an intervention of sorts

so, I took it in my head to learn something new this week

***correction: "some things"

why I don't know, and to be honest, it hasn't really gone all that well

mostly technological things were on the menu, to do with computers and printers, the kind of learning that rarely goes well for me

the only thing in my favour is that I'm rather determined and I'm pretty good at Google

still... I'm writing this with a glass of wine in hand and if it wasn't a bad thing for my health there would likely be a few more in the offing...

it all began with a hankering to learn photo editing, specifically, removing backgrounds in order to isolate things such as tree branches, flowers and other objects

for example:

original image

cropped, reversed and background removed

original image

cropped, background removed

then to print said edits on commercial fine papers as well as my own handmade papers

the printing portion had two methods, both rather straightforward

the first was to coat papers that were not made for use in an inkjet printer

(that would be fine Japanese papers I have purchased as well as the ones I made)

coating them was easy - a ready made solution brushed on one side, left to dry for a while and then pressed under books so to dry perfectly flat

messy but simple, just a lot cutting and brushing

the other method was to print the image on a clear transfer film, then mix a solution using an InkAid product with isopropyl alcohol and let that sit for a few hours

brush the mixed solution on any paper you like (or wood, glass, metal, cloth etc.) and place the transfer ink side down, press and remove after two minutes

not so easy

sticky, messy, bubbly and so on... the initial results look pretty shiny though on the handmade darker papers it didn't look too bad

a bit of a learning curve and as I have 19 more transparencies and a good-sized bottle of transfer product I'll be tackling it again 

the best thing that came out of the days efforts was something completely unexpected

after doing a number of edits on an even greater number of photos with varying degrees of success I had decided to try one last one using a favourite photo of the old dock pilings along the Yukon River

it was late in the day and I was tired and things weren't going well... the background remover function wasn't responding so I thought I'd try one of the other edit function buttons... still nothing

then another

then background remover again

not sure what I did next but I'm pretty sure pushing several more buttons was involved

the image began to fade and pulse a bit and then this appeared in it's place

simply stunning...

its as if the pilings were duplicated again and again, then flipped and flipped again, faded, stacked and layered

a ghostly image of the pilings the ones in the forefront similar to but not identical to those in the original image with all the others standing silently behind them

I've always thought of them as ghostly sentinels of history, representations of time past, as well as all the comings and goings of the river and it's people over the decades

it continually amazes how sometimes things show up in my life that depict my thoughts more clearly than any words I could find to write them

I couldn't have created this no matter how much I might have wished to - I couldn't even have imagined it

but it is the defining image of what I feel for those rough decaying pieces of wood, anchored on the shore whilst the river still floats by, how I see them, layered through time and space

such an unexpected gift