78/46 Analog Work: Elemental Presence

Exhibition Opening October 3, 2025

Ray Bidegain
Amanda Tinker
Andy Mattern

There are certain photographs that defy translation. You can try to scan them, photograph them, reproduce them in a book or on a screen, but something essential always slips through the cracks. Platinum and platinum/palladium prints are like that. They aren’t just visual; they’re physical, elemental. You need to see them in person to truly understand what they are. This is why the 78/46 exhibition came into being.

As the editor of Analog Forever Magazine, I’ve spent years celebrating the beauty and resilience of analog photographic practices. I’ve written about platinum prints, published them, even obsessed over how to best present them in print. But no matter how carefully we reproduce them, they never quite land the way they do in person. And that’s not a failure, it’s a reminder.

78/46 refers to the atomic numbers of platinum (78) and palladium (46). It’s a nod to the chemistry at the heart of this work, but also to the artistry. It is the transformation of metal into emotion, of materials into meaning. Each of the three photographers in this exhibition brings their own voice to the process. One might lean into narrative, another toward abstraction, a third toward the conceptual or poetic. But all of them share the discipline and devotion that this medium demands.

Ray Bidegain has spent decades perfecting the quiet language of stillness. His images often explore the human figure and constructed scenes with a painter’s eye, capturing moments suspended like lucid dreams. Rooted in large-format film and the platinum/palladium process, Bidegain’s prints are timeless meditations rendered in luminous tones.

Photograph: Ray Bidegan

Amanda Tinker weaves photography with emotion, using the platinum/palladium process to explore presence, absence, and the landscape of memory. Her images often walk the line between documentation and reverie, finding magic in the mundane and the sacred in silence. She brings an intimacy to the process that resonates far beyond the frame.

Photograph: Amanda Tinker

Andy Mattern approaches the medium with a conceptual lens, examining the material and cultural legacies of photographic history. His recent work explores the nature of the print itself, questioning how we perceive and preserve photographic objects. Mattern brings intellect to a process that is often viewed through a purely aesthetic lens, pushing its boundaries with subtlety and insight.

Phtograph : Andy Mattern

And while their voices differ, what connects them is the physical act of making. Platinum and
palladium printing is slow, deliberate work. It asks for intention. It demands patience. You coat
each sheet by hand. You expose by feel and instinct. You develop in trays, not clicks. It’s
photography as craft andritual.

This is more than just an exhibition. It’s a statement about presence and about showing up,
slowing down, and connecting with something real. It’s a way of saying: look at what the artists
hand can still do. Look at what happens when artists commit to materials, time, and tradition.
Not to replicate the past, but to speak from within it.

I’ve always believed in the power of these prints, but I’ve also known how easy it is to overlook
them in a world ruled by speed and pixels.78/46is my way of pushing back. Of saying, this
matters. Of making space for the prints, the artists, andfor the people willing to stand in front of
them and really see.

So come closer. Let your eyes adjust. Let the prints speak in the language they were meant to.
~ Michael Kirchoff
Editor, Analog Forever Magazine