APUG BLIND PRINT EXCHANGE - ROUND 19 (BPX19) Status and Updates

[Ken Nadvornick]

...however it has already been done!

I'm reminded of a wonderfully sublime commercial advertisement years ago for the Seattle International Film Festival.

The ad urged everyone to buy their tickets as soon as possible to see the debut of all of the new films. Then it urged everyone to show up to the theater early. And sit in the front row. So they can see the new films before anyone else...



Ken

 

[Roger Cole]

I received my print today from Ken Nadvornick, a beautiful print of an old storefront entitled "Mac's New and Used Store," along with a three page, mostly single spaced letter explaining how he calculated the best time for the sun position, then went back ten months later to take advantage of it, plus all the technical details. Ken really worked for this one and it shows.

I've received a print from Ken before and man, every time I feel like I hired myself a kindergartner to pack the one I just sent! The print is beautifully mounted and overmatted, shipped with another piece of mount board and cut mat for protection, with edge cards held on with binder clips to protect the corners, bagged thoroughly, wrapped in bubble wrap, ensconced in a box then filled with packing peanuts. Opening it is like an adventure in nested Russian dolls. My wife, who worked in a gallery for a while and buys a fair amount of art, remarked on the previous one, "he really knows how to pack his art" and that she wished all the artists she buys from packed so well.

I just threw my unmounted print into an empty Ilford 11x14 paper box with a short letter, taped it shut, put the whole thing in a padded mailer and sent it off regular first class. Ken shipped it with tracking and insured!

Thanks Ken!

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

So happy that you like it, Roger. I do tend to put a lot of effort into these BPX exchanges. This photograph has always been one of my favorites. That was a fun morning back in 2005. Hard to believe so much time has gone by since then.

As I mentioned above, this round I was forced to use past negatives instead of new ones. A family loss and this season's never-ending rain and cold prevented me from getting the LF equipment out at all. So as it happens, this photograph is already posted in my gallery as a long ago submission for the Monthly Shooting Assignment Signage.

Click (there was a url link here which no longer exists) to see it.

Also included in the comments are a pair of Google Street links just for fun. They show the wider context and color of the location around the building. More jarringly modern than one might expect.

It should be noted that the gallery image is almost, but not quite, identical to your print. It's actually a scan of an earlier print made on Zone VI Brilliant graded paper using a slightly different negative from the sequence made that morning.

In my opinion the version you received, Roger, is better. But the differences are so subtle I didn't think they would show in a rescan. So I didn't bother.

Ken

 

[StoneNYC]

I have mixed feelings about extending the BPX time frames, on one hand it's good if you're busy (and obviously I'm late) on the other hand I feel like it's TOO much time... And people get stagnant... And there is ALWAYS something to photograph in all seasons... And, you don't HAVE to go outside... Challenge yourself to shoot something you wouldn't normally of there's bad weather, shoot inside, I find some of my best work is from subject matter I'm not familiar with. I dunno, I like it how it is... :/

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

And I do realize that I have the option to only participate every other round. So if the schedule is once every four months, that would lengthen it to eight months per round for me...

Anyway, I was just asking if there was any interest. The schedule was only changed from 6 to 4 months beginning with this round.

Ken

 

[Roger Cole]

And as far as I know there is no requirement or even suggestion that the work be shot during the time frame. If there were I'd never make it given the way my film gets back logged - I have over 30 rolls and maybe a dozen sheets in the fridge now waiting to develop.


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[Ken Nadvornick]

Actually that's very true.

Maybe I need to try squeezing a year's worth of BPX negatives into our notoriously short 6-week Pacific Northwest "summers". Meaning, the only time of the year when a forecast for a non-rainy day can be trusted (sometimes) into the day after it's made.

Ken

 

[Roger Cole]

Ken sent his after I did and it had to go farther. I'm wondering if I should PM the person who is supposed to get mine to ask if they have received it?


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[Ken Nadvornick]

Your box was sent Priority Mail 2-Day. Oddly, the USPS tracing log told me this morning that your delivery would be delayed until tomorrow. I was surprised when I read you had received it today anyway.

According to the log it left the Monroe, WA post office at 4:05 pm on Tuesday afternoon. If it was dropped off before 4:05 pm today that's less than 48 hours to go damned near completely cross-country. I'm impressed.

[Edit: Should have looked at the log again! It was dropped off at your place at 3:54 pm. That's only 47 hours and 49 minutes.]

Ken

 

[Roger Cole]

My regular first class might take another day to go half as far. I'll give it another day anyway.


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[paul_c5x4]

And after another week of procrastination, the prints are mailed! Unfortunately, I forgot to scan the prints, so I've got nothing to upload to the gallery.

USPS and Royal Mail made up for the delays - Two prints got delivered to my door this morning double bagged in strong plastic just in case of rain.

Unfortunately, the prints are too big for my scanner, so everyone else will have to use their imagination

Do like the way the gulls a mirroring the gait and direction of the people in the background - Must have taken ages to set that shot up.

 

[AndreasT]

I would be against a 6 month period. If one has to wait that long one may lose interest. I don’t think it is bad if one sends the print a bit late.
As long as it gets sent in the end. This has been my first BPX and I am hooked already and can’t wait.
Although me being forced to leave my apartment and having to find a new one, and I am losing my darkroom as well, I may be hard pressed to make a print in the future. At the moment the sooner the better for me.

