New Portfolio Kallitype Print

Slowly I am once again building a momentum to the printing. The innumerable obstacles I have been jumping over these past six months has kept me in shape, but little in the way of print progress. Being that the nice workmen broke my Plustek scanner, I have no choice but to find another. Fortunately, I scoured the internet a few nights ago to find not a single available Plustek scanner. Anywhere, until I once again ventured into Amazon terrain to find one listing, the last printer available from this vendor. It is now on its way, and soon I will be able to scan the 5x7 negatives I want to print for this next portfolio. A few of the prints that will be included in this portfolio at first, will eventually become another portfolio of images I shot in Arizona over the years. Hence the Arizona Portfolio.

This image was one of the few I have that aren't photographed images of existing prints. They don't work well for printing as one an imagine, due to the surface texture and other artifacts that make it obvious it is a copy. Thus, for now I will be drawing up what I have for printing. I am keeping with the Kallitype printing for the essential reason that the printer's density boundaries limit the density range I can produce at this time. The good news of that seeming problem is that the density range it does have, with added spectral density to the negative image, prints well with the Kallitype process and print range. Turns out, the standard print time for these printer negatives is nine minutes. Right off the preferred time of 10-12 minutes.

This image was printed on Revere Platinum paper. Nine minute print time, developed in sodium acetate and this image is untoned, straight up Kallitype. The images in this portfolio will be toned in gold toner, using the gold/thiosulfate formula. I like this formula as it replaces the silver salts with gold, offering up the longest longevity in my mind, as well as have a cool black tone which enhances the black and white images I have in mind for printing.

For those interested, the story behind this shot is similar to an upcoming print of a sailboat on a canal. I was doing a film test, working with a new developer (Beutler 105) and wanted to see how well it held in the light, and detail of the stones, in a contrasty scene. I was hoping to keep the brightly lit stones on the left of the print in a textural range, preferably zone 7. I spent considerable time metering the various areas of the setting, and just as I finished and about to take the first shot, I hear the cleats of the rider's shoes on the stone floor. The light was just right, and I turned around to see him coming through the pedestrian tunnel about to go up the stairs, and I though..."crap, he's going to walk right through my shot". About one second before the second realization arrived, "he's going to walk right into my shot, setting the stage!" As he entered the light I took the shot. A really beautiful place, Oregon city.

I'm pretty close to the zone 7 I had wanted on the stones on the left in this print. For a bit more density in that area, perhaps a 10% boost in saturation of the spectral density in the negative image will raise that textural zone about a half a stop in the digital negative.

"Bicycle on the Stairs"
Untoned Kallitype ~ 8x10 ~ 1/5
Oregon City, Oregon