A Photographer and His…
Camera…Scanner.
Last week, I wrote about a great photographic exhibit of award-winning nature photographs on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
In the gallery next door, is a rather unique exhibit of stunning photographic(?) images of flowers. The reason for the question mark is that these images are not taken with a camera, but with a digital desktop scanner.
Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer is an exhibit of 39 photographs and a brief video presentation on how he creates these dramatic and one-of-a-kind images.
Creamer, a professional photographer for over 30 years, set down his camera and brought his subjects - flowers, plants and other fauna into his office to capture them using a high-end, high-resolution oversized Epson desktop scanner. About 4 years ago, he started to play with his scanner after he found a dead humming bird near his home and scanned it. After experimenting with plants from his garden, he kept honing his newly found photographic technique to develop the fantastic images on display.
He creates the images by suspending the flowers over the scanner using string connected to a box frame around the scanner. Then he tents the scanner and subject area in black fabric. After scanning the arrangements, he prints the images using a high-quality archival printer to achieve the final print.
The resulting photos are unusually life-like and perfectly detailed as the lighting from the scanner provides virtually shadow free images. Some of the set-ups take up to 6 hours with continual adjustment and manipulation of the subject’s distance from the scanner glass.
Among some of his photos are fresh-cut lotuses, lilies, dried flowers, and even dried leaves just as they are set afire (don’t try this at home).
I chatted with a woman who was at the exhibit with her children while watching the artist’s video on how he creates these images. As we watched how Creamer created a photo of dried flowers with smoke and flames, she mentioned that a friend of hers once tried to scan hot wax and wine using his scanner. The key word “once”. He destroyed his scanner. In contrast, Creamer places a separate piece of glass over his $2,500 scanner before any trying anything involving fire or liquid.
Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer
National Museum of Natural History
10th Street and Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20560
Admission – all Smithsonian museums are free
Hours - Daily, 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through June 2007
Nearest Metro subway station - Smithsonian Station (use the Mall exit) - Blue and Orange lines or use the DC Circulator.
Photo credits: photos 1 and 2 courtesy of Robert Creamer/The Smithsonian Institution
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Tags: b5-media, Creamer, DC, DC-travel-information, local-attractions, National-Museum-of-Natural-History, photographs, Photos, site-seeing, Smithsonian, The-DC-Traveler, tourist-information, travel, vacation, Washington, Washington-DC, Washington-DC-travel
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