Ocular Tension is a collaged self-portrait created in the RCAH Art Studio at Michigan State University on October 24th, 2025. It was used to announce my solo residency at Kolaj Institute in July 2026.
MEDIUM
Cyanotype, laser transparency, laser printed digital photograph, and digital photograph printed on instax instant film
The substrate is 12.5”x13.75” Speckletone Cardstock from French Paper Company.
CREDITS
This artwork borrows technical drawings from Harold E. Egerton, James R Killian, Thomas H. Miller, Wyatt Brummitt, and the Eastman Kodak Company.
All other imagery is original to the artist.
PROCESS
The foundational photograph was taken on a Canon Rebel T1i DSLR camera with a cracked 18-55 mm zoom lens. It was converted to sepia tone with yellow and green overlays in Adobe Photoshop and printed on a laser copier.
Another image was taken using a Canon Rebel T6i DSLR Camera, edited digitally in the Snapseed mobile app, and printed using a Fujifilm Instax printer while in residence at Kolaj Institute in New Orleans, LA in May 2024.
Diagrams of a camera lens and the human eye from This is Photography were photocopied onto transparency using a laser copier.
Other components include trimmings from cyanotype prints and a borrowed image from Flash!: Seeing the Unseen by Ultra High-Speed Photography.
SOURCES
This Is Photography by Thomas H. Miller and Wyatt Brummitt of the Eastman Kodak Company (1963)
Flash!: Seeing the Unseen by Ultra High-speed Photography by Harold E. Egerton and James R. Killian (1954)
