Postcard Exchange Round 36 Comments and Feedback

[George Nova Scotia]

As before a new thread for comments, updates and feedback. The PMs with the address lists have been sent.Please check that your information is correct. Let me know as soon as possible of any corrections.

Please wait a few days for any corrections then let the mailings begin. There have been many address changes so check carefully.

adelorenzo (ALL)
anikin (28)
dpn (25)
drpsilver (ALL)
Jim Moore (25)
Kc2edh (MAX)
kraker (15)
likemarlonbrando (40)
MattKing (24)
megzdad81 (25)
mesantacruz (ALL)
mike c (24)
mooseontheloose (MAX)
MrBrowning (15)
Nathan King (5)
ozphoto (MAX)
piu58 (12)
Randalcav (20)
Stephen Frizza (25)
TheToadMen (ALL)
Wayne Frederick (20)
Xia_Ke (ALL)

 

[mooseontheloose]

Great! I hope to be much earlier in getting my cards out this round.

 

[ozphoto]

Received a lovely card from Uwe today - my favourite film and a paper I'd really like to try out too.
Like the smoothness of the rocks against the sharpness of the tree branches very much.

 

[anikin]

My postcards are in the mail. Enjoy!

 

[drpsilver]

22 Oct 2015

My postcards are printed, and now being pressed. I hope to have them on the mail by the end of the weekend.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[likemarlonbrando]

Printed my cards today. Sending out on Monday. Got Uwe's card the other day! Thanks!

 

[drpsilver]

23 Oct 2015

My cards will be dropped-off at the post office tomorrow (read leave Los Altos on Monday). Hope you like the image I selected for this round.

The card from piu58 is well composed to frame the two bushes being highlighted. Must have been striking in real life.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[MattKing]

My cards are in the mail. The Canadian ones were mailed last week, and the US and international ones were mailed in Washington State this morning.

And I too received what I'm going to call "Greifensteine" from piu58. It is powerfully composed, and the print glows. I'm very happy to have it.

One request though to other participants: It really helps when keeping track and commenting on your card if the info on your card includes your name, the Postcard Exchange round, and a title.

 

[piu58]

Yesterday I received the Portland Saturday market form Eugene Anikin. A very lively scene at a near by event. Most of the great shots may be found directly in front of our home door.

 

[TheTrailTog]

Christmas came early for me with 3 cards arriving today:

Anikin "Hot Peppers" - I can almost smell the peppers now. Had many great similar farmers market days myself this summer.

Matt King "Colony Farm" - A wonderfully serene landscape. Reminds me of one of my regular trail running routes. You are pretty close to convincing me to finally take the plunge on a Retina!

Darwin "Lotschental" - Fantastic tonal range on this! Care to share any other details on this? Any filters used? What's the paper/developer?

I'll be spending Saturday getting caught up on a big back log of film developing and I hope to get my postcards printed on Sunday.

 

[drpsilver]

Christmas came early for me with 3 cards arriving today:

Darwin "Lotschental" - Fantastic tonal range on this! Care to share any other details on this? Any filters used? What's the paper/developer?

29 Oct 2015

Thank you for your kind words, Xia_Ke. The photo is printed on Ilford Multigrade IV FB (matt) using a grade 1.5 filter. The developer used was Ilford Multigrade diluted 1:5.6 (300ml:1700ml) with the addition of 60ml of 0.2% benzotriazole. (I usually make 2 liters of developer.) I developed the print for 2:30 minutes and fixed for 3:00 minutes in "film strength" hypo. Then HCA and wash as usual.

I am glad you like the print. It was fantastic to be in the Swiss Alps.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[TheTrailTog]

Hi darwin,

Thanks for the details One last little question, by filters, I was wondering if you used any when taking the shot? In landscapes like this I'm having trouble balancing getting the contrast I want in the sky while keeping below the horizon in check, even with grad filters. Your shot is the perfect level of balance I've been wanting. Granted I haven't been in the darkroom much at all this summer as I've been out exploring, but I plan or working on this a lot the coming winter.

