Alternative Photographic Processes

Paris Photo 2011 (Highlights)

2011-12-31T01:07:00.009-06:00

Previously held at the Carousel de Louvre, this years setting for Paris Photo 2011 was the Grand Palais. The building as the name suggests is impressively large and quite awe inspiring once you start walking around. The day I attended there was bright sunshine, with the roof being made of glass the majority of prints were viewed in natural daylight, which is quite different from previous shows which have been in closed roof buildings.

The show attracted more galleries than ever this year, and in terms of attendance feedback from people I spoke to said that a greater number of people attended this time round.

Below highlights some of the prints that were on show that caught my eye. Hamilton’s Gallery usually has the best looking stand, this year was no different. They had a selection of Irving Penn’s multi-layered platinum prints on display that were stunning examples of this particular alternative printing process.

Irving Penn, A Cry,Multi-layered Platinum/Palladium Print, 1982, 12x16 inchs

Irving PennBalenciaga Mantle Coat (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn),

Multi-layered Platinum/Palladium Print, 1950, 23x20 inchs

Selection of Irving Penn Platinum/Palladium Prints from the 'Small Trade' series

Helmet Newton

Pace/MacGill had some interesting prints on show by Penn, Paolo Roversi and Harry Callahan

Cigarette 37, Irving Penn, 1972, Four Platinum/Palladium prints, (60x45inchs)

Kirsten as Juliet, 1988, Paolo Roversi, Polariod, 9.5x7.5inchs

Eleanor, Chicago, 1947, Harry Callahan, Silver Gelatin, 5x4 inchs

Every year Paris photo has a theme, this year it was images of African Origin, Bernheimer Fine Art photography showed a selection of platinum prints by Nick Brandt and Irving Penn based on this theme.

Girl With Nose Disc, Irving Penn,1969, Multi-layer platinum/palladium print, 20x16 inchs

Nick Brandt, Elephant Drinking, Platinum/Palladium print, 90x70cm

Chettah and Cubs, Nick Brandt,2003, Plaitnum/Palladium 90x70

The Michael Hoppen gallery had some new prints by Boris Savelev, these are multi-layered pigment (inkjet) prints on gesso covered aluminium. Regular viewers will know that i wrote an article on this process you can download a copy here

Boris Savelev, Jelty Bus,Multi-layered pigment print on gesso covered aluminium. 164x110cm

I came across some stunning platinum/palladium prints by Herb Ritts at the Edwynn Houk Gallery.

Herb Ritts, Tatjana Veiled Head, 1988 Platinum/Palladium print,20x16 inchs

Herb Ritts,Now and Zen 1, Platinum/Palladium,20x24inchs

One of the many galleries that had not attened Paris Photo before was the Gagosian, they had some impressive prints that caught my eye by Hiroshi Sugimoto and very large Richard Avedon silver prints

Hiroshi Sugimoto Lightening Fieilds 226-228, 2009, Silver Gelatin, 20x16 inchs

Hiroshi Sugimoto Stylized Sculpture 110, 2007 Gelatin silver print,58x47 inchs

Richard Avedon, self portrait, 1980, Silver Gelatin, 50x40 1/4 inches

Hacklbury Fine Art gallery had some interesting prints by the Starn Twins, the print below using all maner of materials to create the final result

Doug and Mike Starn, Dig Yourself (2005-2008) Unique color carbon print on Zerkall paper with 16K gold and palladium leaf water filding and 24K illumination. 36x60 inchs

Doug & Mike Starn Structure of Thought 15 (2001-05) Inkjet print and mixed media

Always when I visit the Howard Greenburg stand i ask to have a look at some of Kenro Izu's platinum/palladium prints as they are simply exquisite, this print was influenced by Paul Stand's series of images he took of South West America in the early 20th Century. The print is quite breathtaking to view in person.

Kenro Izu, South West, US 8, 1993 Platinum-Palladium print, 14 x 20

Overall I really enjoyed the fair this year, there was so much excellent photography on show, I really needed two days to view it all properly. I hope they use the Grand Palais again next year as it’s a great location.

Blog updates

2011-12-07T03:53:00.003-06:00

I have nearly got around to finishing my review of Photo Paris 2011 and will post it as soon as it is complete. The show was better than ever this year and I took a lot of pictures this time around.

I have also updated the gallery section of the DC Editions website with recent commissions we have been involved in, it is by no means an exhaustive list as with some commissions it is not possible to publicise at this stage.

Last September we completed some platinum/palladium prints as well as gum over platinum prints for a talented up and coming photographer called Ellen Rogers. It was really nice to work with her. She also wrote an article on the experience which includes and interview with myself, you can view it here

Chris Dickie obituary

2011-11-02T06:01:00.001-05:00

Although its been a few months since it was posted I recently came across a well written obituary written by the guardian, you can view it here

The Photographs Gallery @ the V&A

2011-10-28T13:33:00.000-05:00

I have spent many hours in the V&A print room looking at various prints created using alternative photographic processes. I think its so important to view orginal prints in the flesh without any glass in front of them. Favorites of the V&A collection include Irving Penn's platinum prints and the sets of photogravure prints of Edward Steichen's early work and Paul Strand prints. I was pleased to hear the annoncement that the new Photographs gallery will be open to the public from 24 October. The gallery will have an inaugural display of works by key figures of photographic history including Victorian portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron and significant works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Afred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus and Irving Penn.

From the V&A website :

'The Photographs Gallery will draw upon the V&A’s internationally renowned collection of photographs, and will chronicle the history of photography from 1839 up to the 1960s. In 1858, the V&A became the first museum to exhibit photographs, and the new Photographs Gallery is able to showcase some of the most technically brilliant and artistically accomplished photographs in its collection. Temporary displays, primarily showcasing contemporary photography, will be shown in the V&A’s existing photographs gallery.'

Rankin/Damien Hirst Private View

2011-10-23T12:53:00.001-05:00

Attended the Rankin/Damian Hirst private view of the exhibition entitled Myths, Monsters, and Legends last Thursday. A collection of Lambda C-type prints and platinum/palladium prints were shown as seen below:

Friend Paul Smith took some video of the event which you can view below, most impressive print had to be Rankin's interpretation of the Hirst Diamond Skull which you can see at 2mins 01sec. The lighting was really quite special the prints on the wall almost glowed.

Show goes on till 11^th November and is held at the Annroy Gallery, 110-114 Grafton Road, London

Photogravure @ Renaissance Press

2011-08-09T06:12:00.010-05:00

Following on a Sally Mann theme, here is a video created by Paul Taylor at Renaissance Press on making a photogravure of one of Mann’s images on Kozo paper. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have created photogravures of the polymer variety in the past and have been pleased with the results.

Paul shows some interesting dodging and burning techniques that I have not seen before. The Studio has created beautiful photogravures for some excellent photographers including Kenro Izu, Robert Adams and Tom Baril .Ag also featured an article on the them in issue number 43 (Spring 2006)

Also there is an interesting short video below on Robert Adams and his work with the Press

A happy looking Tom Baril with one of his Photogravures
he created at Renaissance Press (From Ag 43)

For more information on the studio and workshops they run visit there website http://www.renaissancepress.com

For further information on Photogravure visit this beautifully presented website http://www.photogravure.com/

Sally Mann - Platinum Prints

2011-08-04T11:58:00.014-05:00

Some regular viewers of this blog will know that my journey into the world of platinum printing was first sparked some eight years ago by a platinum print I viewed in an original print photo-book, published by 21st Editions. Two years ago I wrote an article on this unique publisher based outside Boston (MA) You can download a copy here

The book contained 10 bound platinum prints and one free standing print each photographed by Sally Mann in the late 1970's. The printer who created the platinum prints for 21st Editions was Stan Klimek, who many including myself, regard as one of the finest platinum printers in the world today. This is by far one of the most beautiful collections of platinum prints I have ever viewed and obviously the book is profoundly significant to me. To finally own a copy of this book is a real privilege. The platinum prints are simply beathtaking and really illustrate the strengths of this particular alternative printing process.

Below shows a few photos of the book

Full Book information:

Sally Mann's photographs are ostensibly studies of form and texture, illustrated with draped cloth, both hanging and pressed against human figures. But her eye is so incredibly insightful as to elicit self-reflection. In the New York Times, Andy Grundberg observed that her images “suggest that the camera is as adept at depicting the desires of the subconscious as it is in rendering the shapes of everyday life”. Her photographic work is presented here in concert with her original poetry, and they combine to serve a larger concept where the method of production, the shimmering platinum print, is a key element.

From the Publisher: “Sally Mann brings together many of the most graceful and sensuous early figure and drapery studies created by this internationally acclaimed artist. This Platinum Series volume is a true livre d’artiste. The introduction as well as the accompanying poems were written by the artist herself. Each signed and numbered copy of Sally Mann is hand-bound, printed in letterpress on handmade cotton rag paper, and delivered in a unique case created to complement the exquisite binding.”

This gorgeous handmade volume features paper-covered boards, stamped with the title in silver. There is no dust jacket, as issued. It fits into raw silk covered clamshell box, to which a title card matching to book is affixed. It is edited by John Wood and features letterpress printing by Michael Russem and hand-binding by Sarah Creighton. The hand-coated platinum prints are produced by Stan Klimek. Each of the bound 10 platinum prints areSIGNED on the border. The free-standing PRINT measures 9 7/8 x 7 3/8 inches on paper measuring 13 7/8 x 11 7/8 inches. It is also signed in pencil and is accompanied by a poem. The last page of the book, too, is signed by Sally Mann. It measures 14 x 12 inches.

