Donald Lawrence
1998
Starfish in Tidal Surge
[Underwater Pinhole Photography Project]

Gelatin silver print
5 x 4 ins (image) 10 x 8 ins (paper)
 
Provided by the artist - Donald Lawrence
"The negative for Starfish in Tidal Surge is taken below Horsewell Bluffs, at the entrance to Nanaimo Harbour, and results from my first attempt at using the camera in the ocean environment. I estimated an exposure time of seven seconds, during which time the camera was wedged within a rocky crevice, the tide surging in and out. I simply waited for the water to be as still as possible before slackening the rope that activates the shutter. It was fortunate that this first photograph worked well, as I then took the cameras to Wickaninnish at Long Beach where it took upwards of twenty exposures to obtain a second reasonable negative!"
 
(excerpted from: Corry, Corrine; Susan Gibson Garvey and Karen Ruet, "Interview with the Artist," Donald Lawrence: The Underwater Pinole Photography Project. Katy McCormick (ed.), Toronto, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography; Gallery ConneXion (Fredericton); Dalhousie Art Gallery (Halifax); Richmond Art Gallery (Richmond), 2002., p.39)
 
Had this first negative not worked I may have determined that the entire endeavour was not workable.
 
LL/45268