One of the realities of shooting in the Willamette Valley, and surrounding areas, was a persistent condition of "zone 7 skies", translated to being a totally gray sky, no indication of where the sun might be. A gray domed sky. Being that condition can last weeks, sometimes months, any young photographer with a format camera and film in hand isn't going to wait a long time. Photograph what you have available. This image represents probably a portfolio worth of images in the "Disuse" category, although they were some of my earliest photographs, and at this time, looking back, not my favorite images to spend time making into prints.
One of the great things about printing in silver, is the ability to mimic platinum, palladium and platinum/palladium images, by altering the developer and toner used. There are ways to mix that up to arrive at a desired print 'color' and tonal range leaving reciprocal blacks matching the more precious metals. This print was developed in sodium acetate to arrive at the overall cool black image, then toned it in gold to reinforce the blacks and keep the image a cool tone. Later, I will be posting another Kallitype image of "Paul & Jerry's" in Jerome, developed in sodium citrate, toned in palladium. That print mimics the same image I printed in palladium. This Disuse image mimics a platinum print, with exception to the steely cool middle tones of platinum, which aren't so easy to mimic. The overall look is similar, that is the point.
I am keeping the other variables of the prints the same, as in paper and other treatment issues. The print time for this image was 10 minutes, which, again, is for me the sweet spot for printing in silver. Enough time to reach dMax blacks, leaving crisp zone 7 whites. This print was also gold toned for ten minutes. This image was a late afternoon, last of the light shot.
Gold toned Kallitype
"Disuse #1" ~ 8x10 ~ 1/5
Eugene, Oregon
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