Links : http://www.21stphotography.com/plat_mann.htm

Stan Klimek : http://www.stanklimekstudio.com/

Latest Cyanotype prints

2011-07-18T01:43:00.009-05:00

Finally got around to getting some pictures of my framed Cyanotypes, you can view them at the Stephanie Hoppen gallery who represent my work in London. They measure 101x85cm and are the largest alternative prints have done to date.

Links http://www.stephaniehoppen.com

Wendy Bevan ‘The Pain of Desire’

2011-06-30T05:59:00.001-05:00

Wendy Bevan’s first U.K solo exhibition is currently showing at the COB Gallery in London until July 30th, entitled ‘The Pain of Desire’, the exhibition explores the theatricality of female desire, and the inner pain suffered through the pursuit of prescribed and aspirational notions of identity and success. At once beautiful yet haunting, nostalgic yet timeless, Bevan’s surreal staged moments are captured on Polaroid. Each hand-printed, her intimate, otherworldly studies of mysterious female characters are displayed in found, antique frames sourced by Wendy. We worked closely with Wendy to create the platinum prints on show and are very happy with the results, below shows a sample of some of them.

Wendy is regularly commissioned as a fashion photographer for leading publications around the world including Marie Clare, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, and a selection of her colour editorial work as c-type prints is also exhibited alongside ‘The Pain of Desire’. She is known for her surreal aesthetic, and a tender, sympathetic portrayal of the feminine form. In the exhibition she asks questions around notions of perfection promoted by contemporary society and media, and the negative impact they can have on women, feeding a desire for an ideal that doesn’t exist.

For further details on Wendy Bevan visit www.wendybevan.com and on the COB Gallery, visit : http://www.cobgallery.com/

Sad News

2011-06-22T05:38:00.002-05:00

I just today found out the sad news that Chris Dickie the editor of Ag recently passed away. I had been an active reader and subscriber of the journal over the last five years and I had the pleasure of working with him on a number of articles for the journal in the last two years. Ag was one of the finest journals on photography, always forward looking never standing still, it was a one of a kind.

He had previously been the editor of the British Journal of photography and had written many excellent books on photography and publishing. He will be sorely missed by many people within the photographic world.

The Multi-Layer Print : Past, Present & Future

2011-04-25T03:39:00.000-05:00

Last year I wrote an article for the Journal of International Photographic Art and Practice on Original Print Publishing, a subject that I have a great deal of interest in. You can download a pdf version of it here

Published this month is an article for the same journal I wrote that looks at the Past, Present and Future of Multi-Layer Printing. A pdf of the full article can be downloaded here

An open dialogue regarding this article can be found here

For further information on AG please visit http://www.picture-box.com

London Original Print Fair 2011

2011-03-30T02:16:00.000-05:00

Just a quick heads up on the London Orignal Print fair taking place at the Royal Academy of Arts 19-21 April 2011.The fair is the longest-running specialist print fair in the world and always has some great work on show. There is also a lecture by printmaker Gavin Turk that is worth attending.

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For further infomation visit http://www.londonprintfair.com

Recent Platinum Print Commissions

2011-02-12T14:08:00.005-06:00

Since my last blog update, DC Editions have been involved in some very interesting platinum print commissions for a number of iconic photographers. I will be reporting on these at a later stage.

We have recently completed a series of platinum prints for Quentin Ball, a London based photographer specialising in Landscape, Architecture & Fine Art Photography. They have translated really well into Platinum having previously been printed in silver gelatine. He is holding a large retrospective exhibition at the Strand Gallery, 32 John Adam Street, London from 15-26 February 2011 where the prints will be on show.

Below shows some scans of the prints from the series entitled 'Great Sand Dunes' photographed in Colorado, both are 11x14 inches on Bergger COT 320 paper. For futher information visit http://www.quentinball.com/tours.html

Paris Photo 2010 Review

2010-11-29T01:45:00.006-06:00

I was not able to make last years Paris Photo so was therefore eager to get there this time round. Over the last 5 years I have seen the attendance rise year after year, it took almost an hour to que up and purchase tickets.

The highlights for me were numerous. I found myself gravitating towards smaller exquisitely printed images this year and was actually surprised at how many there were on offer. These included a rare postcard sized silver gelatine print of 'Chez Mondrian' Paris, 1926' by Andre Kertesz on the Howard Greenburg stand.

At the Gitterman gallery they had a small print of ’ Georgia O’Keeffe, A Portrait-After return from New Mexico, 1929 by Alfred Stieglitz . It was nice to see to read the history behind the print which I have also included below.

The Robert Koch gallery had a 'Self Portrait ' postcard sized print by Kertesz

An interesting gum over platinum print by Alvin Langdon Coburn entitled 'Wings' at the Hans P.Kraus stand caught me eye

On the subject of Coburn I had a chance to view his original print book on 'London'. This is a masterpiece, simply stunningly printed photogravures. One of the finest books i have had the chance to view. Those who follow my blog will know how passionate I am about books with original prints, I recently wrote an article on the subject which featured this book.

As a platinum printer who prints for other photographic artists I am naturally on the look out for prints made using this beautiful alternative printing process and again was not disappointed this year. Hamilton’s who had one of the best looking stands of the fair had a number of platinum prints for sale including those by Horst ' The Mainbocher corset,Paris 1939'

and Irving Penn with 'Woman in Moroccan Palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn)', Marrakech, 1951

Two years ago a similar print sold at auction for nearly $400,000, the price of this one was quite a bit more than that. All in all a stunning print of Penn's wife in Morroco.

Robert Klien had one of my favourite still life Penn platinum print's for sale entitled ' New York Still Life' 1947. I had never seen this print in person, the tonal range Penn achieved with this print is exquisite.

It was interesting to note that the label for the print, shown below, stated 'twice coated platinum/palladium print on aluminum'. This is the first time i have seen one of his prints labelled in this way. Twice coated is a reference to Penn’s technique of creating multi-layered platinum prints whereby he used successive layers of platinum/palladium and a number of negatives of varying contrast to achieve a richer tonal range and greater dmax.( Not to be confused with double coating which some contemporary platinum printers use, this only involves one exposure cycle, a single negative and the is not bonded to aluminum) Followers of the blog will know that I have been involved in detailed research into this technique and have achieved some excellent results.

I am always open to new types of photography whether it be colour or black and white, Any print that is labelled unique gets me attention. Two years ago on the blog I highlighted Paolo Roversi’s beautiful original Polaroid’s that were on show, this year I came across a collection of unique silver dye prints by Bernoit Vollmeck These contact prints are somewhat of a visual revelation to view and have almost a daguerreotype quality to them. I had a chance to talk with the photographer who had just arrived at the stand and he said that they are created by ‘using a sheet of ilfochrome paper that is directly inserted into a large format camera and exposed to light, without the prior use of film.’ A challenging technique to master but definitely worth it as the prints were stunning to view in person.

Another photographer that caught my attention was Naoya Hatakeyama at the Sage (Paris) stand, these were quite possibly the most luminous black and white prints I have ever seen. The series entitled ‘Maquettes/Light’ featured large tower block buildings and were labelled as being silver gelatine prints with a B&W tranparacey and light box. The actual print/transparcy was being lit from behind. Sounds rather complicated but the effect was really interesting.

These were just the highlights of the day, if you visit the show next year make sure you allow enough time to see everything. Overall I really enjoyed the event and look forward to returning next year.

Paris Photo 2010

2010-11-16T15:01:00.001-06:00

Off to Paris tommorow for Paris Photo 2010, could not make it last year so I am looking forward to going this time round, i will take some photos and write it all up on the blog when i return.

About Paris Photo :

Annual photography fair Paris Photo brings together, from November 18^th to the 21^st, one hundred international galleries and publishers presenting a panorama of the finest examples of photographic expression from the 19^th century to the present day.

Paris Photo also turns the spotlight on the Central Europe scene, reveals new talents through awards and competitions and offers a rich programme of events and encounters.

The 14^th Paris Photo edition coincides with the biennial “Mois de la Photo”, a month-long photographic event, turning the city into the photography capital of the world in November.

http://www.parisphoto.fr

Multi-layer Platinum Print testing cont…

2010-11-10T14:27:00.001-06:00

Much of the last three weeks has been spent in the studio testing multi-layer printing in platinum. Being able to understand how each of the layers interact with each other is key to the process, quite similar to that of tri-colour gum dichromate. It has been greatly productive and the prints that our coming out of the studio are the best to date which is the rewarding part. Below are a few recent images from the studio...more to follow

Multi-layer platinum prints washing

First layer drying down

Latest Cyanotype Prints

2010-10-30T01:47:00.000-05:00

I was in London on Thursday having my latest cyanotypes reviewed by my London representation (Stephanie Hoppen) and am pleased to say the gallery owner really liked them. They should be framed up and ready to be exhibited in the next few months. They measure 34x27inches (90x70cm) Those who follow my blog will know its been quite a challenge to create prints this size using alternative processes however all the hard work and late nights is worth while when I look at the final prints. They will be printed in edition of 8, each print is unique in terms of tone and colour as with all hand made alt photo prints.

Commission with Artist Richard Rigg

2010-10-21T01:56:00.003-05:00

I have recently been working with contemporary artist Richard Rigg on a Cyanotype print commission. The project took a number of months to complete and pushed me into new areas of Cyanotype printing which was stimulating as well as interesting.

