Kerik Kouklis

I was immediately drawn to Kouklis's portraits on his website, primarily because of the straightforwardness of his subjects mixed with the black and white, alternative process to create something old-looking, and blurry, but at the same time sharp and modern-looking with modern subjects. Some of his subjects you can tell Kouklis is going for the bizarre factor with because he has them in contorted positions, or with masks on. He created them by using a wet plate collodian technique, and a medium format camera. In his artist statement, he says that he tries to mix modern-day photography with 19th century processes so that the result is unique. He makes primarily platinum and palladium prints and also uses gum bichromate which he says gives his photos amazing depth.