The Art of photography

ChallengingTraditions

MasterworksfromaCopyMachine

Anoffice

copyingmachine,meantfordu-

plicatinglettersanddocuments,isnot

mostpeople's ideaofalikelysourceof

art.But anumberofinventivephotogra-

phershaveturneditintoapicturemaking

instrument.Theoffice

copierisakindof

camera,containinglight-sensitivemateri-

aland

a

lens,

but

itis

acamerathatcan-

notbetakentoasubject;thesubject

mustbebroughttoit.Usually,thepicture

is

madebyplacingthesubjectonthe

copymachine'sdocumentglass.

Becausemodernofficemachines

are

designedtomakequickcopies,thereis

nowaytocontrolfocusoralteraperture

setting.Depthoffieldisseverelylimited,

providingsharpfocusonlyforobjects

placeddirectly
onthedocumentglassor

withinaninchaboveit.Copyartists,how-

ever,capitalizeonthis
restriction,using

thelimiteddepthoffieldtotransform

subjectsinunusualways
(page168).

Although

afewphotographersstilluse

theblack-and-whitemachines,mostpre-

ferthecolormachine.
Bothmachinesuti-

lizeaprocessthatcreatesapositiveim-

agedirectlyandinstantly

bymeansof

powdered-inktoners,notthesilvercom-

poundsusedinordinaryphotography.

The

tonersaretransferredontopaperby

achargeofelectricity.

Incolor

copyart,thephotographeris

abletoadjustthebalanceandintensity

ofthecolor,andcanusealmost

anykind

ofpaper—includinghigh-qualityragpa-

per—forreproductions.Withinlimits,the

color

changesarepredictable,butvari-

ationsintheamountofthepowdered-ink

tonersoften

yieldsurprisingresults.

Copy-machineartistshavedeveloped

manydifferenttechniques.Some

create

abstractdesignsbyshininglightback

intothecopier'sdocumentglass

(oppo-

site,right).Othersduplicatetheirown

hands,facesorotherthree-dimensional

objects

(pages 169 and172).Stillothers

combinesingleprintstomakealarger

picture.Whateverthe

techniqueused,

however,chanceandskillareunnerv-

inglyintertwinedinthis

serendipitousart.