Alt & Lith Print Exchange #5 (ALPX-5) - 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:

aldus_manutius -> RauschenOderKorn -> BSP -> piu58 -> fgorga -> Oxleyroad -> aldus_manutius

[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: September and October 2020
Rest and Relaxation: November 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-5!

 

[fgorga]

I took a package for Andy C (Oxleyroad) to the post office this afternoon.

I have scans of the prints (one cyanotype and one hand-colored inkjet print) but I will delay posting those until Andy receives the package. I don't want to spoil the surprise! (Unless Andy says post them now.)

 

[piu58]

Dear Frank (fgorga),

my prints are on it's way to you. You get two lith prints and a lith postcard for writing some words of the prints on it

Enjoy!

 

[fgorga]

Dear Frank (fgorga),

my prints are on it's way to you. You get two lith prints and a lith postcard for writing some words of the prints on it

Enjoy!

Uwe's envelope arrived today with three very nice lith prints showing scenes from Liepzig. My wife and I are enjoying looking at them.

Thanks for the prints and the information about how they were made.

 

[Oxleyroad]

Frank, I say post them. I don't know if I have seen the prints yet or not. Seeing the images might trigger my memory of where I put the prints should they have arrived.

 

[fgorga]

Andy,

I do hope that you have the prints I sent. The post office said they were received shortly after I sent them, so I was not worried. Here are the scans of the prints I sent...

The first print, titled “Gosport Chapel (Star Island, NH)” is a cyanotype made with the traditional sensitizer on Bergger COT 160 paper. The image is about 7"x9" on 8"x10" paper. The original exposure was made with a digital camera in September 2015. This print was made in August 2020 using a digital negative.

The second print, titled “Barns (Hillsborough, NH)” is a hand-colored inkjet print. The image is 4.5 inches square on 5x7 inch paper. The original exposure was made by photographing the ground glass of a camera obscura using a digital camera in March 2020. The print was made using Piezography Warm Neutral inks on Strathmore Hot Press watercolor paper. I used Prismacolor pencils for the hand-coloring. These pigments were blended using a 1:1 mixture of turpentine and vegetable oil. This print was made and colored in September 2020.

I learned about this method of hand coloring from a book titled "Hand Coloring Black & White Photography: An Introduction and Step-By-Step Guide" by Laurie Klein (see: https://www.amazon.com/Coloring-Black-White-Photography-Step/dp/1564965864)

 

[Oxleyroad]

@ Frank, both brilliant, but I can definitely say I have not seen these before you posted them above. A real pitty, but it is all part of the exchange.

I have to admit looking for these prints I have found a lot of other prints I have rec'd in other exchanges I have participated in all before I moved to the USA in 2015.


@ aldus_manutius, I am still in the process of printing my pictures. Have not yet been happy with any of them yet. But they will be completed at some point during this month of October.

 

[BSP]

I have finally managed to print an image to my liking...Whoohoo!

It will be entered in to the Dutch postal service on Saturday to make it's way to a very patient recipient.

I hope you like it @piu58

Kind regards,

Bill
BSP

 

[piu58]

Today I got a very nice Lith print form Bill (BSP). I am very happy with that. It is the first Lith print I got form this exchange. Because I make Lith prints regularly it is important for me to see other results in real. It is interesting, how different this can be. Thank you, Bill!

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

I have also sent my contribution last saturday, I hope the mail will deliver quickly.
(sneak preview available here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/media/categories/the-print-exchange.7/ )

Current status is:

Sent: fgorga, piu58, BSP, RauschenoderKorn (4/6)
Received: fgorga, piu58 /2/6)

 

[BSP]

Hello Bernd,

Just a quicky to let you know your lovely print for this exchange was delivered to me this morning.

Both my wife and I are very pleased with it. Never before have we seen a handcrafted print like this. Your accompanying letter is very detailed and contains much to be learnt by me. Love it!

Keep safe and keep printing!

 

[BSP]

Today I got a very nice Lith print form Bill (BSP). I am very happy with that. It is the first Lith print I got form this exchange. Because I make Lith prints regularly it is important for me to see other results in real. It is interesting, how different this can be. Thank you, Bill!

I am so glad you like it.
In the next round I will be experimenting more to see what other "looks" I can get with this combination of Moersch EasyLith and Foma Warm Tone MG paper.

