Unless otherwise credited, all photographs are © David Ritchie and may not be used without my permission.
The term Fochemax is my play on words. Simply put, it is short for a photo-chemical accident, which is exactly how these images were created.
Remember film and darkrooms? Well, most of my images are of film origin. Fochemax #1 was a blank test strip that I had thought might be accidentally light-fogged. I threw it in the trash can undeveloped. Subsequent unsatisfactory, and not fully developed prints, plus test strips, were discarded. Processing chemicals were carried along. Turning the inspection light on and off solarized this image. I found it at the end of the printing session. It looked to me like Stonehenge had reproduced. I washed it and then re-processed it to archival standards. It is 5″X17″
I started going through the rejected prints in the garbage. Interesting images were put through various chemical stages. The original film image is evident in some, others are quite abstract. They have mysterious qualities. The chemically caused colour stains on the black & white paper are a bonus. Unlike film or digital images, there is only one original of each.
Fochemax #1
Fochemax #5
Fochemax #2 What do you see in this?
Fochemax #3 Winter Sedum
Fochemax #4 Gaspe 2003
The Fochemax experiment will not be repeated, the darkroom magic is gone. I miss those days of creativity and excitement.
Abstracts
2004 I see a cave drawing of mythic creatures in battle.
Ghost chairs in the snow.
Shadows on Car Trunk 1974
Parade, 1987
Inkblot (object in snow) circa 1971 Guesses what it is?
Perspective / Perception
The 5 abstracts above are rotations of 90 or 180 degrees from the actual scene, but are in other respects realistic representations.
My Office Wall 2015 This changing view entertains me the year round.
Toronto 2014
Untitled Abstraction Another film image found in the archives.
Ever Clever Wilson 