolet) and then processed in the darkroom. Both working methods result in a print that exceeds modern print methods in tonal range and archival life. No computers or outside services are involved in any part of the process. My approach to my subjects differs from the norm in the sense that I work in projects vs. single images of “the greatest hits” and spend whatever time it takes to learn a subject before I take a camera to it. By that time I have also researched the history of my subject. This is quite different than the current “shoot now and fix in post” approach that is so prevalent in contemporary photography. When you make the kind of work I make, working with my tools, there is no cropping or “photoshopping” of an image – where you stand and what you are trying to say matter.