Itek-Craig01
© 1991 Craig Ashby
Photograph
8″ x 10″

Here is a series of self portraits (featuring me, Craig Ashby) I shot around 1991. The date is speculative due to a spotty memory.

At the time I was working for a Gannett newspaper in North Carolina. It was an amazing time of learning artistically even in a place that was right-wing and politically charged. In retrospect, there was equal learning to be found in all the dogma too.

I was painting a lot back then and experimenting with the large format copiers. This was my first attempt at utilizing one of the large format Itek cameras for something other than its intended purpose.

The camera itself had a fixed lens. The platen itself moved for focusing. It was maybe six feet tall and had that pebbled taupe/grey powder coat that would have been indicative of the time. Imagine a KitchenAid mixer with the bowl horizontal instead of vertical. The bowl, or platen rather, would move back and forth based on a corded toggle box.

It shot directly onto photo negative paper and then you applied the print paper face to face and pushed it through a processor. Almost immediate gratification. Like a Polaroid camera you had to climb in and out of in order to take a picture.

The machine itself was formidable, so it took a bit of time for me to muster the courage of climbing inside it’s jaws to take pictures. If the platen moved too close it would have crushed me. I was putting my head into the mouth of the lion.

I must confess that this is the only piece in the series that is lost and scanned from a photocopy of the original. One night out in NYC I had my bag and sketchbook stolen with the original in it. It was the only time that has ever happened here. I still miss that bag and sketchbook. Ironically the sketchbook was entitled Ephemera.