Richard wanted to create a print that was formed entirely from an objects shadow. Quite different to a photogram where the object is placed in direct contact with a sensitised piece of paper. Photographers known for creating photograms include Ann Atkins (shown below) and Man Ray.

We had to find a way of suspending the object and taking a recording of its shadow. As we found out UV creates shadows that are quite different from those created by normal light, so much experimentation was needed. The object was a knot made of coloured string, a diagram of it is shown below.

In Richards own words 'The knot used was an amphichiral knot with 15 crossings, this type of knot has the interesting property of being able to be transformed into its own mirror image so they are essentially the same as there apparent opposites, I was also interested in using an early, formative photographic process in which to frame the work.'

The final print is shown below and was exhibited recently at Workplace gallery. We were both pleased with how it turned out. The colour was a really intense blue similar to Yves Klien blue (I have Mike Ware’s Cyanotype II formula to thank for that!.)

To see more of Richards work visit : http://www.workplacegallery.co.uk

Further Research on Multi-layered Platinum Printing

2010-10-18T03:06:00.002-05:00

I was able to get to the V&A museum last week, I was intending on taking some density readings from one particular platinum print by Irving Penn entitled 'Harlequin Dress.' Unfortunately the conservators would not let the meter touch the print. I thought this might happen so plan B was to visually compare the multilayer test print that I had created which I have dmax readings for, and the Penn print. The good thing about this particular Penn print is that it has absolute black values to compare against.

The four of us (the assistant curator of photography at the V&A, a conservator, my friend and me) visually compared the black values of the Penn print and the multilayer test print. To our eyes the dmax of the Penn print was at the lower left hand corner of the harlequin dress. We all agreed that the dmax of the Penn print corresponded well to the values that were achieved with the third layer of the multilayer test print, which dmax values are in excess of 1.7( see previous post regarding test results). The curator thought the Penn print might actually have a slightly higher dmax value. (The images below are really to illustrative how we were comparing, obviously the human eye is going to be significantly better at judging density than a photo can reproduce)

What can we conclude from this, well I believe what we have established based on visual evidence is that Penn was achieving a dmax for this particular print that no single hit could obtain, moreover it was likely to have been as a result of multi-layering of platinum/palladium salts. I would have liked to have taken actual readings as this would have been more conclusive however this was not possible. There next few tests I want to do are to establish exactly what is going on when you multilayer platinum/palladium salts, print a detailed step wedge with multi-layering and experiment with some of the Papers Penn used.

Last Day @ Christies Contemporary Art Fair

2010-10-17T03:41:00.001-05:00

I was in London yesturday and visited the 'Mulitpled' Contemporary Editions Fair held at Christies in South Kensington. You can just about see my framed prints inside the building from the street (Old Brompton Road).

If you get the chance head down there today as its the last day. There are some great galleries there with some fine prints on show. Further details can be found at http://www.multipliedartfair.com/

Workshop results

2010-10-11T16:45:00.007-05:00

I thought I would share this print that came out of a workshop I taught a week ago. It was taken by Henry Rogers and pictures his wife (original image shot on film with Lecia M3). This was the first platinum print he created on the day and what a great print it turned out to be. As a result of extensive testing and research over the last six months the studio has made numerous advances in the overall technique of platinum printing and these improvements are starting to show through in the prints that our workshop participants are creating.

New Platinum Prints to be Exhibited

2010-10-03T11:54:00.006-05:00

A selection of my new platinum prints will be exhibited by Edel Assanti at the Contemporary Editions Fair ‘Multiplied’. I have recently been taken on by Edel Assanti who are based in London’s Victoria and will be represetning my platinum work, Stephanie Hoppen in South Kensington who i have been wiith for 4 years will continue to represent my Cyanotype prints. The work on show is a new series of prints exploring the theme of curiosity which I have been developing over the last five years. If you get a chance head down there and take a look, its held at Christie’s in South Kensington from Friday 15th October to 18th October, other galleries of note who are showing include the White Cube, Whitechapel Gallery and one of my favourite publishing houses the Paragon Press.

Images from Curiosity Series, this selection all taken in Paris.

links :http://www.multipliedartfair.com/

Additional Muliti-layer Test Results

2010-10-01T02:01:00.001-05:00

I wanted to create a more visual as well as empirical test to show the difference in maximum density by adding additional layers of platinum/palladium sensitiser. Up to three development cycles were used. The results are shown below :

Success for one of my students.

2010-09-18T20:14:00.001-05:00

In the latest issue of Black and White photography magazine Mark Voce won the alternative photography print reader assignment competition. I taught Mark platinum printing a year ago how to print in platinum/palladium and it is good to see he has gone on to develop his skills, well done.

Multilayered Platinum Print Test results

2010-09-18T19:08:00.005-05:00

Over the last month I have been researching and testing the platinum printing technique used by master platinum printer Irving Penn. The process initially involves bonding the printing paper to aluminium, this enables the paper to maintain its dimensional stability and allow for successive multilayering of platinum/palladium chemicals. The process uses twice to three times the amount of platinum/palladium chemicals and takes at least double the time to create compared to that of a single layered platinum print.

After numerous tests and late nights i can now report the results. The singled layered scanned image shown below has a maximum density of 1.41 and the multilayerd is 1.58 , mimicking the initial test results reported previously (Click image to enlarge). To my eye the overall richness and three dimensionality of the multilayered print is significant enough to warrant further research. I intend on printing using this method in the future as for me it adds another tool to the toolbox in achieving the type of platinum prints I have always wanted to create. I will be testing with multilayering gum and cyanotype over platinum in the coming months and will post the results

Large Alternative Prints Continued.....

2010-09-09T02:44:00.002-05:00

Continuing the theme of printing larger alternative prints, yesterday I printed one of my clients images ( Wendy Bevan ) in Vandyke brown and toned it with platinum/palladium. Final size 34x27 inches, see below, 10x8 inch print shown on the right. My thanks to Sandy King for not only recommending this process but also his guidance. It can produce wonderful prints when toned with platinum or palladium and I look forward to using it in future as it should make the progression to large platinum/palladium prints less of an ordeal.

Learning from Master Platinum Printer Irving Penn

2010-08-27T06:36:00.011-05:00

Irving Penn was one the finest platinum printers of recent times and created some of the most exquisite, valuable and sort after platinum prints. He was self taught and obsessive about this particular alternative photographic printing process, trying all manner of papers, combinations and mixes of platinum/palladium and even Iridium metals. He is well respected within photographic community first and foremost for being a great photographer, however he is also championed as leading the revival of the platinum printing process in the late 1960’s/70’s since becoming dormant for over 50 years.

From reading around the subject, the reason for Penn taking up the platinum printing process was in part due to the fact after taking so much time, care and attention in creating images in the studio and darkroom, once printed in the pages of Vogue and other magazines they would lose a lot of the beauty and subtlety of the original negatives/prints. He wanted to somehow take back his images and ‘transform them from being a thing suitable for reproduction into something entirely different, something beautiful in itself’ (Conversation with Penn and Greenough, 14 January 2003). Always testing and pushing his technique further and allowing chance and fortuitous discoveries to occur, in the late 1980’s he used a modified banquet camera (12x20 inch) to photographic his own drawings which he would later paint over and sometimes mix in sand to add greater texture. The book ‘Platinum Prints’ published by Yale University Press in 2005 has an interesting and well written essay by Sarah Greenough that goes into great detail regarding Penn’s printing process. Although it is largely second hand information I can well believe it to be accurate. I came across text actually written by Penn for an exhibition catalogue in 1980 the other day, shown below, although it tells us nothing new it was interesting to read him describe his technique is his own words.

I think there is probably a lot we still don’t know about his printing method, some printers I have come across refrain from divulging their techniques, which I am fine with as some advances are hard won, indeed Penn once stated that he was ‘jealous’ of sharing his pleasure with anyone.(quoted from ‘The stranger behind the camera: Photographs and Art work by Irving Penn,’Vogue November 2004) However there are other printers that I have come across that are very open with their advances, people that immediately spring to mind who have generously helped my development as a printer include Mike Ware and Ian Leake.

Renowned platinum printer Stan Klimek, who has printed some of the finest contemporary platinum prints I have ever seen, states in Dick Arentz book on platinum printing that creating a perfect platinum print is like ‘aiming at a moving target’ which is definitely the case these days. With materials such as paper being discontinued all the time or modified to suit other printmaking techniques (buffering of paper with calcium carbonate comes to mind) new papers/transparency films have to be found and tested and new methods of paper/negative preparation and processing techniques have to be devised and adapted. This is why ultimately I believe as more products people once relied on to create platinum prints are discontinued or changed hybrid techniques will continue to expand and why websites such as hybridphoto.com (part of APUG) are this are essential to any future development.

Anyway I digress! Coming back to Penn, If one looks at the existing information on Penn’s technique what can modern day platinum printers learn from it ?Well for a start we know he muliti layered platinum/palladium onto paper such as BFK Rives, Bienfang, Arches and Strathmore. Penn obviously did this for a reason and could see significant benefits from this practice, further to this he sometimes made the first coating with platinum and the second with palladium or Iridium, the later I have never come across, has anyone else? What hands on experience have others had with muliti layering contemporary papers such as Platine, Lana Aquarelle, Bergger COT-320,BFK Rives and alternating with coats of platinum and palladium.

