drilling for silver

bits of things. if you have to moderate the topic, you have the wrong gathering — 

VCP, bring out the prints. generous support of Mark Tarmy. Joshua Farr and Mitch Weiss  curators

What they announce:

Drawn from a remarkable local collection, these prints invite you to get close—see the paper, the grain, the edge of the negative—and slow down with images that carry time and story across generations. It’s a chance to experience iconic photographs as objects, not just pictures on a screen: how they’re printed, toned, and cared for, and why those choices matter to what we see and feel.

The exhibition brings together 36 works by 31 artists, spanning nearly a century of photographic history, with dates ranging from 1916 to 2004. The selection highlights both silver gelatin and platinum prints, offering a rich material and historical range that underscores the enduring power and evolution of the photographic print

UP TO DATE:

They will discuss specific images in the show and their significance from the perspectives of technique, meaning, and place in history. This conversation opens a window into the relationships between artists and collectors, and why photographic prints continue to matter in a screen-saturated world.

IN CONVERSATION: Mark Tarmy & Lynne Weinstein | VCP

the collector’s start:

Like most American business stories, Vermont Plank Flooring was born of a degree of foresight, a little bit of luck, and a lot of hard work.]

Our Story – The History of Vermont Wide Plank Flooring

Instead of collecting stories of drillbits , rather than collecting boxes of future used\ items, he collected photographs .

the why of this aside: Drillbits from one Plant in China are produced at 20 Tons a day.. packaged and over 100 brand going to the United States Germany even Austria… with Austria importing specialists steal from China for their use in machine tool making..

caution of the long tail: people thinking their experience is more useful than it is; that they bring more knowledge than they do . they have a view of a business — they think that that view, and experience applies across all business… ADDITIONAL. the china syndrome:

the problem is some forums are populated by a very few highly skilled honest members … how can you tell; they give references. they show their work. you are welcome to the table ;their ideas grow. they have new stories…

prejudice is often a mask itself.. revealing itself. prejudice is a mask that sometimes shows;it has dominance…you married an asian to dominate one. prejudice is often inscrutable… I can’t be prejudiced I married one; yet you’re married to dominate; reminder, prejudice is about domination…

see YouTube bit test … left as an exercise.


drill bits.. footnote. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2026/02/ancientegyptiandrillbit/ This re-analysis suggests that Egyptian craftspeople mastered reliable rotary drilling more than two millennia before some of the best-preserved drill sets.

imagine having a collection of prints instead of bits n bobs

Continue reading “drilling for silver”

callier confusion

Intelligent individuals learn from every thing and every one; average people, from their experiences. The stupid already have all the answers.”  ― Socrates

one of the optiquals… using light for means, by means other than image-formed pattern. Sometimes the H&D curve is more bendable than others. More details follow…

:the mysterious Q is called upon from the shadows as explanation for almost any effect. What does it explain? Do you use it… that other light; that other exposure summation. Think weeding … sometimes it makes tea.

Photography is a simplified form of drawing; let the thing draw itself.. the law, rather, the principle of exposure holds for most of the time. Like all real things the exposure rule varies. This variance provides confusion or useful options, even if you don’t know the names of the various effects. Reject before using is a rule of turds. Well known, widely influential resources gain stature by passing along their approach; their dictionary, complete with conceptual restrictions takes hold.

if not controlled, at least understood — edge of distinction —

More importantly, how can you use exposure effects in control of the image. How to manage the different points of the curves. Tone-bending, by using effects discovered and refined by early photographers building out the field of light sensitive surfaces.

Flash and Burn characteristics of the enlarger. The slide-set introduces the concepts of controlling some of the HD shape by means of altering single contrast emulsions, such as films. All dye labs had full understanding of these principles. Some of the information carried over into the fixed grade BW darkrooms.

patent simmon
Early darkroom lamphead patent for a condenser enlarger. 1948

Flare up. The other words, effects found upon deeper reading into the the literature of exposing silver materials. If you were a designer of systems, or an extremely inventive user, these terms, often named after their initial discoverer, will take you along the full path of the characteristic curve; enough so, that you could begin to design exposure making and measuring systems.

Flare: The worst element in photography. The projected light that escapes around the image and causes fog and distortion of the original image. — Bob Pace.

  • MEES. c. E.: The Theory of the Photographic Process, p. 849; Macmillan. New York (1945):
  • and GOETZ, A., BROWN, F. W.: Light Scattering and the Graininess of Photographic Emulsions, J. Soc. Mot. Pict. Engrs., 39; 375 (1942).
  • SMETHURST, P. C.: Scattered Light, Image Gradation, and Surface Treated Lenses; Brit. J. Photogr., 88; 427, 434 (1941).
  • G. Kornfeld, “The Herschel Effect and the Structure and Stability of the Photographic Latent Image*,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 39, 490-494 (1949).
  • Zachoval, L. A contribution to the theory of some photographic effects. Czech J Phys 8, 214–217 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01603694

uses.. filed borders to introduce gate-flare : edge of framing gate induced flare .

Additional References

Using means knowing the difference between a silver contact and silver projected image in common darkroom printing. Dye-transfer is BW made complex by the number of steps; permutations seemingly beyond understanding. We learned the difference between silver testing and color, dye testing. The AIM, targets used had effects that could confuse ones initial learning — without luck, or well directed starting information it could seem a fools burden… pushing snowballs up a volcano.

Become alert to difference in response between instrument reading and material action: measurement may not predict fully, accurately. What you measure may not be what you get — refine, or re-define. Dyes aren’t silver; this meant that what we tested changed by stage of the process; was it silver, or dye stage material.

Applications and Implications —

exposing adox lupex : https://www.adox.de/Technical_Informations/TA_LUPEX(EN).pdf

reading adox contrast and understanding: http://www.adox.de/Technical_Informations/MCC_Datasheet.pdf

AN: splasboard processes