 

[drpsilver]

30 Oct 2015

Xia_Ke:

Good question. For this particular photo I used a polarizer at almost maximum polarization. It also helped that I was at 1500m. At higher elevations there is less atmospheric scattering hence greater contrast gained by polarization. Moreover, I overexposed by 1/2 stop because at higher altitudes there is more UV light which sometimes can "confuse" an exposure meter into thinking there is more light than really present.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[MattKing]

Another card came in the mail yesterday. It is Anikin's "Hot Peppers!" - a nice, big card with an interesting subject, and it is printed nicely too.

 

[Nathan King]

I received a wonderful card from DRPSilver on Friday titled "Lötschental, Valais, Switzerland." He managed the very wide tonal range nicely, rendering a natural looking result (which is not easy).

Also, I sent my cards today.

 

[kraker]

And so it begins! Received the first two cards of this round:

MattKing, Colony Farm, beautiful environment, wide view with the few big trees mirrored in the river, with a gathering of clouds completing the picture. The power lines give a sense of the size of the view without disturbing the image. The full frame printing with "rough edges" is a nice touch. All in all, very nice.
drpsilver, Lötschental, Valais (let me google that. Yes, indeed, this is known to me as Wallis, the region of the Jungfrau mountain). Great view of the mountains, the band of trees in front of them, and even more to the front, well, a nice foreground to give the scene a good sense of depth. Also quite astonishing how you managed to get it all exposed right. The sky, mountains with some snow, the trees, the foreground. Yes. Makes me want to visit Switzerland. Looking at the photo, I feel I'm already there. Last but not least: love the matt surface, really works here. Great.

And... much earlier than the previous rounds, my cards went in the mail today.

 

[MattKing]

And another fine card today:

drpsilver -"Lötschental, Valais, Switzerland" - This is a very classic looking card. It reminds me of when it was just as common to use postcards to share the details of your travels as it was to prepare and share your own photos.

I too really like the paper and surface.

 

[piu58]

I received the wonderful mountain photograph "Lötschental" too.Very fine details, even when looked at it with a loupe. I did not think that FP4 is able to deliver taht with only 35 mm. Thank you, drpsilver!

 

[piu58]

I was very happy recieving the "colony farm" from Matt King. Tons of tones! An taken with that Retina camera, more than 60 years old. My wife enjoyed it too. Thank you!

 

[TenSpeed]

is it too late to get in on this?

 

[adelorenzo]

Mine are in the mail as of yesterday. So far I've had three postcards arrive in the Great White North, I'll post comments once I have a stack of them.

 

[George Nova Scotia]

is it too late to get in on this?

Sadly yes it is a little late. Everyone has had their list for sometime, and several have already completed mailing.

The GOOD NEWS is the next round starts with the next year! Sign up will begin in January so mark it in your calendar to check in.

 

[George Nova Scotia]

Some of you may have noticed that the optional address for Illford/Harman was missing from the last round. Thanks to MattKing we have a new contact and they will be added for the next round. If you have extra cards for this round just drop me a PM for the address.

Just to review, we have in the past and now a few extra addresses that are optional, you can send them a card but they don't send any out. It is a way of thanking people or companies for supporting our endeavors in the analog world and especially the post card world.

 

[ozphoto]

Two cards arrived this week:

Darwin's Mountain and Anikin's Hot Peppers - both great cards and fine subjects.

 

[TheTrailTog]

Yesterday I received Nathan King's "Old Ursuline Convent" - A really nice dramatic print. I really like how the sun peaking through the clouds accentuates the cross.

I had printed up a batch of postcards last weekend, but in the end wasn't really happy with how they came out so I scrapped them. I just redid that batch and also did a batch of another scene, all of which are in the washer now. I hope to have 2 batches out by the end of the week