Penn states that he used ‘2 or more negatives of varying contrast to make a single print.’ He was able to register them perfectly by mounting his printing paper onto aluminium using a bond called Surlyn created by Dupont. The reason being to endure the ‘repeating wettings and dryings with little change to the dimension’ of the paper which was required for printing and exposing multiple negatives (A modified version of this was devised by Richard Sullivan using a different bond made by Seal, the advantage being that at the final stage the bond can be heated and the print removed from the aluminium without damaging the print.)Using a digital negative system approach in theory we should be able to replicate this without the use of multiple negatives and successive exposures. As is well known for any given image, modern day photographers can take a series of two digital exposures and combine to create one image, one exposed for the shadows and one for the highlights, then combine them via Photoshop to create an image of ‘High Dynamic Range’ (HDR), this HDR image could then be output via inkjet printer/imagesetter. (A similar approach could be used when scanning film of either two negatives or even one). I am not a fan of HDR images per say, as I find them overly surreal, however if used in moderation it should work the same as using multiple negatives, shouldn’t it?. This is my theory, of course the very act of making successive exposures to multiple negatives of varying contrast could play a significant part, much like the layering of a pigment or gum print, has anyone researched this or established the difference ? I aim to test this theory over the next few weeks by using multiple negatives/exposures versus just a single HDR digital negative with a single exposure to see if there is much of a difference. At the moment for some images I initially create 4 separate negatives each with a slightly different correction curve that I have developed and modified over the years, which i then print all together on one sheet, I then examine the final dried down print and on occasion I combine certain image characteristics that I like of each of the 4 negatives to create one final negative. Probably overly elaborate but it’s the way I like to work.

Another issue is the exposure system used, Penn states that they ranged 'from 2 mins to 2 hours with a single strong Xenon light' I know Sandy King has done significant research into the area of uv exposure systems and it is one that I have overlooked but need to follow up (further information can be found here, http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Light/light.html )

A final question….If Penn were alive today and creating platinum prints with the proficiency of his early youth, would he still be creating multiple negatives with successive exposures in the darkroom or would he embracing hybrid techniques such as digital negative creation to achieve the same results?

To conclude, this post has been rather longer than I intended it to be, however I hope others find it thought provoking.

Platinum prints and Liquitex Acrylic Gel

2010-08-26T16:57:00.000-05:00

Whilst researching for an upcoming article i am writing I stumbled upon an a pdf written by Richard Sullivan (of Bostick and Sullivan) on platinum printing. It all sounded very familiar until I read what is written below in bold :

'Speaking of personal choices, my printing procedure is as follows. I coat Arches Platine paper with a Pd/Pt sensitizer (3:2). I use more FeOx than metal: a 4x5 print, for example, is coated with 6 drops FeOx Sol.1, 3 drops of Pd, and 2 drops of Pt. I control contrast not with the sensitizer, but the developer, specifically Potassium Oxalate developer with Sodium Dichromate as the sole contrast agent. I use Kodak Hypo Clear for three clearing baths of 5 minutes apiece. Processing is done in a Jobo drum at 25rpm. After 25 minutes in an archival washer I dry the prints face up on fiberglass screens and then soak each for one minute in an 6% solution of Liquitex Acrylic Gel Medium which increases the Dmax and tonal separation, cools the print color slightly, and also gives the print a slight amount of glossiness.'

I have never heard of this being used in the platinum printing process let alone used to modify dmax, tonal separation, print color or the glossiness of the final print. I think the article was written some time ago. I should recieve some in the next day or so and will be testing it out.

--------------------------------------

Further info on Liquitex Acrylic Gel Medium

Liquitex Gel Mediums add body to thinner paint for impasto techniques as well as extending colour volume and adding transparency. Gels also add “open time” as they dry slower than thinner films. These mediums also modify acrylics in a variety of ways and tend to improve adhesion and durability.

The Challenge of Creating Large Alternative Prints

2010-08-25T05:08:00.000-05:00

After many late and sleepless nights today I finally successfully printed a cyanotype measuring 34x27 inches (approx 90x70cm) that I am happy with (see final image, 10x8” print on the right to show scale). I suppose on refection it has taken some 8 years to get to this stage as I always wanted to print this large but early on I was limited by my resources. The jump from 10x8 inches to 20”x16” was a challenge in itself, it took almost three months to learn how to successfully coat the paper this size without any surface imperfections. The jump to 34”x27” was similarly challenging, again in terms of coating, this larger size is 9 times the surface area of a 10x8” print, other hurdles included finding a suitable paper that would take enough sensitiser without creating paper flaws, sourcing developing trays, printing negatives that size without loss of detail in the final print. I am now limited by the paper size which I print with as I can only obtain it in 39”x27” (100x70), although I really don’t intend on going that much larger.

The next process I intend to print this size is a kallitype toned with platinum and then finally a platinum/palladium print, I am sure there will be as many hurdles that will need to be overcome however I am looking forward to trying. Will post my progress on the blog.

After Coating

Before Exposure

During Exposure

Developing print in Water

Final Print (34x27 on left -10x8inch on right hand side)

A dialogue with Hewlett Packard Colour Scientist Angel Albarran

2010-08-23T03:52:00.008-05:00

Following the news that HP have brought out a module to help in the creation of digital negatives, I received an email out of the blue from Angel Albarran, the colour scientist at HP who devised the digital negative module for the HP Z3200, he wanted to know some further information about my own darkroom set up. I went onto to ask him if he would elaborate on how the Z3200 creates negatives and he replied by sending me links to the full documentation for the printer. I also asked him whether he would join in an open dialogue on the subject on the Hybrid photography forum and he has now done so. To follow the thread please visit :

htp://www.hybridphoto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2039

The documentation for the Z3200 concerning digital negative creation can be found here : http://h10088.www1.hp.com/gap/downlo...gatives1_0.pdf

One of the most interesting replies was from Ron Reeder who is an expert in digital negative creation, he stated on the thread :

‘I just read through Angel Albarran's PDF describing the new HP approach to digital negatives. Here is how I see it: In the HP method negative contrast is set by adding more or less black to a specific green color. This is a fine method, kind of a combination of choosing a specific color with the correct contrast (PDN and RNP array) or setting maximum ink limits (in either the Epson driver or QTR). The HP digital negative module alters the ink settings so that a gradient of ink tones, from 0 to 100% ink, will linearly transmit UV light over the entire gradient. This would appear to be a useful innovation. The claim in the PDF (which appears reasonable to me) is that linearizing UV transmission will reduce the severity of any subsequent correction that might be applied. HOWEVER, few photo emulsions I know of respond linearly to UV light. So, a correction curve will almost always be needed (as acknowledged in the PDF). The necessary correction curve is still applied to the image file. But, since it will hopefully be more mild it should also be less destructive.

One of the good parts is that the HP method takes advantage of the built-in spectrophotometer to measure a test print and construct the correction curve.

The really good news, to my mind, is at the end of the PDF. A method is detailed to use the built-in spectrophotometer to profile the entire tri-color gum printing process and make the needed ICC profiles. In principle you would then be able to color correct tri-color gum printing and get the exact color you originally aimed for. This could be a great boon for gum printers striving for predictable color output. BUT, as nice as the HP method seems to be, I will still stick to QTR.

HP has decided that green with some black is the best color for even smooth tonality. Maybe so, maybe no. It is not my choice and in the HP method you have no control over the color. And, I still prefer to put all the corrections on the ink settings and not on the image file.

Bottom line, it is really great that a big company like HP would pay attention to the needs of our rather niche market (unlike some big companies we could name). The the HP solution is really pretty good. Like they say, it is a contender.

Ron Reeder’

Full credit to Angel for being able to convince a major printer manufacturer to develop a printer workflow for digital negative creation. I will be posting more information about this new printer when it becomes available it.

Video regarding HP Design-jet & Digital Negatives

2010-08-19T03:34:00.000-05:00

HP recently released a video regarding their latest ink jet printer that has driver setting specifically designed for digital negatives. They are printing 24inch negatives for Elliott Erwitt using green and black inks. I have been using digital negatives for almost 7 years now, however it is an interesting collaboration and shows at least one manufacturer is taking digital negatives quite seriously. I would like to see the actual print before passing judgement however Erwitt seemed happy!

Video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8HroH1Leio

Day at the V&A Print room

2010-07-29T02:31:00.005-05:00

If one wants to print to the same level as the master printers that have come before it is important to view and have access to original prints of the particular process you are trying to perfect. As part of my postgraduate course in printmaking 4 years ago I made regular visits to the print room at the V&A museum primarily to view photogravures, as this was my area of study at the time. They house some exceptional prints that one can view for as long as you like, the staff are very helpful and the room is usually not that busy. I spent another day there yesterday and it distilled how important it is to view original prints vs. reproductions in books etc.. preferably not behind glass. I try to stress this point to all the people that I teach on workshops, as the difference in most cases is significant.

The V&A have around 20 of Irving Penn’s platinum prints in their vaults and I had the pleasure of viewing a good number of them. I took the book Irving Penn ‘Platinum Prints’ book along as reference, this is a must have book for anyone interested in platinum printing. I always thought the reproductions in the book were rather warm and having viewed a good number of the Penn original prints I would say that this is case, see image below,

Two other stand out prints for me were ‘Camel Pack’, the detail of the original print is quite extraordinary and has a great sense of depth and three dimensionality to it that the reproduction understandably does not portray.

‘Nubile Beauty of Diamare Cameroon’, again was a stunning print, the way the texture of the skin is reproduced in the portrait is the best I have seen of any platinum print.

