Production Update

There was a time when purchasing a scanner was fairly straight forward. That was then. After weeks of searching, I found the golden scanner needed, made the purchase from the manufacture and waited. When there was no arrival I came to find out the order was mysteriously cancelled. Another find of the scanner on the internet was from a Canadian company, but they don't sell to gringos. There's a pattern here. Through the courageous efforts of a very nice man at the scanning company found a link to an Australian site that sells the upgrade to that scanner, for less than I could buy the old scanner here. It's on its way.

There will be some printing in the meantime, as I will have to rely upon digital images, and being digital format come out 8x12 instead of 8x10, which matters being the process I have in place works with that format. Cropping out two inches of the image isn't easy as when I shoot I crop as to be used in the finished print. Tight cropping to encompass just those elements I want in the scene. So cropping 20% of the image does terrible things to the images. It should be noted that the 1% gold chloride and a bottle of palladium & matching ferric oxalate has been shipped from Bostick & Sullivan and is also on its way.

I will continue to make the Kallitype prints for the next two portfolios, many of which will be gold toned using the thiosulfate formula. It uses the most gold chloride but also replaces most of the silver salts, thus leaving a much more thoroughly coated/saturated print. That will, in some form alter the original tonal hue, and experience has shown that to be a rather cool but neutral black and a fine gray in the middle tones. This is a top down toner, meaning it begins affecting the whites first and works its way to the blacks. One of the ways for split toning is using a top down gold toner, toning until reaching the middle tones, then pull and rinse the print and finish toning in platinum for deep rich blacks and palladium for warmer tones and neutral blacks.

What I will begin is a portfolio of 5x7 prints, printed in palladium. As I noted earlier, I have a collection of 5x7 negatives of Oregon scenics ready for this very portfolio. Printing those negatives in palladium was only a pipe dream thirty years ago when I printed that portfolio in salted silver prints, which I still have in the custom wooden presentation case they've slept in those many years.

When I began hand coated printing early last year, it was happenstance that connected me to PJ's darkroom and the ability to make a print again. It was not long before that time my book came out, on the black and white negative and photo chemistry. I was preparing to write the second book, this one on the salted paper process, when the chance meeting took place. The ensuing re-connection to the process begat building the new darkroom, necessitating building a new workshop to accommodate all the tool in the darkroom space, and other mind numbing steps to finally be able to print again.

The energy flow has finally smoothed out and I am finding a steady rhythm of production. There will be prints as I find suitable digital images to debase with cropping. I have also begun the second book; Alchemist's Guide; To Salted Paper Printing. Thus far it is coming along nicely, with the cover design finished along with the title pages and much of the front of the book. I take a bit different approach to writing about how to do a process. It isn't sufficient to merely describe the procedural steps, in order of production and let it go at that. There are so many questions one would have if they don't already know the subject. One of the best devices I've found for showing what you are saying is through drawings of the thing itself, what it looks like, before and after. Conceptual learning.

Eventually, there will be five books in the series. The original one on the negative &  photo chemistry, this one on salted paper printing, third one is on the Kallitype print, fourth one on palladium printing and the final book will be on the gum print. Each book will be roughly the same length as the first, about 150 pages. Enough for a thorough layout of the process and all the hoops that affect things without being a tome. I also like to design the book as a lab book, leaving formulas in the final pages for easy access. There will be discussions on scaling up a black and white negative, and the formulas to do so, as well as a section on the digital negative, and the basics therein

Seeing the resurgence of photographers and beginners once again embracing black and white film, and historical alternative processes is titillating to say the least. I thought it was only me. Look forward to seeing more prints forthcoming. Mostly after my new scanner arrives and I am able to work with the images I've been waiting a long time to print. There are many. I can't wait. Good energy to your own work.