Living Ind

Through a Glass Darkly

by Mary Tutwiler

Angelle-Leigh creates portraits out of space and out of time.

Aug. 11, 2010
Written by Mary Tutwiler

Even as a child, Angelle-Leigh Breaux was surrounded by romantic deshabille. Her mother's house on historic Main Street in New Iberia was as eccentric outside - a tightly shuttered cottage painted Caribbean colors on a street filled with white antebellum mansions - as it was inside, with a red satin-clad manikin for company and a table perennially set for Thanksgiving, plastic turkey and all. It's no wonder she has grown into a young woman with a penchant for the past and an eye for what can't easily be seen.

Angelle-Leigh creates portraits out of space and out of time.

Aug. 11, 2010
Written by Mary Tutwiler

Even as a child, Angelle-Leigh Breaux was surrounded by romantic deshabille. Her mother's house on historic Main Street in New Iberia was as eccentric outside - a tightly shuttered cottage painted Caribbean colors on a street filled with white antebellum mansions - as it was inside, with a red satin-clad manikin for company and a table perennially set for Thanksgiving, plastic turkey and all. It's no wonder she has grown into a young woman with a penchant for the past and an eye for what can't easily be seen.

Capturing the mystery of the soul is the work of artists, and Angelle-Leigh, as she now calls herself, is searching through an antique lens, looking for something lost in the modern era. "Most people are heading into digital photography," she says. She uses only manual cameras. "I like the uncertainty. Things can go wrong. I like the process."

The process begins with a 1860s French Darlot portrait lens. Darlot lenses are cult favorites with a magical quality. The middle of the image is sharp in photos taken with a Darlot lens, but in the outer area, the focus is soft. Affix the lens to a 1920s Eastman Kodak view camera, the kind with a black accordion extension and a squeeze bulb trigger. Tell your model to hold still, very still.

"The depth of field with a Darlot is so minute," says Angelle-Leigh. "If a person breathes, he goes out of focus."

The 23-year-old UL senior has been experimenting with cameras for quite some time. Two years ago, she interned for The Independent, taking striking photos on assignment. She bought an original Brownie camera, circa 1930, which she began playing with at that time.

Her work is now mostly romantic portraits of people she knows intimately. Her boyfriend. Her brother. A high school classmate. "I know them so well I can look deeper," she says.

Her lab work heads in an antique direction as well. Lith processing involves heavily overexposing black and white paper and then only partially developing it in a highly diluted lith developer. Angelle-Leigh prints on warm tone mat paper with a selenium toner, which she says deepens the blacks while giving whites a warm sepia look. The result looks like postcards from the 19th century seen through the lens of our 21st century sensibility, old and new, deep and fresh, an original take on the art of portraiture.

"23 Photographs by Angelle-Leigh" opens at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14 at Cite Des Art in conjunction with ArtWalk.