Lodima Fine Art Paper--Official reports and Member Responses

[Curt]

I told you it would get to France sooner than Washington State!

 

[Curt]

The card was verified and it went through, the exp. date had changed, now for the wait and daily mail check.

 

[jgjbowen]

Curt,
Don't bother checking the mail, these books ship UPS.

 

[Curt]

I received the Oregon book today and it's just as fine as the others in the series, it came via USPS.

Looking at image #9 it appears to be presented up-side-down. The wigwam burner photo is one that I haven't seen before, I have seen another view in other books, I wonder how many different views he took of it. In fact I wonder what's in the archive that we will never see. It's too bad they just keep them in storage and don't show them all and the few they do are few and far between. That's one reason I signed up for the portfolio series. With his 100Th birthday anniversary coming up this next year I wonder why there is only one show in Colorado, that's sad.

Curt

 

[jgjbowen]

Curt,

Yes! When I looked at image #9, I thought "this is weird." It took me a few moments to really look at the image and determine it was upside down. I sent a PM to MAS about it, but he never responded.

I'm glad our book arrived in time for the holidays. These books are real treasures!
John

 

[Curt]

Isn't it funny that photo #9, I remember reading that once he said his photographs could be viewed right side up or right side down and laughed. When I first saw it I started to look closer at the details but it didn't make sense, then I looked for the lighting to give it away and there I was with the book upside down and it all made sense. Now that's not a detraction from the image, I really like it, it fits with his work. Very interesting though and maybe someone will give an explanation for it, someone with an original portfolio.

Curt

 

[Black Dog]

Sounds interesting!

 

[c6h6o3]

Curt,

Yes! When I looked at image #9, I thought "this is weird." It took me a few moments to really look at the image and determine it was upside down. I sent a PM to MAS about it, but he never responded.

He never responds to PMs. You have to email him at michaelandpaula@michaelandpaula.com, which I have done to alert him to this thread.

 

[Michael A. Smith]

c6h6o3 alerted me to where this thread is now. Yes, it is always much better to send me an email rather than a PM. I rarely get to the PMs.

Paula and I looked carefully at Plate #9 in Oregon. The reproduction is right side up. it is NOT upside down.

We have had questions about a number of Brett Weston's photographs and always check them out thoroughly by looking at the original mounted print. If Brett mounted one upside down, then we will reproduce it that way, although I do not believe he ever did that. At least he had not at the time when I looked through every single photograph he had ever made—a couple of hundred or more every day for a month.

Michael A. Smith
Publisher
Lodima Press

 

[Merg Ross]

Isn't it funny that photo #9, I remember reading that once he said his photographs could be viewed right side up or right side down and laughed. When I first saw it I started to look closer at the details but it didn't make sense, then I looked for the lighting to give it away and there I was with the book upside down and it all made sense. Now that's not a detraction from the image, I really like it, it fits with his work. Very interesting though and maybe someone will give an explanation for it, someone with an original portfolio.

Curt

I don't have the book to view photo #9. Is it perhaps of Rock Forms, 1970?

 

[doughowk]

#9 in the Oregon book is "Rocks and Reflections, Devil's Elbow". Very nice from any angle.

 

[Merg Ross]

#9 in the Oregon book is "Rocks and Reflections, Devil's Elbow". Very nice from any angle.

Doug, thank you.

It is true that Brett was not always faithful to the original orientation of the subject when mounting his prints. I wondered if it might be the print of Rock Forms, Oregon 1970 because Brett chose to present it "upside down." I have also seen it reproduced flipped from right to left; whether that was Brett or the publisher I am not certain. In any case, Brett's work is about strong form, often exaggerated by contrast; as you suggest, "very nice from any angle."

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

I have used the Lodima G2 first run paper last night (single weight). Contact printed my 8x10 negatives (HP5+ in HC-110h, tray). Prints developed in PF 130, stop, Kodak plain hypo, short selenium tone (KRST).

Compared to RC VC paper, Lodima is definitely straighter with respect to contrast, and gives more detail in the highlights. Obviously, I wish my negatives had been denser, because this paper seems to like extracting all the details it can. I might have needed G3 for some photos, but the prints I made match overall my RC proofs.

Not being an expert printer I can't comment on the total power of the paper, but it's a well-manufactured product that is worth discovering.