Karen Rohee

Karen Rohee is a French Artist, specifically from Marseille. 

Karen has a Master degree in Tourism and Art History. She started photography in 2014, when she got a Canon 500D before upgrading to a 7D later. However, she quickly found digital images very flat and "boring". So, in 2018 Karen decided to enter the analog world and got her first film camera: a Canon AE1 and a 50 mm f1.8. 

Since that day, she just fell in love with film photography. 

“What first was like a hobby, quickly turned out to be more than that: a passion and a therapy. I feel free, I feel good when I am outside taking pictures. Beyond the beauty of cameras, the image's esthetics, or this tangibility, my love for this art medium lies in the spectrum of possibilities of what is Film photography and alternative techniques.
I don't have a specific style, or maybe my style would be to try everything. It's like putting a finger on the gear, there is always something new to try. Indeed, you can let your imagination speak for yourself without boundaries! I've been experimenting since quite some time now, doing for instance Cyanotype, Anthotype, Film soups, Solargraphy, Home Printing but also EBS. I even have the privilege to be an invited artist for the "Experimental photo festival" in Barcelona this summer for a 5-day camp where I will animate workshops and conferences.”

Here are four projects that Karen Rohee decided to share with us:

The 1st project I would like to present is: EBS

Exposing Both Side of the film (EBS) is, like its name is saying, the process of exposing the two sides of a regular color film. For this serie I used a "Splitzer '' type of filter to obtain things like a mirror effect image, a triangular mask and lastly without anything to get double exposed images. I really enjoy doing EBS film, though it's a bit complicated sometimes, but the results you get at the end is just amazing!

The 2nd project I would like to present is: Film Soup

This technique of souping your film is perfect if you like surprises! I love to soup my films in different types of tea, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon powder, wine etc. (all-natural products). Furthermore, adding to this, I also enjoy mixing different techniques as well, like for example double or multiple exposures but also creating a redscale film. You can never tell what kind of image you will get, and this is the funniest part.

The 3rd project I would like to present is: Double exposure

Doing double exposures is for me a very artistic way to put in parallel or in opposition two images. You can blend the images together or do like a mirror effect. The possibilities are infinite and in this, I find this technique very poetic.

The 4th project I would like to present is: Cyanotype & Anthotype

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process invented by a British scientist Sir John Herschel, where you obtain cyan blue prints using two chemicals (ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide). Anthotype is an image created using photosensitive material from plants and was invented by Mary Somerville. Both these techniques require sunlight and were invented around the time. I find both Cyanotype and Anthotype beautiful. When I somehow want to take it easy with photography, I love to take the time to make another kind of « photography ». It's very easy to do and very fun! Here regarding the Anthotype I used Spinache's chlorophyll. Lastly, I tinted one of my cyanotypes dipping it into coffee and I obtained a dark grey image.

What being featured means to Karen:
“Getting featured for me would mean many things. The privilege and honor to be part of a community of very talented artists. I'm a very curious person and I believe that we all can learn from each other. Also, I want to support any platform that gives the chance to artists to show their work where I believe that a lot of them have an underrated body of work. It is also I believe a great way to be able to spread your work when it's not always easy.”

You can see more of Karen Rohee’s work on her Instagram profile @km_analog and on her darkroom profile http://www.kmanalog.darkroom.tech

 Freak, out!