The “Pink Flamingo” art galley in the HSS building on the Moorpark Campus hosts an exhibition titled, “The Photographs of Sun Needell.” Needell, photography student of Professor John Gray, displays her black and white works, which were developed through the lith printing process.

When Needell first began taking photos, she shot traditional landscape photographs, but that was not exactly what she was looking for. Her persistence in following her heart and mind led her to the discovery of lith printing, a process that has been around for a while.

“Lith printing is a simple but ‘different’ black and white printing technique, using ‘ordinary’ black and white or color negatives, a suitable black and white paper and lith developer from which the process gets its name. It involves heavily overexposing a suitable black and white paper, usually by two or three stops, and then only partially developing it in a highly diluted Lith developer,” said a photographer and lith printer Tim Rudman.

“As is the case with many older film based processes, lith printers will be challenged to find materials that suit them. But looking at Sun’s images it is clear that the challenge can be rewarding,” said Professor John Gray.

These images represent an interesting transformation. The audience is witnessing the photographer, Needell, metamorphosing into another kind of photographer.

Needell infuses a really special sense of mystery into her work when she combined the infrared film and lith printing techniques.

Her displayed photos are taken in Santa Barbara, Key West, and even in the Simi Valley, which she explained got her into some trouble. Needell’s photos will be on display until the last week of November in the photography room in the HSS building.