Photographs by Frank

26 December 2021

Pt/Pd Prints — Five Papers

Filed under: Alternative Processes,Pt/Pd Prints — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Having discovered that Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag (HPR) paper gave a much warmer platinum/palladium (Pt/Pd) print than Legion Lenox 100, I decided to try a few other papers just to see what happens.

All of the prints show below were made under identical conditions (e.g. negative, exposure, processing) except for the paper used.

The papers I used were:

  1. Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag (300 gsm)
  2. Legion Lenox 100 (250 gsm)
  3. Rives BFK (280 gsm)
  4. Fabriano Artistico (Hot Press) (300 gsm)
  5. Arches Johannot (240 gsm)

All of these papers are high quality “art” papers and all, except for the Johannot, are 100% cotton. The HPR is designed specifically for alternative process printing such as I am doing here.

In addition to these papers, I tried to coat a sheet of Arches Platine (310 gsm), another paper designed specifically for alternative process printing. In this case the paper soaked up the sensitizer so rapidly that I could not spread out the puddle to cover the image area.

The results are quite striking. All of the papers except for the HPR resulted in a neutral print while the HPR gave a very warm print. All of the papers except for the HPR could use a bit more exposure (and maybe a tweak to the curve used to print the negative), especially the Johannot, but I wanted to change only one variable so the conditions were optimized for the HPR.

I have a few more papers that I want to try and then I’ll need to decide which one will be my “go to” paper for Pt/Pd printing. After that, it will be time to stop testing and make some larger finished prints.

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Pt/Pd Printing – “Dialing It In”

Filed under: Alternative Processes,Pt/Pd Prints — Frank @ 12:00 AM

Learning a new process such as platinum/palladium (Pt/Pd) printing involves two distinct things. First, one needs to learn the physical process of making a print… what solutions to make, how to coat paper, what exposure to use, etc., etc.

Additionally (at least with digital negatives), one needs to “dial in” the processing of your digital photo in order to match the negative to the process. Without going into any real details, this involves two things. One needs to get the maximum density (Dmax) of the negative correctly adjusted. Then one needs to get the contrast correctly adjusted using the appropriate curve.

Getting things “dialed in” is an iterative process. One makes changes based on prior experience, prints a negative and then uses the negative to make (in this case) a Pt/Pd print. The resulting print is used to make further adjustments and the process is repeated.

Yesterday, I made three versions of the “Salmon River” negative in order to get the first print shown below. The “Church Window” negative took only two versions and the “Courthouse” negative was pretty good on my first attempt.

Hopefully, as one gains experience a negative get “dialed “in” more quickly and easily. With cyanotypes and salted-paper prints, I rarely have to make more than one negative… maybe ten-percent of photographs get a second negative. For those familiar processes the changes are usually to the dodging and burning in order to “fix” nature’s light. With experience, I’ll get to the same point with negative for Pt/Pd printing.

For my first set of Pt/Pd prints I used Legion Lenox 100 paper. This paper has been working well for my salted-paper prints and so I tried it. For the current prints, I used Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag (HPR).

HPR is (as its name implies) designed for Pt/Pd printing… it is sort of the “gold standard” <grin> of alt process papers. It is a heavy (300 gsm), 100% cotton paper. Lenox 100, on the other hand, is a bit lighter (250 gsm) 100% cotton paper designed for traditional ink on paper printmaking. The Lenox 100 is about one-third the cost of the HPR so it has that advantage.

I was surprised on how warm the prints on HPR came out. Pt/Pd printing is know for being quite neutral in tone and certainly the prints I made on the Lenox 100 were quite neutral. Hmmm… to check and see if I had done something different with the new batch of prints, I made a second print (the last image shown below) of the “Salmon River” photograph on Lenox 100. The only difference between the first and the last print is the paper.

Very interesting! And… I haven’t a clue why they are different.

This result, of course, suggest a further experiment… what about other papers? I did that experiment today. The prints are drying as I write and I’ll scan them tomorrow. Patience!!!

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22 December 2021

Holiday Spirit

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 10:00 PM

I pass by this yard every time I head to town. The decorations go up before Thanksgiving and the display seems to grow with each passing year. (This is the third or fourth year, if my memory is correct.)

There are literally hundreds of objects scattered throughout the yard. It is quite a statement about the holidays.

I’m not sure exactly what these folks are trying to say. However, I doubt that it is the message that comes through to me!

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The Twin Cabins

Filed under: architecture,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 9:00 AM

Real estate on Gregg Lake rarely comes up for sale on the open market. Rather, it is mostly passed from one generation to the next within families. Last winter, the “twin cabins” as we call them (two small cabins squeezed onto a tiny lake shore plot) were sold.

Come spring there was some “sprucing up” activity, but no significant change to the cabin’s exteriors with the exception two small signs that appeared, one above the door of each cabin. Clearly the new owners are baby boomers with a wonderfully understated wit!

