John Chiara creates his own cameras and chemical processes in order to make unique photographs using the direct exposure of light onto reversal film and paper. Chiara describes his process When Im out shooting I directly expose the paper dodge burn and filter the light as if I were working in the darkroom. This compression of the traditional photographic processes into one event involving the hauling around of huge handmade cameras and film backs results in images that are intuitive and performativeand visually stunning. Focusing almost exclusively on landscapes and architecture each resulting photograph is a singular luminous object that renders each scene with an almost hallucinatory clarity deploying surreal shifts of color light and skewed perspectives. This book his first focuses exclusively on images of Chiaras native California including images from his hometown of San Francisco and other locations in Northern California as well as Los Angeles and along the Pacific Coast. Virginia Heckerts essay situates Chiaras work in the long tradition of the landscape of the American West while also discussing his working methods and the contemporary context of this processdriven work. Copublished by Aperture and Pier 24 Photography.show more