Later on in the day I had the chance to view the Edward Steichen: Early Years Portfolio, (1900-1927) which contains 12 photogravures of Stiechen’s most iconic images. Printed in 1981 by Jon Goodman for Aperture, these are some of the finest photogravures I have ever seen. They are quite magical when viewed and have an almost metallic sheen to them which was quite unexpected. I recommend viewing this portfolio for anyone interested in his work or indeed printmaking in general. My favourite had to be a portrait of Edward Steichen and Clara at Lake George which is beautiful print and has great depth and texture to it and also 'Torso, Paris,1902'

All in all a productive day and I went home really inspired.

Wendy Bevan

2010-07-27T05:38:00.001-05:00

Over the last month I have been working on printing a large number of platinum prints for emerging fashion photographer Wendy Bevan (http://www.wendybevan.com) She has worked with the likes of Vogue, Marie Claire and ID. I really like her work and the initial prints that we have created look excellent. I shall be posting more once we have completed the series.

Alternative Photographic Printing Open Days

2010-07-12T04:27:00.003-05:00

As part of Cambridge open studios I will be opening my house/gallery and studio on the weekends of the 17th-18th & 24-25th July. I have done this for the last 4 years and have enjoyed meeting people interested in alternative processes. Demonstrations of Cyanotype, Kallitype & Platinum printing will happen during the day. The address is 33 Brenda Gautrey Way, Cottenham, Cambridge CB24 8XW, opening times to visit are 11-6pm.

For further details about Cambridge Open Studios visit: http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk/

New Studio up and running.

2010-06-23T07:35:00.000-05:00

So finally I have got the new studio up and running. Its completely dedicated to alternative processes and has taken some time to complete but has been definitely worth it. I collected the 24 inch print washer from oxford last week which will fit in the far left hand corner. The company now tells me that they can make one as large as I wanted, which had I known before I would have gone for a 40x30”, however its good to know that they can do it for the future. Having worked in it all last week I am very pleased with the overall design ,everything seems so much more efficient than my last darkroom and I can be much more productive.

Progress on New Darkroom Studio

2010-05-18T14:09:00.001-05:00

About 80% of the work is complete, maybe just a few more days and the new summer darkroom will be up and running. We commissioned a stand to be made for the new vacuum frame and it turned out really well and has just been installed. The UV exposure system is 14 four foot black light blue (BLB) tubes and the largest prints we can now expose and print is 40x32 inches in either Cyanotype, Kalitype or Platinum/Palladium.The Stephanie Hoppen gallery has requested that I make some larger cyanotype prints for exhibition so I will be quite busy over the next few weeks. I shall post the results when they are complete.

Wet Plate Photography in the U.K

2010-05-16T04:38:00.001-05:00

Good News. Bostick and Sullivan now have the ability to send wet plate supplies using Fed Ex (Dangerous Goods International). My half plate camera shown above is in the process of being converted to wetplate and am looking forward to getting started with this wonderful process. I was taught last year by the masters of the process 'Scully and Osterman', who in fact taught Sally Mann how to do the process a few years ago. Its quite challenging to get everything right but when it works the results are stunning.

Links : http://www.bostick-sullivan.com/
http://www.collodion.org/

Article on Fine Art Photography

2010-05-15T02:27:00.000-05:00

I was recently asked by the editor of Photo Pro magazine to write an article on the fine art photography market and how to break into it, it was published last week. A pdf of the article can be found here : http://www.sendspace.com/file/t905mn

Floral Fascination Exhibition 4th May-29th May

2010-05-15T01:52:00.002-05:00

My current Exhibition is on at the Stephanie Hoppen gallery in London to coincide with the Chelsea flower show, ends 29th May. They include 20x24” Cyanotype prints.

Links : http://www.stephaniehoppen.com/

AG Article ' The Intimate Photobook'

2010-04-20T00:55:00.007-05:00

I recently wrote an article for ‘Ag' The International Journal of Fine Art of Photographic Art and Practice on original print photobooks.The article has now been published and initially looks at the history of the 'original print' photobook. This is followed by an interview with Steven Albahari the founder and publisher of 21^st editions, a unique company that creates some of the finest ‘original print’ photobooks. in the world.This is followed by an interview with photographer Jefferson Hayman who describes what it was like working with 21^st Editions on his recently published book ‘The New City’.

The link to download a pdf of the article is : http://www.sendspace.com/file/inm6bi

Alternatively you can read it in full and comment on it here :

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum56/75343-original-print-photobooks-article-2010-a.html

Ag has always been one of my favourite quarterly journals not only due to the quality of the printing but the really informative articles. Its not available on U.S newsstands however back issue’s and international subscriptions can be obtained at their website @ www.picture-box.com

AG Article

2010-04-08T07:43:00.006-05:00

I just found out that the article I wrote a couple of months ago on original print photobooks will feature in issue 59 of the journal Ag, which should be out in a few weeks. I was thinking that it would be published in June/July so am pleased its moved forward and can't wait to see it in print. Ag is one of the finest journals on photography and the printing quality is one of the best of all the journals out there. It has been a pleasure working with the editor Chris Dickie and hope to write again for the journal in future. Will post more when it comes out.

Links : For subscriptions and further info on AG go here http://www.picture-box.com

Irving Penn 'Small Trades' private view @ Hamiltons

2010-03-05T01:46:00.028-06:00

I was invited to the private view of Irving Penn’s platinum/palladium prints at Hamilton’s Gallery in London and was accompanied by fellow photographer Trevor Crone. The prints on show were from Penn’s ‘Small Trades’ series, 24 in all and ranging in size from 16x12 to 22x16 inches (approx). I was very much looking forward to viewing these prints and they did not disappoint. As is always the case with Hamilton’s, the view was well attended by the great and the good.

The premise of the ‘Small Trades’ series was simple, to photograph skilled traders dressed in their work clothes and carrying the tools of their occupations. Penn however seems to extract every bit of the traders character in these wonderful images.

More than 200 traders were photographed by Penn, the majority can be found in the new book entitled ‘Small trades’ published by the Getty Museum which is definitely worth buying. In some instances it compares the silver gelatine prints and platinum prints side by side, as is shown in the scanned image from the book below. The difference is clearly evident. The silver prints exhibiting very harsh raw black and white tones, in some cases rather crude, whilst the platinum prints are soft with smooth warm tones, the blacks are like velvet and overall the platinum prints look more three dimensional. Where there was no apparent detail in the silver prints in the platinum prints detail is revealed beautifully.

The exhibition is really worth seeing and is on until the 24th April, prices range from $100,000 to $250,000 per print. Below shows my two favorite prints from the show.

Links : http://www.hamiltonsgallery.com

Introduction to Alternative Photographic Printing Techniques Workshops

2009-10-18T05:34:00.003-05:00

I have been approached by a number of people who have shown interest in half day workshops that would provide an introduction to Alternative Photographic Printing Techniques. I currently teach a similar course/workshop to universities and colleges.

The half day workshop will provide those people who have an interest in Alternative Photographic Printing Techniques an introduction to a range of processes including Cyanotype, Kalitype, Platinum/Palladium, Polymer Photogravure and Wet Plate Collodion. Demonstrations of a number of processes will be provided on the day and each participant will leave with print examples of two of the printing processes. The half day workshop also provides an opportunity to meet other people interested in alternative techniques as well as peruse more than 400 books on photography.

Topics covered on the workshop include:

Alternative Photographic Printing Techniques in the 21st Century
Common Equipment needed for Alternative Photographic printing techniques
Methods of creating contact printing negatives
Health and safety of Alternative Photographic Printing Techniques.
Introduction to Cyanotype, Kalitype, Platinum/Palladium, Photogravure and Wet Plate Collodion techniques.
Demonstrations of Cyanotype and Platinum/Palladium printing processes.
Question and Answer Session

Further Details :

Date : 8th November 2009 ( Then first Sunday of every month thereafter)
Location : Held at my home in Cottenham, 6 miles North of Cambridge
Workshop Size – Maximum 4 people
Time : 10:30 to 2:30
Includes : Workshop Handbook and a light lunch is provided on the day

For further information and booking please email me on altphotoworkshops@hotmail.co.uk

For further information on my one day workshops please visit www.platinumprinting.co.uk

Back from Boston!

2009-10-11T05:44:00.015-05:00

Just spent a week in Boston, I went over there to interview 21st Editions editor and founder Steven Albahari for an upcoming article I am writing called ‘The Intimate Photobook’

They produce the most exquisite ‘original print’ publications I have ever had the privilege to view. When I first saw one of their books almost 6 years ago, entitled ‘Sally Mann’ at Photo London I was awe struck by the quality of the platinum prints that were included in the book, so much so that I was motivated to learn alternative printing techniques. 21st Editions print using a variety of alternative printing techniques including platinum and cyanotype, these are paired with seminal writings by such acclaimed writers as John Wood . These are beautifully printed in letterpress and bound using the most extravagant and luxurious materials including silk, copper, velum, Moroccan goatskin and even Japanese wood. They have worked with some of the most renowned photographers including, Michael Kenna, Joel-Peter Witkin, Shelia Metzner, Eikeo Hoseo and upcoming photographers including Jefferson Hayman and John Metoer. Prices range from $1500 to $20,000.The article is proposed for publication in early 2010.

Sally Mann, 10 bound platinum prints, 1 freestanding print

Jefferson Hayman, The New City,18 platinum bound and 2 freestanding prints with writings by MacLean Gander.

Whilst in Boston I had the opportunity to take time out to visit the Cape Cod area. I have long had a love with this part of the world as it was frequently painted by one of my favourite painters Edward Hopper.

