Back in October 2018, during our road trip to the Southwest, Joan and I made a stop at Hovenweep National Monument. This site, located near the Utah/Colorado border in southern Utah, preserves several ancestral Puebloan villages that were inhabited by groups related to those who lived at the better-known sites in what is now known as Mesa Verde National Park.
Hovenweep is a quiet, peaceful place compared to much-visited Mesa Verde.
Back in January I selected ten of the exposures I made at the Square Tower site in Hoveweep and prepared digital negatives from these files with the intent to make platinum/palladium prints.
As is my habit these days, I initially made small (4×5 inch) negatives/prints to work out the adjustments (mainly dodging and burning) necessary to make a good print. Once I have a small print that looks good to my eye, I then print a larger negative (usually for an image that is 7.5 inches on the long side) and print that on 8×10 inch paper.
Last week, I spent roughly twelve hours (in two sessions) making the ten final prints that are shown below.
My original intent was to place the ‘bare’ prints in a folder with an appropriate title page and colophon. However, making prints that are precisely placed on the paper and that do not have any extraneous marks on the sheet has proved to be difficult. Thus, I am having second thoughts about that presentation and may end up mounting and matting all of the prints to 11×14 inches and placing them in a traditional print box.
As is often the case, the scans do not do full justice to the original prints.
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Doing justice? They look pretty impressive to me!! What did the original shots look like and how much was “lost” using this printing method? Maybe not everything works well with some techniques?? Don’t stop experimenting on my part – I have been enjoying the ride. . .
Joe
Comment by Joe Kennedy — 28 February 2022 @ 7:24 AM
Thank you for carrying me to this place. I can sense the air and the sky and the quiet.
Comment by Mary Jo Kelly Wilhelm — 28 February 2022 @ 8:24 AM