Hand Made Palladium Prints at

The Ho Ho Holter! Christmas Sale
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     This will be my 10th year participating in the Holter Museum's Ho Ho Holter!  Christmas Sale, November 12th thru December 31st.  This year I am finally showing off some of my hand made Palladium prints. 

Although I am known for my color photographs, my true love has always been Black and White prints.  I compare Color images to a movie and Black and White to the original book.  The Black and White image leaves more to the viewer’s imagination. 
I am inspired by the beautiful Palladium prints of Edward Curtis and Edward Weston.  In creating my Palladium prints I strive for timelessness.  I encourage the viewer to question;  How old are the images?  I invite the viewer to contemplate;  How are these prints different from traditional B&W prints?  I hope you will also fall in love with Palladium prints

Information on my Process
Archival Hand Coated Palladium Prints
After eight years I am close to perfecting my method of Palladium print making. This finicky 170 year old process has a multitude of variables. I stuck with Palladium print making for a couple of reasons: the prints are the ultimate in archival quality, capable of lasting hundreds of years, and I love the look of the chocolate browns.

The process I follow to make these prints follows: In the darkroom I use a paint brush to hand coat acid free French watercolor paper with a light sensitive Palladium solution. I place the negative directly on the coated paper to make a contact print (enlargers do not emit enough light to print Palladium). I expose the paper to light, then develop, wash and dry the print. The print is now stable under all types of conditions, no longer sensitive to light or atmospheric contaminants. The Palladium will remain unchanged even if the paper disintegrates around it. The final step is to frame this archival print using a hinged mat and other acid free materials.

2010 Prickly Pear Land Trust Harvest Moon Banquet & Auction

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This year I was unable to join with nearly 500 others at the Helena Civic Center Saturday September 25th for the Prickly Pear Land Trust Harvest Moon Banquet & Auction. My photo "Gateway to the Bob Marshall Wilderness" appeared in the Live Auction and drew a very generous flurry of bids.  Thanks to everyone who helped raise the bidding on my framed photo to $1100 in this annual benefit.

Featured Artist April-May 2010 at Helena's Lewis & Clark Library



Jeff Van Tine and Jennifer Thompson will be the featured artists at Helena's Lewis and Clark Library for the months of April and May.

The Library is featuring an exhibit of Jeff's photos of Montana's Rocky Mountain Front.  Jeff's photos are accompanied by "Front Poems", the poetry of Jennifer Thompson.

Jeff and Jennifer will be the Lewis and Clark library's featured artists for Helena's Spring Art Walk on Friday April 30th. Jennifer will give a poetry reading at 6 and 7pm that evening.

The artists will also give a poetry reading , slide show and talk in the library's large meeting room Thursday May 6th at 7pm.

Pygmy Owl with Prey

Pygmy Owl with Prey 12/27/09 - Sun River Valley, Montana
I have a Clark's Nutcracker to thank for helping me spot this Pygmy Owl (and keeping it occupied while I went and grabbed my camera).  Some of the images were snapped as the Owl was blinking.  Note the translucent eyelids.



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