I had time to pay a visit to his house in Truro and took a few photographers, one of which I hope to print in platinum as a homage to the great artist.

While walking back along the beach from his house, which was surprisingly empty of any tourists or even locals, I serendipitously met and got talking to an artist from New York who instantly reminded me of my other all time favourite painters, that being Georgia O’Keeffe, who was married to great photographer and book publisher Alfred Stieglitz. I had to record this moment and she kindly let me take a portrait of her. She had a really cheeky smile which reminded me of that rare picture Ansel Adams took of O’Keffe in 1937.

After Truro I visited Provincetown and went to a gallery that SuzanneR on APUG mentioned I go see called ‘All about Photography’ at ArtStand

What a show!! for any photographers interested in alternative photographic processes or indeed photography this is a must see, I got to see my first wet plates, daguerreotypes, tin types as well as many other beautiful prints by some very talented photographers including Jerri Spangoli, France Scully Osterman, Sally Gall, Eugene Richards to name a few.

To finish this whistle-stop visit I was fortunate enough to have a consultation with Alison Collins at the Iris Gallery in Boston on Charles Street, she represents artists including Brigitte Carnochan, Beth Dow . We had a productive meeting and as a result she will now be representing me in the Boston area with my large and small cyanotype prints aswell as my upcoming platinum portfolio of work entitled ‘Curiosity’, which documents the fascinating and intriguing encounters I have had with people, places,objects over the last five years. Below is a scan of one platinum print from this new work.

Following the consultation I went to view the new exhibition at the Robert Klein gallery called ‘Still Seen’ and was shown around by the always helpful director of the gallery Eunice who I often see at the galleries booth at Photo Paris. The gallery itself is set in a really pleasant part of Boston on Newbury Street which I found to be very chic although understated. The exhibition itself is worth going to, I came across an artist called Tomio Seike who I had never heard of although his work is well collected and at a premium price, really exquisite platinum and silver prints, I will keep an eye out for him in future.

Whenever I am in a city that has Kenro Izu’s prints, which is not as often as I like, I just have to view them and Eunice kindly showed me some, they are always breathtaking. For me these are the finest platinum prints I have seen, printed from 11x14 and 20x16 inch in camera negatives. I was also shown the Cyanotype over platinum prints which too are a sight to behold.

Just as I was leaving my eye caught this print taken by Judy Dater called ‘Imogen and Twinka’ which I am sure many people know but I had never seen, it made me smile :)

What a great visit, the people of Boston and Cape Cod were such nice people, it was pleasure visiting this part of the US and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Large Cyanotype prints

2009-03-12T00:49:00.010-05:00

I was inspired to write about the challenges that I am having with coating large prints by a fellow blogger Brain Palowski who details the various methods one uses to coat an alternative print such as Cyanotype and Platinum, in addition he describes some techniques employed by well known alt photo printers. (see http://lightimpressions.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-coating-methods.html)

I too am interested in coating methods at the moment as i am attempting to coat some 20"x24" prints in Cyanotype 2 with a glass rod. I have had to commission such a large rod to be made, B&S will make any size rod you want for $44, which is good value IMO. I am able to get two passes down on smaller prints that are 20x16" but to get the denisty i am after i think it will require 4 passes, so i plan to have to 2 syringes, once i have done the two passes and the sensitiser runs out apply another line of sensitiser and attempt another two passes.

Kenro Izu i know uses a brush to coat his large platinum prints see video below, however i just have never been able to coat consistently with a brush which is disappointing but i am sure it just takes practice as is the case with most alt photo techniques. I have used a rod for about 5 years now and don't want to put it down!

Another alternative is to use the brush and and rod as is shown by platinum printer Arkady Lvov, see video @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gprrYmUCgzw

This is the best of both worlds and is a technique worth investigating.The rod enables you to get a good first coat down and then by using the brush you can even the coat out. I have tried this method and it works but again practice is key!

I will post some pictures of my progress with large Cyanotypes in the next week. I will try to blog a lot more over the coming months :)

Busy with Workshops

2008-10-18T06:59:00.008-05:00

Last week we had two Platinum workshops which went really well, the participants created some excellent prints. Since moving over to the Dichromate method which uses Potassium Oxalate as the print developer the tones produced have been extremely smooth especially for high key prints. I still teach using the Ratio method on the workshop however participants usually decide upon the Dichromate method for developing their platinum/palladium prints. Below shows a few of the results that were scanned in after the workshop. I like Silbury hill by Mark, quite reminisant of the composition and tone Sugimoto achived with his famous Seascape images.

'Silbury Hill' Mark Somerville

'San Fransisco Church' Mark Somerville

'Van & Her Mum' John Hodder

'Luminosity' John Hodder

Back again!

2008-10-07T22:33:00.007-05:00

Its been a while since i last blogged. My Masters degree in printmaking took over my life for the last 7 months, however i am back and will be blogging a lot more in the coming months about anything and everything related to Alternative Photographic processes. I will be going to Paris Photo 2008 next month and will provide a detailed review of the show.

(Print info : 'Bench By the River' Platinum/Palldium print 10x8 " David Chow)

2008-01-03T02:19:00.001-06:00

Paris Photo 2007 (Mini review)

Finally had a chance to write i my visit last month to Photo Paris 2007. Overall it was another great show put on by the Reed the organisers of this large exhibition.

Apart from Eurostar hitting something just before entering the channel tunnel on the way back from Paris to London and resulting in a five hour delay the journey, the journey to Paris was comfortable and uneventful and took a speedy two and a quarter hours from the shiny new St Pancreas Terminal.

I took a number of photos of those booths and prints that really sparked my interest as well as some of the people I met. There was lots of new work aswell as old, so any person interested in photography would find some to take away from this wonderful event.

Michael Smith & Paula Chamlee

Had a good chat with Mike and his wife Paula, really nice people and their Azo prints are simply stunning. Bought one of Paula books on Tuscany. ( Ian I remembered to say hi to them for you, they thought your work was excellent and really enjoyed working with you at their workshop a month ago

http://www.michaelandpaula.com

Hamiltons Gallery

Had a short chat with the gallery manager of Hamiltons, a really pleasant chap called Charlie Fellowes. The booth was one of the nicest at Photo Paris. Was lucky enough to get an invite to their private view this Wednesday of Irving Penn’s work, will write up on blog.

What mainly sparked my interest at Hamiltons was a set of 10 photogravures of Robert Mapplethorpe’s flower prints, I believe they were around 50x40 cm and were made in 1984. A truly stunning set of prints that will no doubt rise in value, the asking price for the set was £150,000 Euros, below shows all of the set together.

Interesting nude

I went away from the Hamiltons booth really inspired as I have just started to experiment with photogravure

http://www.hamiltonsgallery.com/

Camera Work

Cram packed full of prints by all sorts of photographers including, Helmet Newton, Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh to name a few, quite a bit of eye candy!

Also had one of my favourite prints by Irving Penn of his wife

Howard Greenberg

This booth had a nice set of prints by the late Arnold Newman as well some other prints that I cant remember , no Kenro Izu prints again this year, I really don’t know why they do not bring some of his prints over to Paris as they are simply stunning.

http://www.howardgreenberg.com/

Robert Klein

This gallery had a good assortment of prints by the masters of photography including Stiglitz, Sudek, Steichen

Edward Steichen (Asking price £950,000 Euros)

Josef Sudek

Individual Artists work worth a mention

Paolo Roversi

Some stunningly beautiful polaroid nude portraits by Paolo Roversi, 10x8 inches £10,000 Euros each, a few had sold at this price.

Duane Michael’s

A nice set of Michael’s silver prints

Masao Yamamoto

Bill Brandt ( I believe this is one of his prints, please someone correct me if I am wrong) a stunning silver print

Alberto Morello

31 Studio

Although not present 31 studio (U.K platinum printmakers) had one of the largest platinum prints I have ever seen at Michael Hoppen stand. Looked almost like A1 size! I imagine a very expensive print to make!

General Shots of the exhibition

Overall I had an excellent time viewing many prints and I left the showing feeling very inspired, Highly recommended

Irving Penn Private View @ Hamiltons Gallery

2007-11-23T02:00:00.000-06:00

Hell's Angel (Doug),San Fransico, 1967

Got back from Photo Paris on Sunday (will write up on blog in the next few days, its quite long a long post!) Whilst at the event I was very kindly invited by Charlie Fellowes at Hamiltons Gallery(Mayfair, London) to a private view of Irving Penn’s prints from the 60’s. The show appropriately entitled ‘Flower Power’ was a collection of Penns platinum/palladium prints, silver gelatine, colour dye transfer prints and pigment prints from that decade. The private view took place last wednesday evening.

The colour dye transfer prints of flowers were quite stunning, the intensity of the colours was very special, and nothing I have ever seen before. The prints of flowers were almost clinical in detail reminisant of Mapplethorpe's flower portraits, compositionally the flowers looked perfect. I believe Penn shot these for Vogue in late 80’s for their Christmas editions.

Single Oriental poppy, Irving Penn 1965, Colour Dye transfer

For those interested in Colour transfer prints Wikpedia defines them as :

‘The dye transfer process is a continuous-tone color photographic printing process, popularized by the Eastman Kodak Company in the 1940s. It is sometimes referred to by such generic names as wash-off relief printing and dye imbibition transfer printing. The process involves making three matrices for each color, which absorb dye in proportion to the density of the relief. A color print is formed, by transferring the dyed film matrices in physical contact onto a mordanted dye receiver paper. Eastman Kodak Company stopped making materials for this process in the mid 1990s. The dyes used in the process are very spectrally pure compared to normal coupler induced photographic dyes, with the exception of the Kodak cyan. Also the dyes have excellent light and dark fastness. The dye transfer process possesses the largest color gamut and tonal scale than any other process, including inkjet. Another important characteristic of dye transfer is it allows the practitioner the highest degree of photographic control compared to any other photochemical color print process.’

