"Malecon de Progreso" ~ Palladium Print

A second print of the Mexico series. Same process as the first one, as are the next ones to come. I am working with the lighting of each print to get as close as possible to the feel of the original experience.

I have scaled up the negative size and begun printing to 11"x14" for these images. Something I have been wanting to do for awhile. When I scaled up with the palladium prints I also scaled up for the gum printing as well, and now print to 11"x14" in my gums, which I might add I just printed the final layer of colors this afternoon. That new gum is now done and ready for clearing tomorrow and final flatten. I am pretty happy with it, as I have not only scaled up the size but altered the printing approach altogether.

I am no longer interested in printing reality, in 'natural colors'. A gum dichromate (bichromate) print is a photographic watercolor. The principle is laying watercolor mixtures over each other using a clear substrata. The same as layering watercolor washes over each other, using the principle of subtractive color theory. Different from reflected color principles. Therefore I approach the process as a watercolor artist would, applying color(s) where needed. What I am after is something akin to Impressionism, not so much the stylistically applied but the overlapping of several colors to create a color scheme. The theory is replicating light as an "Impression" of the thing seen. Well, that takes time to get the hang of. My first attempt wasn't all that bad. I'm pretty happy with it. Did I already say that?

Palladium toned Kallitype ~ Unique
"Malecon de Progreso" ~ 11"x14"
Progreso, Yucatan

"Alchemist's Guide; to Printing in Palladium"

My book on printing in Palladium is finished and listed now. This book I had covered stock for the interior pages so the images would print well. The cost is double the printing costs of standard paper but worth the cost when showing such print work. This is the fourth book in the "Alchemist's Guide;" series. I am just beginning the fifth book on gum and gum over palladium printing. That will finish the series. It has taken a great deal of energy to get this far along. Worth every ounce of energy used.

"The Gringo's View"

I have put off adding posts to this blog site since I created my website, that includes a blog. Interesting enough, I continue to get more visitors here than I do there. So it seems only fitting I add some of the new work I've been doing since I last posted.

As noted in an earlier post I have an Epson 1430 printer now, used only to print on transparency film to make negatives. Nothing else touches that printer. It's the best printer I ever used and I intend on protecting it as long as I can. I've have arrived at a preparatory process for the color digital negatives I've been using to make the prints. I still use my Canon 20D, now almost twenty years old. In digital cameras, that's a grandpa camera.

I have worked on more gum over palladium prints over the past few months and will post some of them in later posts. For now the print series I'm working on now are images I brought back from a recent trip to Mexico, staying in Merida and Progreso, Yucatan. It has been a long time since I did any street shooting, that is photographing people without their knowledge, or consent. The point being not to have them know I was even taking photos. I keep it within the guidelines of "public" photography whereupon there is either more than one person in the shot, or, the shot is done such that the person can't be recognized or known.

I have to say I  did enjoy that work, which was quite easy in that setting as the people there are very casual and seriously friendly. In Progreso, the pace is very laid back and casual. A cruise ship docks at the end of their four mile long gery hefty concrete peer, busing in the tourista to visit the town for the day then scurrying back before 5pm, when the locals begin to gather all along the Malecon for strolling or playing on the beach with kids. The entire malecon is designed for the local families to use. Finding material to photograph wasn't so difficult.

There is a razor thin line between an image that could be called "Art", and a tourist's snap. I spend a good deal of time staring at any image I consider worthy of printing, going through several the conditions that might make an image worthy of printing as one's artwork. A strong image being one such element, and it should be such that the viewer shouldn't have to ask why they are looking at the image. I have attempted to capture people in their natural environment, in that moment when they are engaged as part of that environment. That golden moment when all the elements come together just right. That's the task for capturing the image. The second half of that is printing the image such that it captures the mood, the emotional connection I had pre-visualized, and intended, so that hopefully the viewer will have the same emotional  connection to the image. It will be up to the viewer to decide if I was successful.

These prints are all being processed the same. Only the negative image is altered by adding densities to the original b&w image. These prints are printed on Revere Platinum paper, developed in sodium acetate developer then toned in palladium toner for ten minutes, thus rendering them as true palladium prints, or the 'poor man's palladium' print. There are thousands of those still around from the early 20th century.

Palladium toned Kallitype ~ Unique
"The Gringo's View" ~ 11"x14"
Progreso, Yucatan