Ralf Jacobs

Perhaps it is best to describe Ralf Jacobs as a photographer. He ‘writes with light’ in a wonderful spectrum of old and new techniques, from 19th-century cyanotypes to software-guided laser projections. Combining different photographic procedures and images, he creates new realities that incorporate time as a tangible presence.

Cyanotypes
A laser can trace the harmonographic image on chemically treated paper to create a cyanotype, a photographic printing process also known as blueprint, discovered in 1842 by Sir John Herschel. Jacobs uses this vintage process also to transfer conventional photographs to the characteristic cyan hue, saturating the image with a melancholy passage of time.

The light phenomena captured by Ralf Jacobs in their appealing complexity and poetic beauty suggest an enviable innocent sense of wonder about the world. Jacobs has retained the ability to be mesmerized by rays of light and their intricate behavior, even when his profound expertise in optics, lenses and perception might go a long way to elucidate the physical principles behind them. These principles can’t, of course, explain why the images constantly generate new questions and ideas, nor why Jacobs’ photographs can elicit such emotion and meaning.

Submitted by Art Dumay