Jeff Wall decided his work as a means to fame, much as Will Smith tells of working with his agent, in order to estimate the easiest, fastest way to certain financial success in movies, Wall decided to make images that would be well received as Artwork.
They both were correct, given the evidence of their success. The way of success in a property market is to open new property. Then put up signs; even better, have someone else put up the signs.
Estimating Needs
your eyes point forward for a reason
How much emulsion should you store? How much film should you stock? Paper?
When I began, this was one of those business questions- economic order quantity. Now, it is a question about ending product lines. In 1970, we could impulse pickup film, or buy in bulk. Sheet film came in 50 or 500 sheet boxes, in addition to small 10 sheet sizes. Kodalith, Reprolith, etc came in 40 inch wide rolls. Dupont, Itek, Agfa made custom runs for some labs.
Currently, I shoot less film than just 5 years ago. And there are fewer choices, and rasons to use film. My method of determining film buys is to emphasize film from Ilford over Kodak. This is for black & white. 3 years ago I bought Kodak and stored it. I am working that down, and have no plan to buy anymore Kodak film.
The Answer I Had
How much film did you shoot last year? The year before? Are you increasing your shooting?
If yes, then buy at least as much as those 2 years added together
If no, then buy only the lower amount of those 2 years.
How much film could a film shop shoot if a film shop shot film
Old School Ordering
Note line 5 (delivery delay), this is the uncertainty in this day. Film is now subject to great fluctuations in supply, with increasing risk of persistent supply.
Kodak Goes Special Order
The large format folks can’t even gather a consistent $15,000 per year group purchase. The first special order took 15 months to be put together. I used to spend more than that as my yearly purchases. I spent $5k on my last Kodak order — only 120 and 220 rolls.
if a film you use is being discontinued, and its loss ends your shooting, sell the car, hock the silver; otherwise, save the box and move on.
Operational Advice
order what you can store, and assume it is the last film you will use
Masking: What Covers What
If at first steps you hesitate, will you ever make the journey? Making color prints is easy, but not trivial. It can be used simply or taken to extreme complexity. This is by design.
Masks are made to alter the color response. Usually they are made to correct for deficiency of colorants used in the practical printing. What was once a labor intensive procedure was made simpler, more automatic over several decades. By the 1950s theory and practice had become teachable in trade-schools to people never intending to go to college to learn linear algebra so they could make color prints.
Alexander Murray, of Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories, co-developer of the Murray-Davies equation was the early pioneer. His goal “eliminate retouching by the masking process” with as few masks as possible. “
Photo-trichromatic printing, in theory and practice by Zander, C. G., author
was an early text about ink on paper. It is a small booklet written by an ink maker and it should be read by everyone new to printing; the coverage of the first solutions to the common problems that remain today will highlight how far we have come.
Some references keyed to printing; the CMYK model.
Austin AC. Photo-Lithography: Suggestions for the Lithographers Which Should Prove Beneficial to the Trade. The National Lithographer. 1923;30(11):25-26. Albert E. Photographisches Farbendruck-Verhahren. Published online 1899 Albert E. Photographisches Mehrfarbendruckverfahren. Published online 1900. Bassist E. Retouching for Offset Lithography in Colors. Inland Printer. 1925;74:756. Bultz SW. New Method of Copying Paintings: To the Editor of the Photographic Journal. Journal of the Photographic Society of London. 1856;3(40):15 Gamble W. The Future of Letterpress Printing. Inland Printer. 1925;74:757 Horgan SH. Process Engraving: A Three-Color Pessimist. Inland Printer. 1922;69:239. Horgan SH. Offset Printing: Offset Printing’s Future. Inland Printer. 1922;69:368. Horgan SH. Notes on Offset Printing: Color Correction on Offset Plates. Inland Printer. 1922;69:872 Mertle JS, Monsen GL. Photomechanics and Printing; Practical Information on Platemaking and Presswork by Recognized Procedures. Mertle Publishing Co. ; 1957. Murray A. The Masking Method of Color Correction Applied to Three- and Four-Color Reproduction. The Photo-Engravers Bulletin. Published online January 1934:13-21. Yule JAC. The Theory of Subtractive Color Photography I. The Conditions for Perfect Color Rendering. Journal of the Optical Society of America. 1938;28:419-430 Yule JAC, Field GG. Principles of Color Reproduction. 2nd ed. GATFPress; 2001. Field JAC. Color and Its Reproduction. 2nd ed. GATFPress; 1999. An Improvement Process: Photo-Lithography in Color by an Ideal Method with Accurate Tonal Values. The National Lithographer. 1923;39:44. Accessed November 26, 2020. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/ZTAyAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
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