Postcard Exchange Round 21 - Comments and feedback

[anikin]

I also received cards from Rachelle and Mike Wilde. Now, I'm starting to worry - couple more cards and I'll start cursing myself for being too lazy.

Anyway, my comments:

mooseontheloose what's an international delight! A photo of Ukrainian house taken in Canada arriving from Kumamoto Japan! A great composition, and the person sitting in front of the building add just a perfect touch! Thank you for your early card!

Mike Wilde I actually got 4 photos for the price of three ;-). Seriously, you sent me two of "kid in a candy store". I hope I did not get somebody else's. Great story!
I love the "soaring spaces" print on Agfa. What a great tonality! I wish would have discovered analog photography sooner. Such a beautiful paper, and alas - I can't even try it... By the way, fogging just adds to the print. Really nice.

 

[mooseontheloose]

I also received cards from Rachelle and Mike Wilde. Now, I'm starting to worry - couple more cards and I'll start cursing myself for being too lazy.

Anyway, my comments:

mooseontheloose what's an international delight! A photo of Ukrainian house taken in Canada arriving from Kumamoto Japan! A great composition, and the person sitting in front of the building add just a perfect touch! Thank you for your early card!

Thanks anikin! There's certainly no need to feel lazy -- the cards were printed back in March (!) right before I left for Japan (I knew I would be without an enlarger for some time and didn't want to miss any exchanges). Glad to hear the first one arrived safely within a week of being sent.

 

[drpsilver]

mooseontheloose what's an international delight! A photo of Ukrainian house taken in Canada arriving from Kumamoto Japan! A great composition, and the person sitting in front of the building add just a perfect touch! Thank you for your early card!

09 Oct 2010

I completely agree with anikin! The card from mooseontheloose has a wonderful range of tones. A simple composition that gives the viewer lots to look at, and has a story to tell. I also like the stamp Rachelle used. At one time I collected stamps and "first day covers", and always look at the variety of postage on cards I receive.

I received three prints form Mike Wilde. I really like how these three images work as a group - New, Old, and Fun. I like the variety of papers used. Where do you find such old papers? The fogged paper used for "Abandon Baggage Building" adds to the feeling of age and neglect of the building. Well done.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[ozphoto]

Rachelle's card has made it to Bangkok - my first card for round 21. I too love the tones of this elegantly simple image. Works on all fronts for me - I enjoy images like this very much.

 

[Laurent]

I received three very nice prints from Mike Wilde.

I still don't know which one I prefer, "Kid in a candy store" is a lovely one, but the tow other ones show wonderful perspective and details

Thanks Mike !

 

[mooseontheloose]

Rachelle's card has made it to Bangkok - my first card for round 21. I too love the tones of this elegantly simple image. Works on all fronts for me - I enjoy images like this very much.

Thanks Nanette!

I also received my first card(s) today from Mike Wilde, a little 3 for 1. The "Soaring Spaces" and the "Abandoned Baggage Building" are nice complementary pairs of large social spaces that exist in past, present, and future. Whereas the "Kid in a candy store" is a nice capture of being completely subsumed by the product and the very essence of shopping. Thanks.

 

[Mike Wilde]

09 Oct 2010
I received three prints form Mike Wilde. I like the variety of papers used. Where do you find such old papers?

They kind of just drop on me - from people who know I from camera clubs, etc who know I still shoot film, what I find for sale on local craigslist, yard/garage/estate sales etc.

I have a 19 cu ft or so vertical freeezer out in my garage that I pretty much devote to freezing my films and paper. The 10 or so boxes of 20x24 or 16x20 that I recently bought for a good price are still stored on the cool most year basement darkroom; they are too big, and besides the freezer is full.

I 'un artisitically' print when I get a new batch of old paper, making series of un exciting but informative step wedges to calibrate the prodiucts' performance.

It really aids the 'artisitic' printing attempts that come later on with the products in question, without needing to disrupt the work flow at that time.

I print a step wedge to see what its current contrast range and fog is, and then trim the 2x2 contact of the step wedge, and sometimes a 4x6 print of a 'betty' neg onto the front of the box or envelope if it is fixed grade paper. I also calibrate the current speed to the first non grey tone for my analyser. In this manner I can start to use it in the future and everything is already dialled in if I am using my standard paper developer for that session.

If I have a particular look I am aiming for with the paper, I will actually try to develop the neg to match the contrast range that the paper needs to minimize the printing troubles with it. Sometimes I will make a 4x5 dupe neg and reversal process it to a suitable density, to get a neg that fits the (usually low contrast) old expired paper.

