Postcard Exchange Round 16 Results and Feedback ...

[sly]

Kate - That was quick! I just mailed those yesterday! Helps to be just the other side of the Malahat. So near and yet so far.

 

[Allen Friday]

I put my cards in the mail today.

Allen

 

[Pete H]

My cards are in the post.

cheers
Pete

 

[Jon King]

Trotkiller's shutter - great texture with the lighting and your printing. JohnnyWalker's portrait of Dakota - a great pose and wonderful printing of the lighter tones.


My cards went in the mail yesterday. I printed 3 different cards this time, all from the same series of photos though. Each time I went into the darkroom to print the postcards, I felt like trying a different negative, so I did! I'll post all three to the print exchange gallery in a week or so, just in case anyone is curious what the other two looked like.

 

[Tim Gray]

I got Shannon Friday's lovely boat picture today. You guys have cool boats in NZ...

 

[Mark Fisher]

Just received Johnny Walker's Dakota.....amazing portrait. Beautiful dog.

 

[Pete H]

Trotkiller's wooden shutter arrived yesterday. The texture of the wood is great.

Pete

 

[Pete H]

A card arrived from Ritchie (thomsonrc) today. All those different sets of parallel lines make a great pattern.

cheers
Pete

 

[johnnywalker]

I've received 6 cards so far:
Jake Williams' WWII bunker - Nature's patience has won out in the end, lets hope that can continue with our current man vs. nature problem;
Mark's store window picture of the stocking figures, very nicely done;
Darwin's abandoned shack - nicely toned. I always wonder what stories these old structures have to tell;
Mike's Kodak balloon - nice allegory. To think that Kodak could have provided everything needed to make this print, including the subject;
Sile's gondola. Nice placement of the Gondola. The picture gives the feeling of cold and wet all right;
Sly's picture of the English seaside buildings - very effective composition and use of infrared.

 

[nuckabean]

Got 2 in so far.

Mark Fisher, very nice picture. Love the detail in the monkeys. Great out of focus area too.
Jon King, When I first saw your print I thought I was looking at a 4x5 contact print. I don't think I've ever seen such crisp results and broad tonal range from 35mm before. Do you use Pyrocat HD with fp4 often? I'd love to hear more.

Mine are printed and addressed and just need to be mailed out. They don't live up to anything I've seen yet, but I hope you all won't be to dissapointed.

 

[Anke Drewitz]

7 postcards so far

Hi all,

received 7 postcards last weeks:
Tim Gray's "Angry at salad"
drpsilver's "Out of Business"
johnnywalker's portrait of Dakota
sly's "Clevedon Seafront"
Shannon Friday's Milford Sound
Mark Fisher's store window
wazza's "Leura Overpass in Mist"
All of them are interesting point of views, but no one is like the other, that makes these exchanges so interesting to me.

Thanks to all for this nice start fo this round,
Anke

 

[Pete H]

Lillian, your card is great. I took one look and thought "English seaside town", although I don't know Clevedon. The composition works well with the dark IR sky.

Thanks!
Pete H

 

[kraker]

I must admit that I'm a bit slow this round. Cards have been stacking up, time to give some feedback before the stack gets too high... Cards received so far:

drpsilver: "Out of business", exactly as you describe it... Built with passion, full of ideas, and then, it just didn't work out. A shot with a story, even if only imagination. Great toning too!
Mark Fisher:Lovely, light, funny print of the monkeys in the storewindow.
Black Dog: bunker, nice one (but if you hadn't mentioned a bunker, I would have overlooked it). Nice shallow DOF.
Tim Gray: Angry at salad/at me, really works well as a double feature. Tells a story. Well done!
Mike Wilde: Quite a surprise to find an RA4 print, nice "on-topic" shot.
Trotkiller: Great surfaces, lights, shadows, an interesting photo.
sly:Very nice print; I'm a sucker for infrared shots, and this is no exception. Adds something spooky to the scene. Great shot.
Shannon Friday: Milford Sound; very nice, very subtle background.
Jon King: Although this is not a favourite subject, it is very well executed and I'm looking forward to more of the litter series.
wazza: Leura overpass. Absolutely lovely structures, shapes, forms. Lovely. Thanks for your kind words.

And that's it so far. Ten received already! And I haven't even selected a print to send myself. Spent some time on two negs yesterday, but... no, they're both not what I expected. My time the coming week is rather limited, but I hope I can find something good soon after that.