Stay safe and keep printing!

Bill (BSP)

 

[Oxleyroad]

I have to come clean aldus_manutius. While I was active in the darkroom back in mid October, in the last two and a bit weeks I have struggled to get time in the darkroom mainly due to work commitments seeing unforeseen travel. I would like to commit to getting the print/s completed by the end of this month as I have some vacation planned week after next. Then I would hope that these print/s could be in your hands before Christmas.

 

[Oxleyroad]

I'm ready to get to the post office. This I'll do tomorrow and I trust my package does not get slowed down with all of the Chrismas mail.

Appologies to aldus_manutius for my tardiness.

 

[Oxleyroad]

I'm ready to get to the post office. This I'll do tomorrow and I trust my package does not get slowed down with all of the Chrismas mail.

Appologies to aldus_manutius for my tardiness.

 

[Oxleyroad]

My prints went in the mail last week, at last.

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

Current status is:

Sent: fgorga, piu58, BSP, RauschenoderKorn, Oxleyroad, aldus_manutius (6/6)
Received: fgorga, piu58, BSP, RauschenOderKorn (4/6)

All prints have been sent out, which is a perfect 100% result.

I thought about starting the next round in January, as some of us are quite busy with christmas. So we can all think about which print we want to send out in the next round and get started!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

 

[fgorga]

Over the weekend, I reprinted the cyanotype I sent Andy (oxleyroad)... things move slowly this time of year as there is no heat in my basement work room except a wood stove. The temperature there hovers around 45 deg F (7 deg C) during the New Hampshire winter and it takes several hours after lighting the stove to get to a reasonable temperature.

I will dig also thorough my stock of hand colored prints and find another (possibly not the same one as I originally sent) to resend him as well.

However, realistically I may not get these sent out until after the holidays. I am currently working on an edition of fifteen hand colored prints for a portfolio and under a tight deadline for this.

 

[Oxleyroad]

Frank, That is kind of you.

When I lived in Australia I had the opposite issue. Half my garage was my darkroom. I had fans, but no means to cool. I would work in the early morning when the day was at it coolest but it could still be above 36 deg C (97 deg F). No trouble drying prints !. Good temps for doing colour negs and prints. For B&W I would develop films in ice bath. Here in MI I enjoy being able to duck down to the basement to work any time I feel like it.

 

[piu58]

> I thought about starting the next round in January,

Lieber Bernd,

I enjoy the exchange very much and look forward to the next round.

 

[Atracksler]

Any chance inkjet prints could be included?

 

[RauschenOderKorn]

Any chance inkjet prints could be included?

How do all you guys feel about this?

From my point of view Alt & Lith has a strong hand crafted process component which usually results in a unique monoprint. I know I stretched this to the limit when I spoke in favour of hand coloured BW inkjet prints – always assuming that these would remain a curiosity in this exchange. Full inkjet does not meet any of these criteria, so actually I think it is a different kind of product. On the other hand, I think it was Tim Rudman who included a chapter on inkjet Lith prints in his second Lith book, if I remember correctly.

My personal opinion: While an inkjet print can emulate the Alt & Lith look, it is created through a different process, with different materials and different tools. Our exchange is primarily about process, not so much about a particular look. So I would not consider an inkjet print an “equal” participant, due to lack of process compatibility.

I know this forum is focused on analogue, but have you thought about an inkjet print exchange?

 

[BSP]

How do all you guys feel about this??

I think I would be dissapointed receiving a computer generated reproduction in exchange for my hard crafted unique print. Even if it is of exquisite quality.

 

[Atracksler]

No problem.

 

[fgorga]

Any chance inkjet prints could be included?

I agree with the other respondents that a straight inkjet print is not appropriate for these exchanges which value the handcrafted nature of the objects exchanged.

I do think that there are hybrid processes that would be appropriate here, including hand colored inkjet prints. (I was the fellow who asked about this back during the sigh up for this round.)

I imagine that transfers of inkjet prints to other substrates might (subject to discussion) also be appropriate. Maybe there are other hybrid process that would fit as well.

That said, I might also be interested in participating in an "ink on paper" print exchange. Being a relatively new active participant here, I am unsure how one would go about organizing this.

 

[Atracksler]

We could start with a regional swap between Nh and Maine.