Tag: photography

quickstep across

Posted on Posted in minimum daily requirement, on photographers, On The Road, pipelineTagged , , , ,

— Although The video is not mine... it is worth my time, perhaps yours also. What does it consider?

YouTube (YT) is a key supplier of opinions. It is the Hot Media. It is widely dispersed, with sense, nonsense. Its basis is advertising, so like water in a desert it may nourish, it may also poison. YT channels stratify the field. Entry layers gaining greater advertising hits. This is like the threaded online boards, except they are in decline, with YT continuous increasing attention. Even in the time after TikTok and pulse viewing.

I wouldn’t link to a poison. I don’t know this person, not even his work, other than what is shown in the video. His imagery isn’t my reason for directing you to his video.

one video about roadtrip… my response after the video. My response is here, rather than on YT, so I can better remember my shorthand. YT responses are better for a short statement sent into the bucket. Please watch the YT version.

The nature of film is the image is not seen immediately. Polaroid was in every commercial studio as part of the solution to this boundary. Polaroid along with messenger service and a quick turn lab within a few blocks was the method of New York photography. Why we dominated. We had the community, the infrastructure nourished its own. Manhattan was home to Madison Avenue, the source of work and seemingly unlimited funds to maintain this intense group of photographers.

selected transcript from the video.
  • Travel with chemicals -[else] keep them concentrated. Process one-shot.
  • Pickup distilled water at gas/rest stops. Also, ice for temperature control of process.
  • learned to stay, shoot enough to “distil” the composition.

This equipment he takes surprises me: a scanner. His reasoning is to verify that his camera and process are producing useful results. This is a hybrid thinking solution. I carry duplicate cameras. For bellows based cameras, carry electrical tape, or “bellows” patch (scuba glue).

I suspect he is now a digital first photographer, since it seems he was using film as input to scanner. He liked the camera, had fun with film. So it goes.

Travel opens the world. The road trip is a standard of photographers. Even studio photographers make road trips (Avedon) , just rarely is that considered their prime work.

–> other bit about travel to tripod spots.

The Paper is Key

Posted on Posted in minimum daily requirement, the Lab, The PositiveTagged

Ink, metal, chalk, or dye on paper, it is the paper that holds the “stuff of” and it also is the source of the light.

Albumin Printing: https://www.bostick-sullivan.com/product-category/alternative-process-kits/albumen-printing-process/

Or, albumin paper: https://analoginside.com/en/product/20-papeles-albuminados-85×11-216x277cm/

Unsensitized photo-paper: https://www.fotoimpex.com/brands/adox-art-baryta-241×305-cm-95×12-inch-50-sheets.html

Reflection requires smooth surface — smoother is more reflective. This provides higher “saturation” — the Dmax. The topmost covering produces the first and last light scatter. In photography of the Silver Gelatin type, this is Gelatin. Albumin has also been used. Many colloids have been tried in search of the perfect holder; that stuff with perfect properties — lasts, passes liquids, blocks gasses… No perfect single thing has been found — we live with a suited to purpose answer.

The ‘goo’ adds color– albumin is different color than gelatin. They age differently. As matter of cost,the albumen silver print uses more silver than the silver gelatin print

Make it smoother; get higher density. Gelatin seems our easy, cheap solution. That is what we have used at industrial scale since the 1930s. Keep the emulsion thin and smooth to achieve higher density.

The secret to Dye Transfer’s intense color isn’t due to the matrix nor the dyes but to the paper, one of the most protected secret of the process. That was the item causing Kodak to stumble in the 80s. The process of the mill was little understood by much of the Kodak elite.

Additional to coating is HOW you coat; the tool, coater, as well — how many coatings. Making the emulsion means controlling crystal size, dispersion and “layer” —