Alt & Lith Print Exchange #4 (ALPX-4) - Status and Updates

[RauschenOderKorn]

Dear photographers,

The magic has been done, and the assignments are out. Everybody should have a message from me.

Please check your own address again. Please wait a few days before you send anything. We need that time to correct address problems and other difficulties. If something is or seems to be wrong please PM me.

As this is not a blind print exchange, the "chain" is as follows:

Oxleyroad -> scherbis -> earlz -> sly -> RauschenOderKorn -> piu58 -> BSP -> Oxleyroad

[This is for information only. Please keep in mind that nobody participating likes to receive a demotivational reminder or a PM saying "Where is my print?". If there is a problem, contact me. I will do my best to solve the problem.]

Our timeline:
Print and Send: March and April 2020
Rest and Relaxation: May 2020

I enjoyed very much seeing the exciting prints of the last round. If you don´t mind, please share your prints in this thread or in the gallery before sending them. Also, please give us a short heads up when you send or receive a print.

Have fun with ALPX-4!

 

[piu58]

My prints are on it's way.

 

[Oxleyroad]

Wow Uwe. You are organised.

 

[BSP]

My prints are on it's way.

And they have arrived in good condition.

Danke schön, Uwe!

These are the first Lith-prints I have ever held before my eyes. And how beautiful they are!
Your choice of subject matter is very fitting with the nostalgic rendering given by this printing style.
I have just received my own Easy Lith set and also have some old Adox MCP left, so I now have a very good reference to embark on my Lith-adventure.
This work deserves high quality scanning before sharing it here, so please bear with me until I get the chance to get it right.

Also Uwe, you choice of packaging worked out very well and I will be recycling the foam card to package my own print(s) when they are mailed.

Kind regards,
Bill
BSP

 

[piu58]

Thank you for your kind words. Every photographer has a war feeling if their photographs get positive resonance.

 

[grainyvision]

I should be able to get my prints out in time to meet the April deadline (assuming the mail systems don't shut down), but anyone's timeline been affected by this coronavirus thing?

 

[Oxleyroad]

I need to reorganize my d/room. After being told to work from home 10 days ago, I found the only place in the house with the least interuption from children and wife was the d/room. So made bench space for me to set up laptop, notebook space and an additional monitor. Now realize it will be difficult to do photos. But as I have a couple of weeks yet I'm still far from being late.

 

[grainyvision]

I need to reorganize my d/room. After being told to work from home 10 days ago, I found the only place in the house with the least interuption from children and wife was the d/room. So made bench space for me to set up laptop, notebook space and an additional monitor. Now realize it will be difficult to do photos. But as I have a couple of weeks yet I'm still far from being late.

You're missing the upside though. Buy a large sheet of red filter and put it over your laptop with minimum brightness and now you can watch Netflix etc while in the darkroom (I've actually done this, never had any fogging problems)

 

[BSP]

No prints ready to send yet for this exchange...but I did make my first lith test prints today
Moersch EasyLith A+B and Fomatone MG gave me some nice contrast and subtle sepia tones to play with.
Next testing will be with Adox MCP after that I will decide how to craft my submission to this exchange.
Please bear with me....

Bill
BSP

 

[piu58]

> Next testing will be with Adox MCP

Adoc MCP is not a Lith paper- It liths in principle, but you get some snowball liefe effect all over the image.

 

[BSP]

> Next testing will be with Adox MCP

Adoc MCP is not a Lith paper- It liths in principle, but you get some snowball liefe effect all over the image.

Aha, that explains my miserable failure then
(I think I got MCC and MCP mixed up.)
Anyway I have attained some interesting results on Fomatone MG and will submitting a sample to the Exchange.

Stay safe!

Bill

 

[Oxleyroad]

@ scherbis.

I've had my prints flatening, and over the course of time I have found I did not wash them properly and stains have appeared. I'm going to redo them as soon as I have some sun appear in the sky. Sorry for the delay, but the prints will go out in the month of May.

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

So it has been a long time since my last update. Real live was demanding, but darkroom live is on again. Actually I never did an update since we started this round, so there is some catching up to be done.

