Tom Baril

Tom Baril is a contemporary America photographer working with polaroid and collodion processes. In the earlier part of his photography career, Baril found himself printing for Robert Mapplethorpe and continues to print and work for the Mapplethorpe Foundation to this day.

Baril’s botanical studies in black and white have a fascinating depth and quality to their finish. This is largely due to them being shot using Polaroid Type 55 large format film, sadly no longer in production. These single shot exposures with evidence of the polaroid having been peeled open are absolutely stunning and, the originals, are truly one of a kind! The only process I can consider would come close to replicating this could be through black and white darkroom prints toned in Selenium. The grey to black background with hard lighting creates a stunning vividity to the subject with framing similar to that of Irving Penn. As objects they do not entirely speak to a viewer but are aesthetically pleasing all the same.