Robert Buelteman

A Gift Returned, black and white, photography, photogram, plants, framed

2006

I began making photograms with alternate light sources in 2020, due to having an unfinished darkroom at the time of the shutdown. (Fortunately, the wet side was nearly complete just prior and I had a ton of old European sized Forte in my paper safe to experiment with). "Into the Ether" was my first in-depth body of cameraless work, which was completed at the end of the year. All of my images are essentially subconscious self-portraits which reveal themselves during my printing processes (that applies to both film-based prints and unique darkroom darkroom prints made without the use of a camera). This award-winning series took shape while in the height of covid-based isolation. However, making the work led to my now current occupation, as I now specialize in experimental photograms and teach some of my processes. "Flower Implosion" was one of my first sparkler exposures involving moving water; Made with flowers and water, this triple exposed sparkler-o-gram debuted via an online exhibition...

This unique silver gelatin print (photogram/chemigram) is one of the newest cameraless landscape photographs of my ongoing "Winds of Change" series. Made with materials I collected f...

"Rough Waters (aka Don't Look Down)" - Unique silver gelatin print (mixed process photogram). Made with ice, flowers, sand, glitter, and more. BRAND NEW, printed on Fomatone MG 133, ...

"Within Reach" - Unique silver gelatin print (mixed process photogram); Made with ice, flowers, sand, glitter, and more. BRAND NEW, printed on Fomatone MG 133, a beautiful, slightly textured chamois paper, in April 2023. [This one-of-a-kind black-and-white photograph is a slightly weird size, as it was made with a sheet of paper that had previously been cut for a test strip. The width is actually 8 1/16"] After falling into photography by way of eastern religions a lifetime ago, the latter quickly found its way into my work, and never left. I think of both my (covid-born) cameraless photographs and my film-based silver gelatin prints as subconscious self-portraits or spiritual landscapes...

Unique landscape photograph (mixed process photogram/chemigram) made with San Diego specific materials (sand, palm leaves, the Pacific Ocean, and more) and chemically altered with de...

One-of-a-kind handmade print (photogram made sans enlarger). One of my early photograms, made in 2020; I began making alt process photograms in June 2020, due to having an unfinished...