FREEDOM OF FLIGHT | Niki Butcher

Big Cypress National Preserve © 1993

Photographic Story This image is a combination of two images – the background and the bird. The combination was made in the darkroom, long before there was Photoshop. I took the photograph of the background and I claim I also took the photograph of the bird. Clyde claims he did. I do know that we both took a series of images of this bird as we were anchored very near the mangroves and he/she made for some great photographs. Anyway, since we both claim we took the bird photo, we long ago stopped arguing and just say, “Yes, we both took this photograph of the bird.” 🙂 …and that’s how you stay married for 51 years. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.