If you are not a baby boomer, or otherwise need a hint, see this.

While I had the ultra-wide angle lens* on the camera, I also made a photograph of one of my favorite views as I passed by on the way home.

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* The first and last photos in this post were made with a 10.5 mm fisheye lens. I was the only way to get both cabins in the same frame.

21 December 2021

First Platinum/Palladium Prints

Filed under: Uncategorized — Frank @ 11:00 PM

I have spent the last two days experimenting with making platinum/palladium (Pt/Pd) prints. I made two very preliminary prints on Sunday afternoon and five more prints yesterday.

Pt/Pd prints represent (at least to some folks) the pinnacle of alternative process printing. The prints are a very beautiful neutral black/grey. The process is considered to result in some of the most stable (archival) prints possible.

Traditional Pt/Pd printing is a very finicky process because it is critically dependent on controlling the humidity of the paper within a narrow range. I have chosen to begin my exploration of Pt/Pd printing using a “renegade” method described by a Texan Richard Eugene Puckett. His method is purported to work without close control of the humidity.

Over the course of two days, I made seven small (4×5 inch) Pt/Pd prints following Puckett’s method. I used a mixture of 25% Pt and 75% Pd. The paper is Legion Lenox 100.

I still have a way to go to perfect this process*. However, here I present two fairly successful prints.

As with most of these alt process prints, the scans don’t do justice to the prints. In this case the contrast of the scans is somewhat lower than the actual print.

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* The curve I use to tailor the density and contrast of my digital negative to the printing process, still needs some tweaking, especially in the highlights.

I also need to work on getting a consistent result. The last two prints I made had significantly lower contrast that those shown here. I suspect that this has something to do with the temperature and humidity in my basement dim room.

Yesterday, the first prints were made when the wood stove was going. The temperature was about 57 deg. F and the humidity about 36% (which I suspect is pushing the limits of acceptability). I stopped feeding the stove about the time I began work. Thus, the temperature was down around 50 deg. F when I finished.

I am guessing that a warmer, slightly more humid environment will yield more consistent results. I think that I will have to wait until spring to find out if this is indeed true! Meanwhile, I’ll go back to salted-paper prints and experiment with toning procedures. Stay tuned!

16 December 2021

The Long Way Home

Filed under: Uncategorized — Frank @ 8:15 PM

I had some business to attend to at the Vermont Center for Photography in Brattleboro, VT this afternoon. I took the long way home making a loop through Newfane, Grafton, Saxons River and Bellows Falls (all in Vermont) before crossing the river and heading home.

The light was mediocre to start and pretty much gone by the time I got to Saxons River, but I made a few photographs with the camera obscura anyway.

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15 December 2021

2021 Winter Solstice Print

Filed under: Uncategorized — Frank @ 4:30 PM

My Winter Solstice print for this year is a salted-paper print titled “Salmon River – Frank Church / River of No Return Wilderness (Central Idaho)”. The exposure was made from a raft in the middle of the river during the six day trip we did back in September. I made an edition of eighteen 4×5 inch prints on 5×7 inch Legion Lenox 100 paper.

As part of the process, I experimented with gold-borax toning the prints. This cools down the rather warm tone of the native salt print. Shown below are three versions of the print; all were treated the same except for the toning. The differences are subtle (especially between the two toned versions) but hopefully they are visible in the scans shown here. The prints for the final edition were toned for 4 minutes.

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My post on last year’s print with a bit of explanation about this “project” can be found here.

14 December 2021

A Day at the Beach

Filed under: Uncategorized — Frank @ 3:30 PM

I had a photographically productive day yesterday.

I went to the beach… in December… in New Hampshire!

I left the house before six yesterday morning and headed east taking NH101 from Manchester. NH101 intersects1A at the coast in Hampton. From there I headed north, eventually getting as far as the southern limit of Portsmouth on route 1B. I then headed back south getting as far as Salisbury, MA. Hoping to avoid rush hour in Manchester on the way home, I headed west again at about 2:30 PM.

Of course, I made many stops to photograph along the way.

I know, it is a bit odd to head to the beach in December, but I have had it in my head to try and communicate the desolation of a summer tourist destination in the winter. I’m not sure that I have succeeded, but I had fun!

Color Work

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Black and White Work

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Random Photos

Filed under: Uncategorized — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Arrrgh…#$!@&% computers!

Intrepid readers may note the long (more than a month) interval since my last post.

It is not that I have been a laggard. Rather, I have been discouraged about blogging because of ‘technical issues’.

After the last WordPress update my gallery plugin (the software for displaying photos in the blog) had gone haywire… or so I thought. It turns out that the problem seems to be only with certain versions of certain web browsers, including the main browser on my main computer. As I said: arrgh…#$!@&% computers!!!

Anyway… I’m back and thought I start by showing a few random photos from the end of October, November and early December

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