AS SNOWBOARDING’S leading product-focused magazine, we’ve been exploring the possibilities of product photography since day one, twenty one years ago. Every year, when we ship files off to the printer, the challenge is on to figure out creative ideas for the next year. Whether or not you’ve noticed it, every product image in the last two volumes has been created with photographic film. Why? Well, sometimes, you have creative freedoms while working with film that digital isn’t capable of, and this year, we’ve taken the film vibes waaaay back… 

Say hello to the trichromatic process, the method which was used to create the world’s first color photograph in 1861. Conceived by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, the trichromatic (three color) process begins by exposing three separate pieces of black and white film, each individually filtered with a red, green, and blue filter. As these are the primary colors of the visible light spectrum, the filter blocks all wavelengths of color, except for its own, which passes through to expose the film. 

When aligned perfectly, with no camera movement between all three exposures, the result is a color-accurate photograph, made from stacking three pieces of black and white film and passing white light through them. Kinda crazy. 

Our cover photos, and Platinum Picks photographs in this issue were created using this trichromatic process, all carefully conceived and composed with a 4×5 inch sinar view camera. Each exposure was individually considered in its interaction with its two counterparts, requiring exact camera measurements, and even tracing product placements projected onto the ground glass of the camera with a dry erase marker. 

The resulting photographs are geometrically offset dynamic visual groupings, each stripped down into three simple primary colors. Enjoy! 

PHOTOGRAPHER: 
MIKE BASHER 

SINAR P 
RODENSTOCK SIRONAR-N 210MM F/16 1/60TH 
ILFORD HP5+ 4X5 INCH FILM 

— MIKE BASHER