Photographer prints portraits directly on stone

We've seen some people print photographs on some pretty bewildering mediums over the years. From tin cans to leaves, people like to print their photographs on all manner of material. But photographer Kalmar Madhava went one step further, printing a series of photographs on stones themselves.

Madhava is a Hungarian photographer studying in the UK, and unfortunately, he hasn't said much about the technical aspects of the project. He has discussed the motivations behind the project and its themes of identity, but not how he actually went about printing a photograph directly on such a difficult surface as rock.

The series is titled "Stone and Silver," which may provide some sort of hint that he's working with a silver-based light-sensitive layer on the stone. Maybe he's coating the surface with a light sensitive material, and then exposing on that — but we don't really have any proof.

Regardless, his work is astonishing, and by bringing the images onto a totally new type of print surface, he imbues them with a dramatic amount of feeling and gravitas. You can see more of his work on his site, or Tumblr.

(via PetaPixel)