William R. Current, master of darkroom art and great nature photographer Nature and architecture, both prehistoric and present day, are the particular black and white photographic interests of William Current, who has spent most of his professional career living and working in the western and southwestern United States. When New York's Museum of Modern Art put together a show of American landscape black and white photography from the 1860s black and white pictures of Timothy O'Sullivan to the present day, thirteen of Current's sensitive evocations of nature were included.
Current has also made a black and white photographic record of California's pre-World War I architecture, hoping to preserve in black and white prints the intricate and sometimes fanciful designs of these buildings before they fall victim to the wrecker's ball.
For the black and white picture, taken in Big Basin State Park, near San Francis¬co, California, Current sought to make a black and white print that would evoke, he explains, "the dancing, bending, vibrant quality of the laurel trees in contrast to the statuesque, somber posture of the redwoods."
To achieve this he worked to preserve the muted quality of the forest light, yet at the same time keeping some contrast between the deep shadows and the highlights on the leaves. Current experimented at length with enlarger apertures, black and white printing exposure times and different kinds of papers.
Ultimately, he settled on enlarging his 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 negative on Agfa Brovira grade 2, a paper that gave rich, warm blacks in the deep shadow areas while reproducing many of the middle gray tones. Current did not attempt to register detail in the brightest parts of the black and white picture, since they are composed only of the dots of sunlight glinting off the myriad little leaves. Their blank white dappling creates exactly the vibrant pattern he had hoped for.