Penn’s platinum/palladium prints on show were also exceptional and were shots of Hippes and Hell angels, great characters and they all had a real instensity to them. I remember reading a desription of Penn's time with the 'Angels' in which he said 'They were like coiled springs ready to fly loose and make trouble. The delays and provocations they could produce were endless. Fortunately the hypnotizing lens of the camera and the confinement of the studio held them in check long enough for the exposures to be made'. The prints did not have the kind of intensity I thought they might have had having read so much about them in he past, however on closer inspection their was a beautiful subtlety to them with velvety blacks which the process is so well known for producing. I would have liked to have seen them without glass in front of them but alas.

My friend and I arrived half way through the private view and the gallery was buzzing with atmosphere, I was told to expect the whole glitterati to be out in force and this seemed to be the case. Yasmin Le Bon arrived fashionably late looking stunning and had a quick look around at the prints, she did look in a buying mood which can only have been good for the gallery. Overall it was a really enjoyable evening.

The prices for the collection of prints on show ranged from $20,000 to $120,000 and the exhibition runs through to 12th January for further information please goto http://www.hamiltonsgallery.com/

2007-11-09T03:11:00.000-06:00

A bit short notice but on Sunday 11th November there is a London photograph fair. The fair, which is in its 18th year, is devoted solely to the sale of photographic images from the 19th and 20th century, and to books on the history and art of photography.

The fair has a friendly, clubbable feel about it and is held in the comfortable surroundings of the Bonnington Hotel. It is the place for friends to meet, swap and sell rare photographs and generally catch up on the gossip.

The quality of material offered is high, and covers cased images, stereo cards, rare topographical images and albums, art prints including Emerson and Cameron, and 20th century prints by Ponting and the pictorialist school. The fair also has probably the finest range of rare and out of print books on the art and history of photography assembled anywhere in Europe.

For further details please visit

http://www.photofair.co.uk/

Pont-Neuf, Paris

2007-11-07T12:32:00.000-06:00

In keeping with the Paris theme, the above scan was a photograph I took around this time last year. It’s a polymer photogravure on Japanese paper that i printed yesterday. It’s a challenging process to master but I will keep trying to work out the finer points of the process as it can create quite unique prints that know other photographic process can replicate. An artist that I have recently found on the internet who works exclusively in this process is Kari Holopainen you can see his work here : http://www2.uiah.fi/~teofilus/

On his site he also describes in detail how to go about creating polymer photogravure's.

Paris Photo 07

2007-11-07T06:21:00.000-06:00

I have been rather busy since my last upload and I will update in the next few days on my visit to Stroud and the lecture by Platinum printers Paul and Max Caffell.

Paris Photo 2007 is next week from the 15th November and I have booked my tickets to go. Its one of the highlights of the year for me as you get to see the whole spectrum of photographic prints from vintage to contemporary. Nearly all the major players in the photographic world attend and it really is a worthwhile event to goto if you can make it. I will write up the visit on my return. For further infotmation please visit :

http://www.parisphoto.fr/7/introduction.htm?lang=uk

Cyanotype & Platinum/Palladium Workshops

2007-10-28T05:29:00.000-05:00

I will be starting my workshop programme from November 2007 and it will include separate workshops on Cyanotype and Platinum/Palladium printing. They will be held at my home in Cottenham (6 miles north of Cambridge).

The workshops will be one day either in the week or weekend, which ever is most convenient for the participants. I have deliberately kept the maximum class size down to 2 people as this will facilitate more personal tuition. Both workshops will include all materials such as transparency materials for creation of negatives, printing paper, chemicals, paper, Printing Handbook with cd etc.. and lunch.

A workshop handbook is provided on the day and covers in detail the following themes, all of which will be addressed on the day.

1) Introduction: Platinum printing in the 21st Century
2) Introduction to Digital Negatives
3) Chemicals needed to create your first Platinum/Palladium Print
4) Health & Safety
5) Importance of Keeping Notes
6) Suitable Papers for Platinum/Palladium Printing
7) Methods of Contrast Control for Platinum/Palladium printing
8) Creating your first Platinum/Palladium print
8.1) Preparing and coating the paper
8.2) Exposing the coated sensitized paper to Ultraviolet light
8.3) Developing the print
8.4) Preparing the Clearing baths and Clearing the print
8.5) Drying the print
9 ) Calibrating your own system

The workshop hand book also includes 2 cd’s

Workshop cd 1 includes : Platinum printing curves
Calibration images
Step wedges
Examples of platinum prints

cd 2 includes : all edited images with correction curves made on the day

Below shows two participants of the workshop viewing their final prints at the end of the day

Examples of prints produced on the workshop by participants have included the following :

The Lone Tree,Mark Burley

Portwrinkle Beach,Mark Burley

Train Wheels,Phil Dresser

Sea Alter,Mark Burley

Steps, Phil Dresser

Ridge, Phil Dresser

If you are interested and would like further information including the workshop program please email me at davidchow2002@hotmail.com

Major Edward Steichen Exhibition

2007-10-14T12:51:00.000-05:00

I have always loved Edward Steichen's work and was fortunate enough to view some of his gum over platinum prints at Photo Paris last year. I will be going to this years Photo Paris which takes place at the Carrousel Du Louvre from 15-18 November. It just so happens this large Exhibition on Steichen's work will be displayed in Paris too at the Jeu de Paume from 10th October to 30 December.

For those that have not heard of him, Edward Steichen was one of the key figures in the history of photography. Beginning as a leading exponent of the 19th-century romantic movement called Pictorialism, where he produced some extraordinary prints, his most famous being Moonrise, printed in 1904, For this print Steichen used unique alternative photographic printing techniques to establish depth and richness of tones. I believe there are only three prints of ‘moonrise’ in existence and they are all printed slightly differently. Below shows one that was a multiple gum over platinum print :

Edward Steichen (1879– 1973): “The Pond-Moonlight” (1904); New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; multiple gum bichromate over platinum, 15¼ × 19".)

In February last year this print sold for the highest price to date for an art photograph. (This has recently been eclipsed by a Gursky print)

Another version of 'Moonrise' was a cyanotype over platinum print shown below :

(Edward Steichen (1879–1973): “Moonrise-Mamaroneck,New York” (1904); New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); platinum, cyanotype, and ferroprussiate print, 15¼ × 19".)

After Steichen's Pictorialism phase he metamorphosed rapidly into one of the leading photographers of modernism. For more than half a century he occupied centre stage as the most famous living photographer, the medium’s first household name. However, until now Steichen, a Luxembourger by birth has never been the subject of a significant retrospective in Europe. This show will have around 450 vintage prints and I can’t wait to view them. I will write a short review when i return from Paris.

For further information on the Paris exhibition visit :

http://www.jeudepaume.org/?page=article&idArt=419&lieu=7&idImg=448

This exhibition will move to other European Venues including:

Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne January 17-March 23, 2008

Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia April 12-June 8, 2008

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid June 24-September 22, 2008

The Genius of Photography

2007-10-10T15:48:00.000-05:00

I was looking around my local Borders and came across a book called 'The Genius of Photography' which has just been published to go alongside the BBC show of the same name. The book actually looked quite interesting and worth a read.

Touted as ‘the first comprehensive television history of the most influential art form of the present day. This landmark series for BBC2 and BBC4 will explore the key events and images that have marked the development of photography. At the heart of the series will be a quest to understand what makes a truly great photograph.’

The series begins in a palazzo on the Grand Canal, Venice. Using bin-liners and masking tape, photographer Abe Morell turns a room into a camera. He cuts a small hole to let a tight beam of light into the blacked-out room and, with it, the outside world comes pouring in – upside down and twice as natural, thereby demonstrating one half of the simple but profound physical principles on which photography is based.

The other half – the problem of "fixing the shadows" – took longer to solve but, when that was done by two rival methods announced in 1839 by Henry Fox Talbot and Louis Daguerre, photography was born.

The series is six 1 hour shows, the first episode called ‘Fixing the Shadows’ tells the story of the inventions of photography and the way in which it became an integral part of the modern world. It describes the remarkable achievements of the pioneer photographers, the revolution that took place when George Eastman made photography available to the masses with the invention of the Kodak brand and the story of Jacques-Henri Lartigue, the child photographer and ultimate amateur.

For those of us in the U.K this is listed as airing on Thurs 24th Oct as 9-10pm, BBC4.

For a video clip check this link http://www.walltowall.co.uk/videoclip.aspx?w2wProgram=15

Dye based negative vs Pigment based negative

2007-10-10T01:58:00.001-05:00

Over the last few days I have been testing the difference between Dye based ink jet digital negatives (Epson 1290) and Pigment based digital negatives (Epson 3800) when printing with platinum/palladium.

The above shows the two prints side by side, the print on the left I used a pigment based inks to create the negative, dye based on the right.(click on the print to see larger version) The difference is quite obvious and I would be interested to hear which print people prefer.

My initial findings show that the dye based negative seems to be blocking a lot more UV light than the pigment based negative and resulting in a significantly more contrasty print. The print has more ‘punch’ to it. I like it, as it has a certain luminosity to it, however I am not arriving at the print I expected when I finished editing the negative in PS.

