Studio of Light team create portrait of Chancellor Lord Sebastian Coe

Alan Duncan and Ben Dolman from the Studio of Light developed the portrait of Lord Sebastian Coe using hybrid-printing technologies.

The portrait of Lord Coe was taken at the end of a winter graduation December 2019, to form part of a series of portraits of º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ alumni associated with the Olympics.

For this series, Alan Duncan, University Teacher in Photography, and Ben Dolman, University Teacher in Creative Digital Technologies, created a photographic studio setting within Martin Hall. They then set up the studio testing lights beforehand making sure everything would run smoothly.

The actual taking of the photograph only took a few minutes and once the digital photograph was made, the team then made a negative and a handmade print. This part of the process can take two or more days.

This portrait was presented to the Chancellor of º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, Lord Sebastian Coe, in December 2021, by Vice Chancellor Professor Nick Jennings.

Studio of Light Seb Coe portrait full image
Vice Chancellor, Professor Nick Jennings, presenting the portrait to Chancellor, Lord Sebastian Coe

The Studio of Light, based in School of Design and Creative Arts, is a research-funded project which has been exploring how to make platinum and palladium photographic prints using traditional, scientific, and digital technologies.

The team have worked closely with Professor Paul Kelly, Associate Dean for Enterprise, to refine this process. This makes the prints unique in tonal values and archival properties and therefore highly desirable and collectable. 

The Studio of Light have some exciting possible collaborations to share in the future, so stay tuned!

Find out more about the Studio of Light