If it is VC paper, I also test towards building a new filtration table to see the best result for filtration is and to see what VC contrast ranges are left. VC papers loose contrast too. Seagull gets really wierd filtration needs when it ages; this as the paper that forced me to my present regime. I start with all yellow and then print step wedges of -15 less until I am down to zero, then start winding on megenta in 15 unit increments. These twelve or so 2x2 images I develop at once in the same tray, for the same time. I tabulate the first non black, and first non grey, and then count the steps between these two limits for all prints. Then I normalize the neutral grey that tells me how much Y&M simultaneously is neded to equalize the exposure time for a constant grey on say step 18 for all filtration, and not the effective paper speed when applying this filtration. This data all gets pasted into a ring bound notebook. Saving this data saves a lot of time when a similar batch of expired paper rolls in again and neds a frest test.

This calculated filtration info gets pencilled onto a post it, and taped to the front of the box. With this info readilly accessible I am abe to swap papers very easily and not spend all sorts of time fiddling to get the new exposure and filter settings to match a grade when swapping between different boxes of old papers.

 

[hwv]

Mike Wilde:I received my first "postcard" of pce #21. It's an envelope with three nice pictures of different subjects printed on different papers. I like the available light of the "candy store" and also the parallel lines seen on the architectural photos.

 

[Laurent]

I got MooseOnTheLoose's Afternoon Snooze today. Very nice print, with lots of details of the old barn. the tones are wonderful, the roof has a metallic feeling that I really love !

 

[amiett]

I also got an envelope from Mike Wilde. What a pleasant surprise to 3 instead of one! I like the "abandon baggage building" most with its nice light and feel of space!

Ill have to go and buy some stamps for my cards. The pile is waiting to be taken to the mailbox...

 

[Samad Asad]

Received Rachelle's (aka mooseontheloose) post card today. Nice structure. Hard to find those here, as almost everything seems to be tall, and made of concrete and glass.

Oh... the heart-shaped 'Hello Kitty' stamp is cute too.

 

[drpsilver]

15 Oct 2010

Mike:

Thanks for the outline of how you "dial in" on the contrast range for the papers you acquire. I had the same experience of stuff "dropping in on me" many times in 2007 and 2008. I was given lots of chemistry and cameras, only some paper. Most of this stuff came from fellow photographers have gone digital. Their loss is my gain!.

My Round #21 cards will hopefully be printed and in the mail by month's end. I have selected an image. I just need to find time to get into the darkroom.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[bwakel]

Received my first card from Birger A. A very nice macro shot of an orchid. The print has wonderful tonality and the very glossy finish really suits the image well. I've been messing about with fallen leaves today and have just developed a film to see what I've got. It might be the basis for my postcard... or it might not!

Barry

 

[Dave Martiny]

I agree with the others about Rachelle's (aka mooseontheloose) postcard. Strong composition, nice variety of tones, and the large, intimidating behemouth of a barn that seems to want to be moving forward like a locomotive is not only stopped but perfectly though precariously balanced by the tiny, sedate figure.

It's a great photo.

Best regards,

Dave

 

[ozphoto]

My cards dropped off at the post office today - looking forward to my mailbox filling up with "nice" mail, rather than my usual "nasty"stuff.

 

[mike c]

Late call,received mooseontheloose card about 3 days ago,Hugh barn and a snoozing person.brite roof nice one.

Mike

 

[Laurent]

I got Uwe Pilz's old tree yesterday. Lovely urban landscape with a big tree, makes me think about my birth place... Thanks Uwe !!

 

[Mike Wilde]

My first postcard arrived last night; Birger's orchid. My twisted old mind thought it was something else until I examined it more carefully. Very nice.

 

[anikin]

Received "almost" nude from Dave Martiny today. Very beautiful! Thanks!

 

[drpsilver]

21 Oct 2010

I also received Dave Martiny's card, and my first words were "I really like this print". I find this image to be very elegant. A simple, clean composition that gives the viewer lots to look (and think) about. It is my favorite to-date for this round. Dave's use of light is perfect. The braided hair, with highlights, makes this image sing. Wonderfully photographed and printed.

Regards,
Darwin

P.S. My cards will go to the post office tomorrow.

 

[Laurent]

I received Dave Martiny's "Not really naked" today. Wonderful print, very rich tones, and I can almost feel the skin on the shoulder ! The very simple and effective composition make this a favourite for this round.

Thanks Dave !

 

[mooseontheloose]

My mailbox has been lonely for cards but thankfully Ozphoto's arrived today -- a somewhat whimsical "Troy and Bubbles". I love how the curve of the bubbles follows the slight curve of his body, and the way he almost seems to be emerging from the wall. (nice stamp as well!)

 

[mike c]

Got DRPSILVER's 'CAUTUS" today with a lot of sharp points and really nice pin stripping.Nice card.

 

[piu58]

Hello to all,
this is my very first round of postcard exchange and today I got m yvery first card: Cactus from DRPSILVER. I like it and I see that the exchange ist really fun!
My cards are on their way.

 

[jeffmerlet]

same here: my first round of postcard exchange, and received few days ago my first one: DRPSILVER's amazing cactus shot!