Danny Plotnick

Danny Plotnick is a photographer, filmmaker, and author living in San Francisco.  Here, at the Yorba Tasting Room & Gallery, he is presenting two bodies of work – a collection of photos showcasing the beauty of Super 8 film equipment, and a collection of photos that have undergone an experimental process referred to as “soaked photography”.

 

In 2020, Plotnick published a book on the history of Super 8 filmmaking, called Super 8: An Illustrated History (Rare Bird Books).  The book was an exploration of a medium that was used for home movie makers, underground and independent filmmakers, and outsider artists.  For the book, Plotnick took over 90 original photographs of Super 8 cameras, projectors and editing gear. Super 8 came to market in 1965, and had a 20-year run as an important film medium.  As a result, the industrial design ranged from mid-century modern to a groovy 1970s aesthetic. The photos in this series pop with bold, vibrant colors, channeling the look of 1960s and 1970s advertising, and reflecting the energy that Super 8 filmmakers brought to their craft.

 

Soaked photography, sometimes called “film souping,” is an analog photo process. After shooting a roll of film, the canister of film is soaked in a liquid concoction of various ingredients such as laundry detergent, fruit juice, alcohol, tea, salt, or flowers from the garden. The possibilities and the recipes are limitless. The soaking times range anywhere from one hour to several days. Prior to processing, the film canisters must dry out for one week. The film is then processed in a normal fashion. The majority of photos in this show also were made utilizing expired film stocks, which further add to the look of the pieces.  Expired stocks can experience severe color and contrast shifts.

 

Soaked Photography allows us to look at the world in a new light. Our cities are changing, our world is changing, the landscape is changing. These transformations are moving faster and more consequentially than we can fully comprehend. By moving away from the photo realistic and into a more alien landscape, these photos allow us to scrutinize our surroundings with an exploratory gaze. The familiar becomes unfamiliar. Soaked photography brings these feelings of disquiet, that lie just beneath the surface, to the fore. 

 

Within this collection there are two types of images.  There are images that abstract the real world, where trees, bushes, and mountains are recognizable, yet slide into an altered universe. There is also a set of images that are pure abstractions, where the souping process works on the unexposed heads and tails of the film roll.  The film negative becomes a canvas where we see the soaked photography at play with expired stock.

 

Danny Plotnick is also the director of the Film Studies program at the University of San Francisco where he teaches analog practices, including Super 8 filmmaking and soaked photography to his students.

 

dannyplotnick.com

IG: @dannyplotnick