Color and light are important in any photograph.  When color is removed and only the monochrome image remains, the light and details in the image seem to become more important.  The darkroom has not gone away in the digital age.  It has changed to a digital darkroom for the original image.  The platinum/palladium process combines the digital processing of the original image and the production of the contact negative with an old school process originating in the 1870's.  The resulting prints have a very delicate and large tonal  range.  The prints range from warm black to neutral black depending upon the ratio of platinum to palladium salts that are painted on handmade 100% cotton paper.  After allowing the paper to dry, the contact negative is pressed on the paper and exposed to UV light.  The resulting platinum palladium photo print is considered one of the most luminous, enduring, rare and may I say, satisfying art form.

I was introduced to platinum/palladium printing at a class taught by Don Messic in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the summer of 2021.  The hands-on approach to high quality archival monochrome prints was music to me ears.  I fell in love with the tonal quality and detail of the contact prints.

I am a life-long resident of central Texas, living primarily in th Temple, Belton area.  I became enamored with photography in the late 60s at Baylor University.  I have traveled extensively in the western US, including Alaska, Hawaii, Nova Scotia, Greenland, Iceland, and Australia.  I have been blessed to see and document wonders of the natural world that are truly incredible.

Paul Tipton  

Gary grew up in Northern Virginia and moved to Central Texas with his wife and 5 children in 2007. He began his journey into photography by taking pictures and videos of various sporting events to learn and teach technique.  Gary coached all the children in one sport or another and learned that teaching requires a different approach with each person.  Trying to find different ways to show what was in his head, he turned to photos and video.  Finding that one frame or series of frames that he could use to teach became a challenge he enjoyed.  Discussing the frozen moments that translated the thought to a visual representation with the athletes, family, and friends produced moments of discovery and revelation.  The right angle, the right lighting, the split-second point of the action that caught “the moment” was the elusive goal.  

As he travelled more, he started taking photos of landscapes.  Similar challenges were there in landscape photography: finding the right moment and lighting, but the drive was different.  This was about finding the emotion that drew others into conversation . . . the image that evokes different emotions for each person.  The most powerful images may be perceived differently by each person and emotions that are experienced are equally diverse.  This seems to be accentuated by the medium used.

Printing on metal was a successful experiment.  It allows the eye to see the depth of the image by creating a clean, undistracted canvas.  When looking at a metal print in different lighting and from different angles, the viewer’s perspective changes.  The medium seems to incorporate the lighting in the room to enhance the viewer’s experience, to pull him or her into the moment.  

Gary Markam