Lisa Brussell’s portofolio received the 2024 Denis Roussel Award Special Recognition and the Hahnemühle Award for her Gum Bichromate  work printed over salt prints, cyanotype and/or ziatype (palladium).

Would you please tell us about yourself?

My high school darkroom photography class sparked my passion for photography. I spent my career as a designer, creating branding for consumer product goods. During this time, my role behind the camera was an art director,not a photographer. I missed clicking the camera shutter myself, watching the magic as a print develops, and having full control over the images.

In recent years I started exploring some of the historic photographic printing processes and teaching myself some of them. As I experimented with varying printing methods, my appreciation for each of the different processes grew and I became comfortable
combining different techniques. These handmade printing processes have become my voice for lending depth and intrigue to my botanical, landscape and street portrait photographs.

Downieville © Lisa Brussell

Puddle © Lisa Brussell

Please tell us about the portfolio you submitted to the Denis Roussel Award.

To date, I generally focus on singular images and haven’t created a specic series. For this submission I chose works that all incorporate gum layers over a different process using landscape subject matter, hoping they hold together as a group. In my landscapes I aspire to immerse the viewer, even if just for a moment, in a shared experience. My intent is to pique the imagination and reveal a sense of being rather than duplicate precisely what the camera captures.

Please tell us about your process.

I shoot my images with a digital camera. I choose an image to work on and determine what processes would best render my vision. Using layers helps me communicate my emotional connection to each image. The light, color and subject all play a role in how I proceed. Each print implements multiple layers of gum bichromate printed over salt prints, cyanotype and/or ziatype.

What is the most frustrating part of the process?

Waiting for layers to dry, I always want to see how the next layer will look.

Do you enjoy the process itself or is it just a means to an end?

From capturing the image with my camera to clearing my nal layer, I enjoy all of the different steps that go into making a print (except perhaps, calibrating/linearizing my curves).

How long have you been practicing this process?

I made my first cyanotype print in 2019. That is when I consider to be the beginning of alternative photographic process journey. Prior, I had taken some workshops in photopolymer gravure but I had difficulty translating my learning to make successful prints in my home studio. In 2020 I started gum printing and continued to work on gravure printing. I experimented with ziatype in 2021. Most recently I’ve been learning salt printing and toning.

Do you have a mentor or a teacher that has helped your journey?

I’m primarily self-taught. I studied Christina Anderson’s Cyanotype and Gum books along with several others in the series diligently. I use Christopher James’, Alternative Photographic Process for reference regularly. The Alternative Photographic Processes Group on Facebook and website has been an indispensable resource, there is something to learn from so many of the posts and discussions plus I now have a group of world-wide virtual colleagues. Diana Bloomeld is an inspiration and has inuenced my work. Marek
Matusz is a salt printing mentor. Dan Weldon, Mark Nelson and Greg Brophy all supported my photopolymer gravure work.

Before the Storm © Lisa Brussell

How do you work through times when nothing seems to work?

I put myself in the mindset that I’m just experimenting and practicing and keep going. I look at books and go online to study other artists, photographers, and printmakers which inspires me to try something new. Sometimes I coat paper without an image in mind
and then choose an image as quickly as I can to work on so I make good use of the paper that was just coated. If the first layer looks promising I anticipate success for the end result which encourages me to keep working.

What tools have you found essential in the making of your work?

Achieving a smooth even coat of emulsion makes a good brush the most important tool for me. I use the PGI synthetic hake brush from Japan and the Jack Richeson synthetic brush. I mostly expose in the sun so my Light Measure UV exposure meter is also essential.

Is there something in photography that you would like to try in the future? What’s on the horizon?

I anticipate more practice and continued improvement in my current processes. I would like to experiment with printing on vellum and Japanese gampi and kozo papers to explore translucency and possibly gold and metal leaf. I am also excited to do more gum
over photopolymer gravure prints maybe learn Quadtone Rip?

To learn more about the work of Lisa Brussell please visit her on Instagram account by clicking on her name.