I hope you are all fine and not affected by the corona pandemic, including your families and friends and loved ones. If you are affected in any way and you cannot continue in the exchange, please PM me. We will figure something out.

I have sent my lith prints today, I hope Uwe is going to enjoy them. According to your posts, the current status is:

sent: piu58, RauschenoderKorn (2/7)
received: BSP (1/7)

I believe some more of you have already sent your print, so the real status should already have progressed a little more. If you have sent or received a print, please give us a heads up.

@ BSP: The old Agfa MCP/MCC do lith, the newer Adox MCP/MCC do not. You chose to participate in this exchange with a new process for you, that is very demanding. If you need any support, you can send me a PM anytime.

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

Uwe, I hope you like it:

 

[piu58]

Yesterday I received a letter from Bernd (RauschenOderKorn) with two Lith prints. I was very excited! Bernd presented one of them already, I give the second one here.
My wife enjoyed the prints two. I like the colors we get with Lit, Bernds prints gave excellent examples for that.

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

I do hope that everybody is healthy and you are all doing well, in spite of the current situation. News from around the world is mixed at best, not just regarding the corona virus but also the economic situation. 20 Mio unemployed with a rate of almost 15% in the US are quite shocking.

As it seems, the corona virus is not just affecting everybody´s lifes, but also our print exchange. Current status is:

sent: piu58, RauschenoderKorn (2/7)
received: BSP, piu58 (2/7)

Given the situation and the current status, I would propose to change the timeline as follows:

Our corona-virus timeline - subject to future updates as required :
Print and Send: March, April, May, June 2020
Rest and Relaxation: July 2020

If you realise you will not be able to send your print permanently (e.g. no more access to a dark room), please give me a heads up. I will then adjust the exchange.

I hope you all stay healthy (or get better) and survive this crisis unaffected.

 

[Oxleyroad]

I just need better weather to redo mine- ugh. But I think the proposal is a good one.

 

[BSP]

I second that new schedule proposal.

I think I have read-up enough and gathered confidence for another try at Lith printing.
I have a great negative in mind so @RauschenOderKorn you can expect some PM's from me over the next week.

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

I second that new schedule proposal.

I think I have read-up enough and gathered confidence for another try at Lith printing.
I have a great negative in mind so @RauschenOderKorn you can expect some PM's from me over the next week.

Anytime

 

[Oxleyroad]

My prints will be in the post tomorrow. They are well wrapped just needing a stamp.

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

Current status is:

sent: piu58, RauschenoderKorn, Oxleyroad (3/7)
received: BSP, piu58 (2/7)

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

This exchange has been a bit slow, but good news.

Sly and earlz have also sent out their prints, so there is life. As it seems, the conrona impacted mail system has not been the fastest either.
BSP is working on his contribution and on a good way.

The new status ist:

sent: piu58, RauschenoderKorn, Oxleyroad, Sly, Earlz (5/7)
received: BSP, piu58 (2/7)

 

[BSP]

I have good and happy news! I have just made my first real Lith print!
Now the washing, drying, flattening, packaging and sending is just a matter of a few days.

Whoohoo! I (think) I did it

Thanks to the coaching by @RauschenOderKorn. Thanks Bernd!

Bill

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

I have good and happy news! I have just made my first real Lith print!
Now the washing, drying, flattening, packaging and sending is just a matter of a few days.

Whoohoo! I (think) I did it

Thanks to the coaching by @RauschenOderKorn. Thanks Bernd!

Bill

Great you made it!!! Congratulations!!!!!

So we have new status:

sent: piu58, RauschenoderKorn, Oxleyroad, Sly, Earlz, BSP, scherbis (7/7)
received: BSP, piu58 (2/7)

only waiting for the mailperson now to deliver the prints!

Thank you very much everybody for the great participation! I´m very happy we have been able to close this round of the ALPX successfully in spite of Covid-19 and I hope everybody stays healthy!

I´m looking forward to see you all again in the nex round ALPX5!

 

[BSP]

SENT!

Thank you all for your patience!
See you all in the next round for another go!

Bill