This third image of the Jerome series was one of the old, original buildings still standing. As can be seen, this one didn't last past the early 20th century. It is also not one to get a lot of visitor attention or be photographed much. This hotel was well used in its day, during the late 19th century when Jerome was a booming copper town, and Jenny Jerome walked Main Street. It also sits just a short step below "Husband's Alley" that led from said hotel, The House of Joy, and other evening activity establishments of the time.
Again, this print is a palladium toned Kallitype. The price of palladium is now very close to the same price of platinum. From $3/ml to $10/ml from a year ago. This is not the first time the cost of platinum & palladium has been beyond many printers, and that, begat the "poor man's platinum/palladium"; take your pick. Coating a large sheet of paper with pure platinum, then lose the print from a printing error, meant losing a lot of money. In today's price of platinum, now palladium as well, making even an 8"x10" print costs $10, for the coating, plus paper & chemicals. Make a mistake and it's junk, or something to give away, or keep in a drawer as a memorial to mistakes. A "poor man's platinum/palladium, is a silver print toned in platinum or palladium, or a combination of both. The potassium based platinum, not the sodium based Na2 version, which works beautifully in combination with palladium, but bleaches prints as a toner. If you make a mistake with silver, the cost is less than a dollar, even for 11"x17" prints. Palladium, being a more noble metal than silver, replaces all the silver salts [in metallic silver form] with palladium, thereby becoming a true palladium print, indistinguishable from a print, printed with palladium.
I have been using mostly Revere Platinum rag paper for my silver/palladium prints, as I have found it to be a very nice printing paper, pretty much identical to Arches Platine paper. I also use Hahnemuhle paper from time to time, as I also like that paper a lot. I've been developing these images in sodium citrate, giving the image a warm look. The palladium toner shifts the the 'brownish' warm tones much cooler overall. The toner also opens up middle tones nicely, with downward toning, from highlights to deep shadows, leaving a very nice, deep D-Max black. I also use a density curve that I manually set, for platinum/palladium [Na2-double sodium] printing. it is shorter than the palladium curve I created, for printing with palladium, which tends to need a bit longer curve for a full range print.
The most difficult task in posting images is arriving at the same light qualities of the original print. The digital copy usually never tends to be a visually appreciative and bright as the original. My apologies for that.
Palladium toned Kallitype
"Old Jerome Ghost" ~ 11"x17"
Jerome, Arizona 1985
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