Chris MacRae
PROFILE
Chris MacRae was born in Inverness in 1978 to Skye parents. He spent his summers in Skye as a child and, following his technical training in photography in Glasgow, he lived for three years on the island. He currently lives in Glasgow and travels frequently to the Highlands to visit friends and family, when he takes the opportunity to capture the beauty of the Scottish landscapes.
With a passion for both Scotland and photography, he has merged his two loves producing stunning images of his homeland on black and white film. He has endless patience and spends hours in all weathers and at all times of the day and night waiting to capture the perfect picture. He produces images which portray both the gentleness and the ruggedness of Highland landscapes and the ever changing colourful and moody treachery of the Scottish weather.
Chris has had three exhibitions of his photography, one of which was in Bulgaria at a photo festival where photographers from all over the world exhibited.
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PHOTOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
During my time as a photographer, I have owned and used many different cameras, from 35mm to 5 x 4 large format. Currently, I am using Hasselblad and Fuji medium format cameras for my personal work. Using mainly Ilford black and white films, I do all my own processing, allowing me complete control at every stage.
The images are hand printed on high quality double weight fibre based silver gelatin photographic paper. The paper is coated with gelatin, which holds light sensitive silver halide particles. When the image from a negative is projected on to the paper, the silver particles are exposed to varying degrees of light, which are transformed into shades of grey when the paper is placed in a developing solution. The print is then fixed and washed.
Using this type of paper is much more time consuming than other paper types, with each print requiring more than an hour of washing to clear chemicals which have been absorbed. The print is then selenium toned. This process converts the silver in the image to silver selenide, which is particularly resistant to oxidising gasses in the environment, thus improving the archival qualities of the print. Selenium toner also increases the maximum black of the image and intensifies the shadows. The result is a print which should last for at least a century without fading or changing in appearance.
