Most people who know me know I prefer “straight photography.” I like photography that has very little manipulation of the photograph; a little dodging and burning are OK. “Get it right in camera first,” Yoda would always say.

This week I am taking a break from straight photography to show some of the fun side of photography. In our Intermediate Black & White Photography class, we had a project called “Altered Negatives/Altered Prints.” Here we got to experiment with alternative developing and printing techniques. At first I was not very excited about this not-so-straight photography. “Black Magic!” I screamed. But after slowly sipping the Kool-Aid, I found myself liking some of the process. And before I knew it, Sam Olfano had me trying everything! He kept feeding me ideas, and my classmates were screaming STOP! But I couldn’t stop. All the different toners adding color to my pretty black and white photographs, using different developing techniques, different projections—he had created a monster! All my light had been transformed and no longer was straight. Now I know I can take my photographs and add a little curve to them now and create something different. Who would have thought an education at Marywood would make me a creative monster?

Here are some fun example of my experiments with toning. What do you think? Suggestions?