Writing With Light Via U.S. Mail

By Edge of Humanity Magazine, February 12, 2021

After the roll of 35mm was shot, it was mailed. The recipient promptly drilled through and developed it.

Photographers Ahmed Salvador and Scott McMahon are the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributors of this photo essay. From the project ‘LIGHT AND CHEMICAL CORRESPONDENCE’. To see Ahmed and Scott ’s body of work, click on any image.

Photos were taken of icicles. The roll of medium format film was then mailed, promptly drilled through, and developed.

A pinhole outline done on tinfoil of a tree design. It exposed on photo paper while traveling in the mail.

4×5 color negative was wrapped in tinfoil, poked with holes, and sent exposing in the mail. Developed on arrival.

“Scott McMahon and Ahmed Salvador have been collaborating since their undergraduate days at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduation, they have rarely lived in the same town for any span of time, yet their correspondence continues over mail and the occasional meet up.

An image of a New Mexico landscape wrapped in tinfoil that had been poked with holes and sent exposing in the mail. 120 color reversal film.

The process involves one of them sending to the other bits of paper or film exposing for days in the mail. Once the parcel is received, it is opened, developed, and the results scanned and emailed back to the sender. At times initial lens exposures are made, but the material and/or packaging is later subjugated to light leaks from violently made drill holes or cut marks. In a way these perverse techniques push these factory-made films and papers to the end of their silver tether. They also squeeze the true nature of ‘writing with light’ out of them. Any reciprocity that the light sensitive materials provide is forcibly attained. However brutal, the end result is still a vestige of the first 150 years of traditional photography’s innovation grasping, but not gasping, for relevance.”

35mm color film was blended with Play-Doh and sealed inside a clear container. Placed in a translucent envelope, the package was sent in the mail. Light exposed the film in areas where the clay was thinnest.

Fujichrome pinhole image of the Pinnacles in Missouri. Wrapped in tinfoil that was poked with holes and sent exposing in the mail.

After the roll of 35mm was shot, it was mailed. The recipient promptly drilled through and developed it.

Exposures were made. The medium format roll was sent in the mail. The recipient sliced into it. The film began to fall apart during the development process.