Welcome to no. 45 in our series Poignant Pics where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about Greg Banks’ image, “Therianthrope”.

A Little of This, a Sprinkle of That…and Magic Happens

Today, I'm focusing on process. Greg Banks does one of my most favorite things a photographer can do: combine digital work with alternative and hand processes. But he goes it one better than that. He's combining iPhone photography with iPhone app painting and drawing on the images, then printing them using traditional media in a most untraditional way.

Banks started exploring this area during a period when his work and personal life were undergoing turbulent change. At 43, he went from factory worker to photography graduate student and eventually instructor of photography at Appalachian State University. Greg stated, "The constant change felt at times like a loss of identity but also growth and eventually evolution." He began examining his feelings via self-portraiture and then continued his journey by exploring various iPhone apps. He favors iColorama, Hipstamatic, Enlight, Afterlight, and Distressed FX, but also sometimes uses Union, Matter, and Snapseed. He told me, "I am interested in finding a place between digital and analog. I prefer the unpredictability of iPhone apps versus Photoshop because when I make with Photoshop, I want to make something perfect. With the iPhone, I am constantly surprised."

As Banks learned to control the apps he selected, he began further explorations in processing the imagery. I usually write more about the image I have chosen than the photographer does, but in this case, I do not have adequate words to describe his process. It's one I had not heard of previously, which is making silver gelatin prints directly from the phone screen to the paper in the enlarger. Therefore, I will have Greg describe his unique way of processing images, such as the one above, Therianthrope.

 "Having started in the darkroom, I still need the physicality of my hand in the print. Putting the phone in the enlarger, putting digital transfers over an analog photo, or making a digital negative is a way to work digitally with an analog photograph. The images are converted to black and white and flipped horizontally. The screen is then inverted to become a negative image). If the lens on your enlarger doesn't have a lens cap, I make one out of tape and cardboard. With at least a 75mm lens, put the phone in the enlarger with the cardboard under it and use a grain focuser to focus. The light is coming from the phone itself, not the enlarger unit. The rest of the process is the same as it would generally be, with exposure testing and strips using fiber base paper. Then I go on to the mordencage stage of my work, bleaching and redeveloping. "

Perhaps many others are doing the same thing as Greg Banks, but I haven't seen their work; I don't know. For me, a long-time phone shooter who also modifies the lenses on the phone, Banks' process is unique and innovative. I'm in awe of his ability to bring the phone into the darkroom and work from it there. I am not the only one, as he has received some acclaim for this work. I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing further innovations from Greg Banks. Bravo, Greg!

Artist Bio

Greg Banks is a photo-based artist and instructor at Appalachian State University. He received his MFA in photography from East Carolina University in May 2017. He received a B.A. in photography and a B.A. in fine art from Virginia Intermont College in 1998. Banks is a top 200 finalist in Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass in 2018. He was one of only seven artists chosen for the Light Factory’s Annuale 9 in 2017. Greg’s work was among the top 5 most popular, on the online magazine “Don’t Take Pictures” in 2017. Greg combines everything from iPhone images to historic 19th century processes, gelatin silver printing, painting and digital printing. His current creative practice investigates family, folklore, memories, magic, Appalachia, as well as history and religion.

More of his work can be seen at https://greg-banks.com/.

Author Bio

Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.