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About the Artist ~ David Aldrich

David Aldrich acquired his initial training in art and photography during the late 1960s. At Ohio University, he was exposed to the work of large format masters such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Yousuf Karsh. The photography department had several 4x5 format cameras to loan to students. Many of his colleagues preferred to use their own 35mm format cameras to capture a record of the human condition, a style popular at that time. Fortunately, for him, the large format cameras usually were available for his use.

After finishing his undergraduate work and teaching at Elgin High School almost 30 years ago, he discontinued his interest in photography to continue graduate work in special education. He taught emotionally disturbed children for five years, and was an administrator of special education programs. In 1999 he retired from the Virginia Department of Education.

Before retirement, he built a large darkroom. He purchased an 8x10 format field camera and an enlarger and enrolled in a workshop at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. A year later, he attended a two-week workshop taught by John Sexton at Anderson Ranch Center for the Arts in Snowmass, Colorado.

The operative word for David’s photography is, “beautiful.” David is a romantic, and his nature is expressed in his photography. This need to express himself with beauty extends to his garment design and construction (he made his wife’s and two daughters’ wedding gowns) his music (he plays guitar and sings), and his culinary skills (he cooks for large numbers of people at art and equestrian events).

He is versed in the zone system. He exposes his film for the shadows and develops for the highlights. Each print requires several burning and dodging manipulations. Sometimes, as many as twenty different areas of the print require individualized attention. He considers Ansel Adams to be the standard to work toward and tries to adhere to whatever suggestions this revered artist has to offer.

David’s photography excursions include Yosemite National Park, California; Aspen, Colorado; London, England; Denali National Park, Alaska; Vancouver, Canada; the Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming; Magog, Quebec; and Tokyo, Japan. Also, he takes pictures locally in Virginia. Although he follows a traditional landscape model, his esthetic expression is individual and unique to his way of viewing his experience.

Collection and Exhibition Sites:

David’s prints are part of the permanent collection at:
      St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond, Virginia
      The National Institute of Health, Washington, D.C.
      Martha Washington Hospital, Charlottesville, Virginia
      Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
      St. Francis Medical Center
      City Hall, Richmond, Virginia

David’s prints are on exhibit at:
      Café Caturra, Midlothian, Virginia
      Café Caturra, Hull Street, Richmond, Virginia

Technical Notes

I use an 8x10 inch Zone VI view camera with a 300mm Rodenstock lens and a 450mm Nikor lens. Mostly, I use T-Max 400 film rated at 200. I develop my negatives in HC110 diluted 1 to 3, 1 to 4, 1 to 5, 1 to 6, or 1 to 7 depending on the contrast range of the subject. My film processing times vary from 5 to 10 minutes at 70 degrees.

For effect, I sometimes use yellow and light red filters. I expose my film so that the shadows of the scene have detail, and I develop the film so that the lightest values of the scene are within the range of my printing paper.

I have a Zone VI variable contrast cold light enlarger and use Ilford Multigrade fiber based double weight glossy printing paper. Each photograph is printed using burning and dodging techniques. It is not unusual to have over a dozen manipulations with the resulting exposure differences while projecting the negative. The edges and corners usually are darkened. Areas within the print are burned and dodged as needed. Rarely, can a negative be printed without these extensive manipulations. Using the Zone System techniques can produce printable negatives, but the printing process is the key to producing salon quality photographs for exhibition.

I use an archival tank to wash the prints for at least one hour. Prints are air-dried overnight on screens. The photographs are mounted on 4 ply acid-free snow-white boards and over matted using 4 ply acid-free snow-white boards. I frame my photographs using Neilson metal frames and cover them with AR glass.