Silver Eye Studios

About the Site

The Silvereye Web Site displays the photographic artwork of Regina Pryce, owner and operator of Silver Eye Photography Studio in Vermillion, South Dakota. Ms. Pryce is a professional photographer and photographic artist whose works have appeared in shows in the midwest and in Pennsylvania.

About the Images

The images that appear in the galleries on the following pages are part of a series of photographs taken at Rock Art sites throughout the southwest United States and in Italy. The larger series includes work in Cibachrome, black and white silver, and gum bichromate (watercolor) printing processes. All of the Photo Galleries display work created in the gumbichromate process.

The gum bichromate (photo watercolor) process is a non-silver contact printing method in which an emulsion containing watercolor pigment, gum arabic and bichromate sensitizer is painted on a paper base. A negative is then placed over the emulsion and exposed to light. The exposed parts of the negative are hardened by light, permitting the unexposed areas to develop (dissolve) in water. The watercolor provides density to the midtones and shadows, and the paper base forms the highlights. The end product is a watercolor print; the chemical sensitizer and excess gum arabic are washed away.

By varying the density of the negatives and the pigment colors, the printer can lay down several colors on each print. In my images I generally use three negatives of differing densities and several colors. The work requires at least two printings for each color as the strength of the pigment is built up gradually. The negatives must be kept in register throughout. The gradual build-up of pigment creates a subtle bas-relief aspect in each print. I find this effect particularly pleasing in relation to the kind of images portrayed in my work.