What is the color of silver? When my students accidentally expose photographic paper to
light, I have an internal fit, but try not to show it. I don’t like knowing we
have wasted a resource- that there was silver perfectly spread in gelatin on
that paper, that it had the potential to convey meaning. I often tack the exposed paper to the wall, and tack other sheets on top, just
so I don’t have to throw them away. The other day I took some of these down and
marveled at the colors they had become over the past year of doing nothing-
some with glossy and other with matte surfaces. I brought them home, thinking I
should play with them. As I looked around my house, fumbling for an idea, I
recovered some old silver plates someone had given to me, items I had been too
lazy to polish or use. The tarnished colors resonated with the silver gelatin
paper. Subject. Background. Light
filtering through on a rainy day. Trying
to find out what there was to see.
