In 1975, Kodak created the first digital camera, but never put it into production for fear that it would impact their film sales. In 2012, Kodak is gone and digital photography is an established medium, but there is a virtuosity to film photography that draws me in. Polina Washington, a photographer in St. Petersburg, Russia, captures her images to this elusive cellulose surface, layering and splicing in the old way. The result is a story told in forest and face, images that haunt and enchant the viewer with their fog and texture. Human faces overlay their natural habitat, visages and hands emerging from tree bark, tangled branches and snowy floors. There is a strong element of nature worship and occult power in her images, a reminder that we will soon return to the dark earth and share our molecules with the universe. After the jump, check out a gallery of Polina Washington’s handcrafted pictures, and think of the patience and delicate handling that each of these images needed to exist…
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