M.P. Ward M.P. Ward

System

Seeking Shelter

About Me

Although I’ve owned a camera for over 40 years, a serious artistic interest did not develop until around 2013 when I moved to Japan and was exposed to the vibrant and diverse landscape of the Pacific Rim. Japan and its neighboring countries are rich not just in color but also in texture and detail, and I was therefore quickly drawn towards monochromatic.

Not satisfied with how my prints looked from the standard inkjet printer and frustrated by the inconsistency in lab-printed photos, I traveled down the rabbit hole of self-printing and eventually settled on the venerable printmaking processes of Platinum and Palladium. I also occasionally employ other alternative printing processes such as cyanotype, Van Dkye brown, salted paper, and carbon transfer.

After leaving Japan in 2016, I lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota until 2024, when I moved to Staunton, Virginia in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, to be closer to family.

Kyoto at night, 2017

Platinum and Palladium Printmaking

Platinum and Palladium printing are two of the original photographic printmaking techniques, dating back to the mid-19th century. A solution of light-sensitive iron salts and the noble metals is brushed onto a sheet of fine watercolor paper to make sensitized photo paper.

The sensitized sheet is then exposed to ultra-violet light while in contact with a large format negative (film or digital). Exposure to ultra-violet light, followed by immersion in a developer bath, induces a series of chemical reactions which affix the metals to the fibers of the paper in the form of a finely-toned, archival and stunningly deep print.

Each platinum and palladium print is unique: it is challenging, unforgiving, and the results are spectacular, which explains why platinum and palladium prints are valued by artists, collectors and museums across the world.

This website catalogs a collection of prints I've made over the years, and I am always adding both older and newer work. Most prints, if they haven't already sold, are available for purchase; please contact me.

"Glad I'm not in the middle," Wind Cave National Park, 2022

Your photos as a print

If you are a fine art photographer and would like to see your images in platinum and palladium, please contact me.

Medici Chapel, Florence, 2022

Selected list of showings, exhibits, and awards