 

[Jon King]

thomsonrc's cab in Edinburgh - a great mix of textures in the image, and
Shannon/Allen's boat - A nice, moody image, showed up over the last few days.

 

[Síle]

Seven more fantastic cards to add to the bunch..

Thomsonrc I love the how the background seems to create so many patterns in this card.. and then how the black cab stands out in all it's shining glory in the midst of it all.. Great shot!
Trotkiller Beautiful wooden shutter, very simple but with such great textures.. very nicely done.
Shannon Friday Lovely shot.. very mysterious and almost pirate like, I love where the boat is in the photo too.
Sly Clevedon Seafront.. looks very much like my own home town and gives me ideas for some shots of my own! Gorgeous print..
Jon King A most unusual subject matter.. I didn't know the work of Irving Penn before this, but intend to take a look now.. The detail and clarity in this shot are just amazing and the tones are something I can only aspire to! Really great shot.. look forward to the rest of the series.
Allen FridayI'm fascinated by the building in your shot.. it's huge and there is so much going on and yet it also manages to keep it's simplicity.. Great print really well done.
Wazza This photo wouldn't be out of place in a Sci Fi movie.. I just love how this shot is composed.. Very well captured and really well printed.. Nice one!


Looking forward to the next batch!

 

[bwakel]

Arrived home to find a large batch of postcards waiting to be enjoyed. Great stuff. Here's a summary so far:

Mark Fisher the monkeys are so well framed that it's very easy to 'read' the image.
Dawin Lovely tonality and toning. I love the way the bench in front of the shack is even more decrepit than the shack itself!
Black Dog So sharp it feels risky to touch the postcard.
Shannon Friday really conveys the mood in Milford Sound that day.
Lilian Sly the IR works so well with this image. The buildings glow and stand out from the dark sky and garden hedges.
Wazza The light mist in the tunnel gives a wonderful sense of depth that would otherwise be missing and adds an organic note to a strong architectural image.
Allen Friday Wonderful tonality and sharpness. Interesting how the buildings look like a Norwegian stave church. Could this be something to do with the Scandinavian heritage of some mid-Americans?
Pete H Great simplicity and printing with cooltone developer was inspired.
Jon King Superb composition of 'litter' and the tonality works to enhance the image.

All in all, my first postcard exchange has been a real pleasure so far. Looking forward to the next eleven postcards!

Barry

 

[Jon King]

Nuckabean,kraker,bwakel and Sile, thank you for your comments.

Nuckabean, it was the first time I tried FP4+ and Pyrocat. Before I've used FP4 in D76, and plenty of Tri-x 120 in Pyrocat. I think I do less burning on Pyrocat negatives, everything else being equal, and I do have a preference for liquid chemicals, so I used what I had for the cigarette pics. At 8x10, the images don't show any grain, which I was a bit worried about, so at postcard size, they look even better.

Kraker, cigarettes aren't a nice subject for me either. I lost a very close friend to them while he was still very young. For me, the difficulty was to try to make make compelling images out of what is for me an essentially repugnant subject. It adds a challenge beyond the normal photographic ones.

 

[drpsilver]

03 Mar 2009

The past week brought 5 more cards to my mail box.

Thomsonrc's photo of a taxi in Edinburgh reminds me of the time I spent there last year. All good memories.
The phots from Jon King is not of a favorite subject of mine either, but is is well executed. I like how you separated the tones of white background and white paper. This photo is a good example of what I call "negative environmental" photography. Good luck on your project on litter. I commend you on challenging yourself.
The photo that Sly sent gives me a sense of peacefulness. I like how you used IR film to make the houses glow. Well done. I am glad that you like "Out of Business".
Allen Friday's print is well executed with lots of mid-tones, but all separated to highlight textures. The grain elevators remind me of many summers spent in Wichita, Kansas with family.
The print from wazza reminds me of the entrance to the "Time Tunnel" (TV serial circa 1966). Really well done. I like the composition, it draws the viewer into the print.

