Sheila Newbery Photography

Ohio Woods is a selection of platinum-palladium prints of images made during a cross-country journey by train. The route was from New York City to San Francisco via Chicago: the first leg of the trip took us winding up the Hudson Valley on a spectacular January afternoon, but the brilliance of the day was soon obscured by heavy clouds sailing in from the west. By the time we reached the Ohio border, we were rolling through the woodlands under a veil of twilight snow; the train had slowed because of poor visibility; and everything had softened to a kind of translucence. I had an idea about how to make a few pictures...

I stopped down the lens (used a small aperture) and slowed the shutter — the opposite of what any manual of photography would tell you to do; then, as the trees approached, I’d follow their passage across my field of view with the lens in a steady, panning motion, my speed adjusted according to the train’s speed and the distance to the trees from where I sat.

Depending on the placement of the focal plane, my distance from the subject, the speed of my shutter and the velocity of the train's movement past the subject, the camera could actually see through certain objects (that is, render them transparent) or preserve suggestive traces, while keeping other things magically distinct. In many of the photographs on view here, for example, we look through a curtain of trees (whose presence is felt, if not exactly seen) to see other trees.

Each of the images here is what we call a straight photograph, not a composite created with post-process wizardry: it is the result of optics, motion, and the unique characteristics of the platinum-palladium medium.

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

The edge of the field (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2103 (platinum palladium print)

Winter farmhouse (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Twilight, Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Frieze, no. 2 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Nest, Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2103 (platinum palladium print)

Ohio, 2013 (platinum palladium print)