Struck by the exotic and impenetrable mystery of the world’s largest rain forest on his first visit to the Amazon in 1998, photographer Jerry Burchfield sought to create a body of work that would celebrate the beauty and spirit of the place while reminding people of the forest’s endangered and perishable nature. Primal Images exhibits Burchfield’s lumen prints, created by a camera-less method that dates back to the origins of photography.

Jerry Burchfield is a professor of photography and photography gallery director at Cypress College in Cypress, California. His work has been exhibited through out the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and he is the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

Lumen Prints – The Process
Capitalizing upon the anomalies of nature and circumstance, these strangely beautiful color prints are made with a variety of black and white photographic papers directly from nature using a method similar to that of William Henry Fox Talbot, who made camera-less images of botanical specimens in the 1830’s. Like Talbot, these prints are made outdoors in daylight and use extended exposure times, not chemicals, to create the images. Plant cuttings, which are collected in the rain forest during daily explorations, are placed directly on unexposed black and white paper and exposed to the effects of light, time, temperature, humidity and rain. Exposure times range from a half-hour to four hours. The results vary, due to atmospheric conditions, the effects of time, the inherent characteristics of the plant and the type of black and white paper, producing an amazing array of colors, which baffle those used to the normal tonalities of black and white materials. Once the image is formed, the prints are dark boxed until they can be made permanent through normal chemical fixing and washing procedures.