Artist Statement
I aim to make bold, simple, and striking photographs of wilderness landscapes.
I seek high contrast and graphic simplicity in my photographs. The form of an image is more important to me than its subject.
For me, a beautiful black and white print on a wall is as good as it gets. It started when I first saw Ansel Adams's Clearing Winter Storm. At the time I knew nothing about the history, the technique, or even where in the world Yosemite Valley was located, but I was completely stunned by it. I did not know that a photograph could contain such mystery, drama, and beauty. I found it profoundly moving and that effect has only deepened with time.
I believe in the value of craftsmanship, of images made slowly and deliberately, and I hope to share that with you through the prints that I make.
Biography
Chris Cummins was born in 1991 in London, England. He began making photographs at an early age — wearing out his first 35mm camera — drawn always to landscapes and analog processes.
He photographs primarily in California's Sierra Nevada, the eastern deserts, and along the coast. As of 2024, he works exclusively with an 8x10 view camera and gelatin silver printing. He has studied with noted large format photographers Lynn Radeka, Alan Ross, and John Sexton. His primary photographic influences are Brett Weston and Bill Brandt.
His love for creative problem solving extends beyond photography. He has a PhD in artificial intelligence and works in the field of mathematical reasoning. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two dogs.
The Process
I practice gelatin silver printmaking, a traditional darkroom process where light-sensitive paper is exposed through a photographic negative and developed in chemical baths. Local adjustments to brightness and contrast are made by selectively adding or holding back light to parts of the image, usually by shading with a hand or a piece of card. Many of the photographs in my shop have printing notes so you can see how the print is made.
From fieldwork to finished print, no computers are used in the making of my photographs. Darkroom printing is a delightfully low tech process in which each image is "performed" to a metronome. The finished print is a unique physical object created directly from the negative.