I chose photography as my medium to slow down time and appreciate individual moments and objects. The images in “Tea Song” are made up of photographs that I took with my 4×5 camera. The cyanotype process is my vehicle to explore the stillness of a day. It takes time to shoot and process the negative. It takes time to mix the chemistry and coat the paper. It takes time to wait for the sun to expose the image and then develop the print in water. It takes time to let the paper dry and tear it down to size. The final step of my process is to submerge or tea tone my cyanotypes in black tea. The name of this series and the tea tone process was inspired by “The Tea Song” by Michael Hurley. Another reminder to take a step back and give yourself some time to observe, allow your tea to steep, and enjoy the moment.
Tyler Haberkorn is a photographer from Colorado, now based in Los Angeles. His works has appeared in Thrasher, The Hand, The Rooster, MixedKids&Co, Hyperallergic, and The Desert Times. His hand-tinted, DIY-printed, beer processed photograph of a Joshua tree was the Experimental Category winner in Field Magazine’s 2021 Fat Tire contest. To view more of Tyler Haberkorn’s work, visit tylerhaberkorn.com or follow him on Instagram @haberkron