Artwork copyright Tod Gangler. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

From Seattle at Night Series, 1980

Tod Gangler
(American, born 1953)

Location: Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

This photograph is part of artist Tod Gangler's series "Seattle at Night." He captured this nightscape looking out at the iconic Elliot Bay shoreline in downtown Seattle. The composition highlights a sense of movement. He created the trails of light using a long exposure time.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Department of Corrections.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Seattle-based photographer Tod Gangler explores and manipulates light and color in urban landscapes, using long exposures and color carbon printing.

Gangler fell in love with photography at age six when his grandmother gave him a Kodak Brownie camera. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Connecticut College. In his twenties, Gangler moved to Paris on a fellowship and learned about early photography and mid-19th century color carbon printing. He moved to Seattle in 1979 and spent twenty years studying and mastering carbon printing.

tri-color picture
Gangler is one of only a handful of people in the world who still uses the very old and very labor intensive process of color carbon printing or tri-color printing. The process involves taking three separate black and white photos, each one through a separate color filter. Anything that moves through the exposure will create a subtle drift of color, almost like drawing on the picture. It takes him 5 days and 39 steps.
The final photo prints are cast layers of pigmented gelatin that have an incredible lushness.

And while today's photos fade and stain in a few years, Gangler's prints are meant to last. "They'll last as long as a painting by Rembrandt ", he said.