Welcome to no. 61 in our series Poignant Pics, where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about Marky Kauffman’s image, “Star Shower.”

“Photography has nothing to do with cameras.”
— Lucas Gentry

I no longer recall where I ran into this photograph by Marky Kauffmann. I remember that it enchanted me and that I immediately sent her a message asking if she would allow me to write about it here.

I was taken by the beautiful, speckled surface. Against the gold background, it looks like a sky full of stars or a zillion tiny fireflies.

This image is from her series, Prayer Pieces. The photos in this series begin as silver halide prints, but that is just a starting point for the final images she creates. She intervenes on the surface in ways a painter might interact with paper or a canvas, utilizing tools like brushes, funnels, and sieves. She does this using a bleach potion of potassium ferricyanide. The altered photographs are scanned, edited using Adobe Photoshop, and printed as archival pigment prints.

Kauffmann said, “All of these photographic tools allow me to create a unique and magical world. Within these landscapes, I find peace and great comfort.”

It’s a beautiful and peaceful image, and we all need some peace in our lives after the last few tumultuous years. Bravo, Marky!

Artist Bio

Marky Kauffmann is a fine art photographer, educator, and curator based in Somerville, Massachusetts.  She is a graduate of Boston University and the New England School of Photography.  When she was a sophomore in college, Kauffmann took her first black and white photography course and fell in love with the medium.  While on a junior year abroad program in France, Kauffmann studied with photographer Claude LeMont.  It was in LeMont’s darkroom that Kauffmann was first introduced to potassium ferricyanide, a chemical she uses to create the stars, moons and streaks in her images.  Kauffmann is the recipient of numerous awards, including a 2017 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist’s Fellowship in Photography.  In 2021, she was selected as a Hot 100 photographer by the online gallery, YourDailyPhotograph, whose clients include collectors and curators from around the world.  More of her work can be seen here.

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.