Thanks to all for such a great round so far.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[Anke Drewitz]

three more cards to report on

Three more cards surprised me:

Allen Friday's Grain Elevator, indeed there is a similarity to the Norwegian churches
Jon King's litter project, like Darwin says, not my favorite subject, but I would like to see more of this series; thanks for your kind words
Pete H's Louvre in blue and sepia, really love this kind of tones in your split toning, I think this corresponds very well with the strength of the image

Jon King and Pete H, I too like the stamps on your cards

My cards should be printed by the weekend,
Anke

 

[Pete H]

Four more cards this week

Wazza's misty overpass. Good geometric patterns.
Shannon Friday's Milford Sound. I want to go there!
Allen Friday's Grain elevator. Interesting juxtaposition of the curved grain silos with the angular buildings.
Jon King's very ashy cigarette butts. The shot really evokes the smell of stale cigarettes.

Thank you all!
Pete

 

[Shannon Friday]

Hi, everyone.

I just wanted to say thank you so very much for including me in the postcard exchange. I'm living a long way from my family and most of my friends right now, and getting snail mail (as my generation tend to call it) is one of the real joys of my life right now. So thank you very much for thinking of me.

And for anyone who wants to come visit, I would highly reccommend it. This country is a photographer's dream. The lack of air pollution gives the light a particularly dreamy feeling that I've not seen anywhere else.

But mostly, thank you.

 

[johnnywalker]

You're most welcome, and thank you for the lovely picture of the boat in Milford Sound.

 

[rst]

Hi,

I have not commented on the many beautiful postcards I received so far. So here it is in no specific order:

Pete H. sent I nice image from rainy Oslo which exactly matches my contrast liking. Then Trotkiller sent a very nice detail which I also like very much. Shannon Friday sent a nice capture of a ship in Milford Sound. Thanks Allen thomsonrcs black taxi is great. Tim Grays Angry at salad/Angry at me reminds me at the postcards I once did together with Ingo. I like these ideas. Thanks to wazza who sent Leura Overpass in Mist, this is a very nice capture with lots of detail in a kind of minimalisic composition. Then sly snet Clevedon Seafront. Wow, this is a very nice image, what a glow in the front fasades of the houses. Hey, then I got one of the rare color postcards of these rounds. It is from Mike Wilde and it is from a time when Kodak still flew high And I got The Shadow Glass from Black Dog who seems to be specializing in square postcards. I like this image, it is very atmospheric. drpsilver sent Out of Business which I like very much. Thanks for sharing. JohnnyWalker sent a portrait of Dakota. It is a beautiful image and it is the favourite of my kids. How can it not be. bwakel sent a very atmospheric image from a morning in mist. Then Allen Friday sent the Grain Elevator - very nice and perfectly printed. All I know from Iowa is what I read in the books of John Irving. JonKing sent one of his cigarette photos. One may not smoke and one may not like cigarettes, but one has to respect what I great photograph Jon made out of those cigarettes. And last but not least Mark Fisher took a break from the county fair series and gives us a look into his new series - store windows. I am looking forward to the next rounds.

So, I know that I am still in-time, but I am later than I planned to be. Today the 500 pack of Ilford postcard paper arrived and I will hopefully find the time to print my postcards this week.

All of you who already sent a card to my daughter Judith - many thanks from her. She will also print her postcards this week.

Cheers
Ruediger

 

[Simplicius]

Cards received to date: great as always it’s wonderful to see what’s going on in other darkrooms across the globe.

1. BlackDog’s Seashell Love the drama and the abstract nature of this.
2. Jon King’s Cigarette stub Looking forward to seeing the series, FP4+ in pyrocat – interesting tones and sharpness..
   
3. Allen Friday’s Grain Elevator Amazingzly exposed everwhere has detail –
4. Sly: Clevedon Seafront The IR film sure helped accentuate the foreboding of the oncoming storm: superb
5. Shannon Friday (Allen) #2 This one I prefer, delightful misty seascape
6. Drpsilver: “Out of Business” Love the tone, never heard of thiourea toning , stored for future experimentation
7. M Wilde: Colour Balloons! The picture great, the explanation even better and the tones due to it. A real throwback to 70’s lab processing I remember as a kid…
8. Tim Gray: Angry at Salad Just love this composition and capture and great idea with 6x9 neg holder. Going to steal this idea too—borrow sounds better.
9. Mark Fisher: Store window country fair Super shot wonderful capture, leaves viewer guessing
10. PeteH: Oslo street & candle Wow, such tones and textures. I love everything about this print.
11. Wazza: Leura Overpass in Mist Superb lines and detail , really sucks you in to the middle of the print.

11/30 : yippee loads more to go!!

 

[Roger Bulcock]

All,

Cards sent today.

Roger