 

[StoneNYC]

Ken, USPS priority mail is supposed to only take two days or less that's sort of what you're paying for

Also, aren't all of these images going to be too big to scan normally? at least for most people, most scanners don't scan bigger than a by 10, so all of these images are supposed to be larger aren't they? Like 11 x 14 or bigger? I thought that was the point?

 

[anikin]

USPS and Royal Mail made up for the delays - Two prints got delivered to my door this morning double bagged in strong plastic just in case of rain.

Unfortunately, the prints are too big for my scanner, so everyone else will have to use their imagination

Do like the way the gulls a mirroring the gait and direction of the people in the background - Must have taken ages to set that shot up.

That's great that they made it safely! I was a little worried that the post office might bend the envelope or something. They seem to have gotten quite inventive at destroying prints . That's OK about the scanner, I don't have a large one either. I have a couple of rejects that I made while working on the prints, I might take a photo with a digisnapper and upload that.

About the seagulls. I did not setup that shot. It was actually quite the opposite. I was on a boat coming back from a tour of Everglades and saw this comical situation, so I had about a second to react before the boat got closer to the dock and scared the gulls. I was pleasantly surprised that the shot came out as well as it did.

I'm glad you like the print! Take care,

Eugene.

 

[ataim]

Sorry guys, I guess I have had my head up my a$$. Between here and the large format forum I got confused on which ones I had working. I'll get in the darkroom over the weekend and make a "special" contribution to my exchange buddy to make up for the time lost.

 

[MattKing]

I've had good success scanning 11x14 prints in two passes and then using Microsoft's free stitching software I.C.E.

 

[Roger Cole]

I'm quite sure mine should have arrived by now. Back to wondering if I should drop the recipient a PM.


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[TheToadMen]

I'm quite sure mine should have arrived by now. Back to wondering if I should drop the recipient a PM.

Do so and ask him to check the address. Maybe he received it but was to busy to post here??

Bert from Holland
http://thetoadmen.blogspot.nl

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

mine went out today... officially late... does my heart being in the right place count for anything????

(please excuse my tardiness...):eek:

jvo

Yesterday I received a wonderful print from Jim. The photograph was made inside the mid-19th century Oaklawn Cemetery in Tampa, Florida (USA), which is described as "...the final resting place for 'White and Slave, Rich and Poor.'"

The print came reverse-mounted to a two-tone bevel-cut window mat, and ink-stamped with an ID logo on the backside. There was also an included letter describing much of the local history of this cemetery.

I am especially appreciative when individuals include such background information. Personally I think it makes looking at photographs far more interesting when one knows some of the context surrounding them.

The print is titled Tree Person, and the subject is a marvelously foreshortened study of what appears to be an ancient oak tree set amongst a group of equally ancient ornate fenced family-style burial plots. I have always been a fan of straight ahead direct studies that make use of shapes, forms and tones. This photograph qualifies, in my opinion.

The overlapping vertical headstones lie underneath, and are dominated by, the overarching oak tree. The tree itself begins with a tremendously stout trunk, then filigrees out in fractal precision until the eventually microscopic branches and leaves literally vanish into the skylight.

It's a striking blend of strength and delicacy. And sobering to think that the tree itself may quite literally be an aggregation of all who rest beneath it, thus perhaps giving a literal physical expression to the declaration 'White and Slave, Rich and Poor'.

Thanks, Jim. Very much appreciate your time and effort.

Any chance a scan might be available for posting?

Ken

(Note to Bert: I am now both SENT and RECEIVED, and thus complete for this round.)

 

[Roger Cole]

Do so and ask him to check the address. Maybe he received it but was to busy to post here??

Bert from Holland
http://thetoadmen.blogspot.nl

A lot of people aren't online much on the weekend. I will do so next week if I don't hear anything.

 

[dasBlute]

Yesterday I received a wonderful print from Jim....

A marvelous example of the kind of thoughtful feedback this exchange deserves, thanks for this.
-Tim

 

[TheToadMen]

update BPX-19

[TABLE="width: 325"]

[TD="class: xl24, width: 175"]Name[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25, width: 75"]Sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25, width: 75"]Received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]Christopher Walrath[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]Katie[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]AndreasT[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]TheToadMen [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]anikin[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]StoneNYC[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]andreios[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]ataim[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"](S) piu58 [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]Mark_S[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]paul_c5x4[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]mjs[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]megzdad81[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]dasBlute[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]JimO[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]Roger Cole[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"](R) Dali [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]Ken Nadvornick[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]sent[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"]received[/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]Kc2edh[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]


[TD="class: xl24"]BirgerA[/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]
[TD="class: xl25"] [/TD]

[/TABLE]

Bert

 

[StoneNYC]

What????

 

[TheToadMen]

What????

View attachment 85879

You're using Tapatalk on a phone, aren't you? Unfortunately it often scrambles the forum posts, images, ...
I posted a simple table (as done before). Better use a "normal" computer and net browser for this if you don't want to read straight HTML.
Bert

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

What????

View attachment 85879

Table encoding...