Feature: Vaune Trachtman - “Now Is Always"
Bound, 2021, from Now Is Always
Brattleboro, Vermont photographer and printmaker Vaune Trachtman has some stories to tell with her pictures. Her adoption of taking on multiple ways of making imagery conclude in the tactile and sophisticated final prints via direct-to-plate photopolymer gravure prints. During the Photolucida portfolio reviews last year in Portland, Oregon, I had the opportunity to view these luscious prints for myself, and I have not been able to get them out of my head ever since. So it's high time we gave them some additional air here at Analog Forever, for they are making the rounds at various exhibitions and artist talks. We are proud to present images from her Roaming and Now Is Always collections and some insightful quotes with this introductory feature.
Born in Philadelphia, Trachtman's father was an investigative reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer but passed away when she was only five years old. Her mother, too, passed on when she was only 15 and subsequently moved away as she graduated into adulthood. During these teenage years, she also managed to purchase a Minolta x700 35mm camera with money earned from bussing tables. Along the way, she attended a few different schools, including getting her master's degree in studio art from NYU and the International Center of Photography, and then worked in several different photography-related jobs. This included a stint as a master printer of silver gelatin prints and asphaltum-based photogravures, as well as a Photoshop specialist for the renowned TIME, Inc. Unfortunately, the chemistry required to do much of her work was beginning to have a negative effect on her, physically. Trachtman relates, "I loved doing all of it, but I ultimately concluded that the chemicals involved in traditional processes may have compromised my immune system and that working 100% digitally lacked the mystery of watching an image appear in a tray of developer and the physicality of etching a plate. I wanted to find a way to bring my interests in historical and digital processes together. That search led me to the direct-to-plate photopolymer gravure process. I describe myself as a photographer and printmaker whose work honors the methods and tones of historical processes but without the toxic chemicals."
Pine, 2019, from Roaming
Looking back at another essential aspect of her early education in photography, it was during the childhood summers of attending classical music festivals in southern Vermont that she met the festival photographer, George Dimock, who encouraged her to return during her teen years. Dimock taught Trachtman how to develop her first roll of film and make prints in the darkroom. His being such an excellent teacher, as well as her gratefulness for his support, has led to a lifelong friendship.
Her interest in printmaking took a different path while working with Paul Taylor at Renaissance Press, at John Goodman Photogravure, and as an assistant at Wingate Studios. This experience left a lasting impression on her, and after leaving TIME in 2016, she decided to incorporate the photogravure process into her work. A retraining stipend allowed her to study direct-to-plate photopolymer gravures with Don Messec at Making Art Safely and take a Green Printmaking Intensive at Zea Mays Printmaking, along with many other workshops and classes. She states, "I love that with the DTP process, I can achieve the tonal richness of photography's earliest gravures without their toxicity. I love that I can conjure the pictorialists and engage in a conversation across time about what photography can be. I love that this process requires physical effort – the rubbing of plates and the turning of the press. I love that working with paper and ink is tactile and elemental. And I love that this process makes so much sense to me and who I am."
Trestle, 2021, from Now Is Always
With such a varied education and training in printing, Trachtman's imagery and final output have created a distinctly hybrid way of combining imagery and making final photogravure prints. Visuals result from not planning but listening and noticing the light and the weather. Planning comes from her heart rather than from her mind. She works intuitively, drawn to subjects as diverse as bridges from a speeding car or foggy April afternoons when the snow is melting, and cold steam meets warm mist. She creates timeless, romantic visions that speak to people on a deeper level and harkens back to one's memories of the past.
Her tools are also varied and have included flip phones, smartphones, Minox cameras, and scanners. Her series, Roaming, is a direct result of working in this manner. A later body of work, Now Is Always, uses the original negatives taken by her father during the Great Depression with a Kodak 127 film "autograph camera." Discovered by her sister, these 90-year-old photographs combine with Trachtman's original photographs by placing people within her landscapes, resulting in a stunning collaboration over time. For her, "There is obviously a personal aspect to Now Is Always, but I want the work to be more expansive than a dialogue between the father I didn't know and the daughter he knew only as a child. In Now Is Always, I want to create a feeling of collapsed-yet-expanded time. Yes, I want to see what my father saw, and yes, I want him to see what I see. But, I also want the viewer to look at the past, and I want the past to look right back; I want the viewer and the subject to each feel the gaze of the other. And by combining images taken almost a century apart, I also want to seamlessly integrate layers of technology and image-making history: his 1930s point-and-shoot, my iPhone, his silver-gelatin negatives, my Photoshop files, our shared sunlight and water, and the traditions of ink, elbow grease, and an intaglio press.”
As an addendum to these two bodies of work, Trachtman is now looking at ways to expand upon these series with additional imagery, perhaps to create something new once again. Another hybrid built upon a combination of photographs. The possibilities are endless, much the same as Trachtman's creativity. Please keep your eyes on her work as she continues her process, as it is quite clear that there is more in store and much to learn from her expertise as both a photographer and master printmaker. Connect with her on her Website and on Instagram.
GALLERY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Kirchoff is a photographic artist, independent curator and juror, and advocate for the photographic arts. He has been a juror for Photolucida’s Critical Mass, and has reviewed portfolios for several fine art photographic organizations and non-profits in the U.S. and abroad. Michael has been a contributing writer for Lenscratch, Light Leaked, and Don’t Take Pictures magazine. In addition, he spent ten years (2006-2016) on the Board of the American Photographic Artists in Los Angeles (APA/LA), producing artist lectures, as well as business and inspirational events for the community. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief at Analog Forever Magazine, Founding Editor for the photographer interview site, Catalyst: Interviews, Contributing Editor at One Twelve Publishing, and the Co-Host of The Diffusion Tapes podcast.
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