The pigment based negatives on the other hand gives a good rendition of what I see in P.S but lacks the luminosity of the dye based negative print. I need to find some half way point between the two prints and believe I have two options to achieve this.

Either adjust the curve in PS for the pigment based negative or try and boost contrast through the platinum/palladium chemistry (i.e more drops of ferric oxalate #2) I prefer the former option to the later as this will add more grain to the final print. I will try both options and post the result.

Meet up with Mike Ware (inventor of the cyanotype II process)

2007-09-30T03:54:00.000-05:00

Mike kindly invited me over for lunch with his wife at his lovely house in Buxton. The drive to the peak district was quite special. Mike and his wife were very hospitable and it was a real pleasure to meet such a kind and generous man.

An expert in all things related to alternative processes and their conservation, Mike has written extensively about many alternative processes including my favourite the ‘Cyanotype II’ process which he invented. Mike has also devised a ‘Platinum/Palladium II’ process that attempts to address some of the shortcomings of the original process. ( For full details of this and any other related processes visit his website at http://www.mikeware.demon.co.uk/

We spent a good few hours looking through his own wonderful collection of prints that he has produced over the last 25 years. Including Cyanotype II, Argyrotypes, Platinum/Palladium II and his latest Gold prints. The above image is one of Mike’s Cyanotypes and was taken on a visit in Sicily in 1989 (10x8 print). Having seen the print in real life I must say it is one of the most luminous prints I have seen, it simply glows.

He also has a stunning collection of prints on the walls around the house that friends have given him over the years, some truly stunning platinum/palladium prints by Pradip Malde . Another highlight was a print by father and son team the ‘Caffels’ at (studio 31) who specialise in printing some of the most beautiful prints one will ever see.

Coming from a chemistry background Mike initially looks at alternative processes from a different angle to myself which is really very interesting. At the moment I am strictly interested in the aesthetic appeal of alternative processes, Mike also has this passion but goes a lot deeper into how various chemicals react with each other and how alternative processes can be improved/modified as well as their conservation.

I am not sure but I believe Kenro Izu uses Mikes formula for his cyanotype over platinum prints ( Bostick and Sullivan have posted one of Izu’s Cyanotype images next to where they sell the Cyanotype II sensitizer ). I have tried to arrange for him to see some of Izus Cyanotype over platinum prints at the Howard Greenberg gallery in New York next time Mike is over there as I was amazed the first time I saw them, truly breathtaking work. I look forward to hearing his reaction to the prints.

All in all it was a very special day for me to finally meet the man who inadvertently helped me, through the invention of the Cyanotype II process, to discover how wonderful and challenging in equal measures alternative photographic processes can be .

Arches Platine & Cyanotype

2007-09-29T15:51:00.000-05:00

Spent another day printing although this time just in cyanotype, i am really enjoying printing with Arches Platine as the luminosity of the final print is quite special if you get the negative right. People have told me that Fabriano Artistico Bright white is also an excellent paper to try with both cyanotype and platinum, although it requires a pre soak of 4% oxalic acid to take away the alkaline which a lot of these watercolour papers seem to have these days. Quite a productive day, a few prints might be 'keepers' but will wait for the dry down tomorrow before 'counting chickens'.

I was finally able to successfully print my largest contact print too, below shows the print hang drying. The full sheet is 20x16 and the actual print size is 11x14. Some slight solarisation around the edges although it does not show to much.

The paper i used to use for all my cyanotype prints (Fabriano Rospina) became very difficult to coat large sheets using a glass rod as the sensitizer was absorbed to quickly. With the Arches Platine I am usually able to coat successfully with a 17” glass rod as the surface is very smooth and is not absorbed as quickly which is great news as i have wanted to print larger prints for a while now.

Cyanotype over Platinum (First results)

2007-09-29T00:02:00.000-05:00

I was able to get the pre sized Platinum print to register with the cyanotype negative, with quite a bit of masking tape i might add!! The above scan shows the result. The Cyanotype layer i think is too strong and needs to be more subtle so i think i will half the exposure time on next few prints either that or adjust the cyanotype negative, not sure which approach to take yet but will try something. I really want to keep some of the luminosity of the platinum layer.

Below is the first result uncropped which shows my rather clumsy methods! :)

Ahh Registration!!

2007-09-28T14:15:00.000-05:00

Turns out the registration was about 1mm out on the print without the pre size (see above image), the pre sized print was out by about 1/2mm, although the later appers more blochy in the highlights. I believe a registration difference even this small might make cause the final print to lose sharpness and i would prefer not to if at all possible.

On the plus side the inadvertant change to dye based inks to print the platinum negative has resulted in a much more luminous print than the print made with the pigment ink negative. Having looked on the net it has been suggested that the 'pre size' soak should be in warm water (125f) for an hour, as opposed to the 5 mins i gave it last night. I have now done this and will try printing another platinum print to see if it will register on the cyanotype negative.

New Cyanotype over Platinum print

2007-09-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

Spent all day calibrating as i want to see how a cyanotype over platinum looks, cant afford one of Kenro's yet, I think they start at $3500!

Its going to require some sort of registration which could be problamatic for me as i have never done it before. The above image shows some of the calibration prints i did to see how the two prints will come together. One had a sizing bath before exposure the other one did not.

I will be printing the cyanotype over the top tommorow once they are dry and completly flat.I just hope the paper has not shrunk as my cyanotype registation negative will be out!

Below is a how i want the end print to look like (its a scan of the platinum and i added a blue filter in PS to see) Will post the results tommorow if i can get the cyanotype negative to register.

Alternative Photographic Processes Event (New York)

2007-09-26T04:33:00.000-05:00

I stumbled across this event that is taking place from September 29 to November 4, 2007 in New York. There are both traditional and hybrid artists being represented at the event.

Unfortunately I cant make it but there was some interesting and inspirational work in the catolgue which you can download from the site. Some of the wet collodion portraits but Michael Mazzeo looked pretty special(Shown Below).

The web address is Alternative Photographic Processes Event

Godess 3 (Mazzeo, Michael)
www.michaelmazzeo.com

Another 'Wet Plate Collodion' Video

2007-09-23T14:15:00.000-05:00

I have been recently looking at 'Wet Plate Collodion' and came across another video on the process. I really love the way these glass plates look when finished and would like to try this process at some stage. Finding the chemicals for this process looks quite challenging but i think it should be possible here in the U.K. What does concern me is the safety aspects of the process. I believe Collodion is very flammable and Amonia is also used in the process. Once i find out more information about costs and the like i will post it. I know Kerik from APUG.org is doing a workshop next year in Scotland on 'Wet Plate' it would be good if he could come down south for another workshop.

Cambridge Meet Up

2007-09-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago a few of us from the Analogue Photographers User Group (http://www.apug.org) met up at my house for the day. I have only just got around to writing about the day which I thought was not only good fun but it was very interesting to see different types of alternative photographic prints. All the work was to a very high standard.

A few examples of the work are included below

Platinum Prints By Ian Leake (http://www.ianleake.com)

The subtlety of these platinum prints was very special indeed and something I have only experienced once before whilst looking at a portfolio of Sally Mann’s platinum work. They really have to be seen in person without glass in front of them to fully appreciate their beauty.

Kalitype by Phill dresser

A good time was had by all and I look forward to future meet ups!

Interesting videos on Kenro Izu’s Platinum work

2007-09-10T11:29:00.000-05:00

Having been a fan of Kenro Izu’s work for a long time its great to finally find some videos about his work and the way he processes his prints. I stumbled across these videos whilst looking for information on printing Cyanotype over platinum which he has done in the past and are stunning, a process i would like to try in the next couple of weeks. The above image shows an example of one such print of Izu's.

There are two videos at : http://www.pem.org/izu/theartist.html

Direct links are :

One brief one on his work : http://www.pem.org/izu/high.html

And one on the way he processes his prints. : http://www.pem.org/izu/process.html (love the way he dumps his developer on the print )

Although these small videos they are a nice insight into this master photographer and printers work.

(You need QuickTime or Realplayer installed to watch.)

There is a longer text file of the interview at : http://www.pem.org/izu/interview_text.html

2007-09-06T04:04:00.000-05:00

After the slight problems with mottling on the polymer photogravure plates I decided to redirect my time to calbirating for Platinum and Palladium over the last 3 days. I Intend to pick up the gravure process again in the coming weeks but I am waiting for a shippment of 'Kreene' which might solve the contact problems we are having with the vaccum frame and the plate.
The print above is an image i took last week of this rather unusual sunflower i found. Printed Using a 1:1 mix of Platinum and Palladium. More to follow.

New Print

2007-08-21T14:13:00.000-05:00

Spent 4 hours printing this new photopolymer gravure today. We seem to be having problems with mottling on our plates at the press.It was not so bad today but one can still see that there is a problem. This was a photo i took last year in Paris.

Video on Tintype

2007-08-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

Masters of Photography

2007-08-13T19:42:00.000-05:00

A nice video on some of the greatest photographers

2007-08-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

Interesting Video on Wet Plate processing.

Well here goes!

2007-08-13T19:06:00.000-05:00

Have just started a new alternative way of printing some of my images. Its called 'Photogravure' using Toybo polymor plates.

Cyanotype Workshop

2007-08-13T03:13:00.000-05:00

For those interested in a Cyanotype Workshop please email me at davidchow2002@hotmail.com.