Postcard Exchange Round 50 Comments and Feedback

[mfohl]

Got all my cards in the mail this morning. Looking forward to receiving yours.

 

[Lucid]

@Luis-F-S - I received your card a little earlier today. A very welcome botanical print, fitting well with the current heat wave in the U.K right now! The card has a nice feel to it, and I enjoy the slightly soft focus effect of the image. The leaves have a nice transition in tonality. Many thanks for sending!

 

[Black Dog]

+1 on that-subtly lovely tones, thanks!

 

[MattiS]

Luis-F-S - +1, thanks!

I printed my cards last weekend and used the Intrepid enlarger kit on my Technika for the first time. Had some problems with the multigrade filters - the grade 4 did not work as expected and due to the mounting of the filters under the lens I got reflections on some of the prints. So I had to make a few spares. But production was fun again, Mailing will be by the end of this/early next week.

 

[BSP]

I printed my cards for this 50th edition. And will be writing and posting tomorrow.

I opted to send everyone the same card this time as my previous endeavour to send as much different cards as possible took me waaaaay too much time and gave me stress I wasn't looking for.

I tend to like to do things the hard way - until I crash and learn

I hope they reach you all in good health and condition.

I have received PCX50 postcards already from:

@mfohl : A nicely and softly toned pinhole photograph bridge on a wet and miserable day. I had to look up the WPPD acronym and will surely try to be part of that the next time round with my self converted Lubitel66 pinhole camera. Thanks for the inspiration!

@Black Dog An abstract play of light found and captured in Glasgow's City Centre - good thing you gave me clue on the correct orientation there Jake. I was quite puzzled how to hold it. It could have been any way up and still be a good abstract. Interesting shades of grey too

@Oxleyroad 's "Roadworks" without workers but with all the workings is the first photograph taken on Ferrania P30 I might have ever held before my eyes with my own hands.Beautifully composed and crafted onto a worthy postcard indeed!

@hkbenji, yours is the smallest size of postcard I have ever seen survive the postal systems across the globe! The amount of fine detail captured, scanned and rendered is staggering. A very good hybrid-production that made it's way from Hong Kong to The Netherlands in less that 10 days! I really hope you can retain your freedom to post from HK.

 

[radiant]

Got two cards more.

@Black Dog great reminder. The story opens the image well! Printing quality is so good!

@hkbenji Nice format and first I thought it was fiber/silver print but the paper fooled me. I've been thinking of bying a computer printer and your card shows how good it can be. The card got some nice wear in post which makes some street credibility

 

[nostalgix]

I send mine today and I already received one from @Luis-F-S Thank you very much. And I now remembered that it might have been a good idea to write some notes about the picture, too.
So when you receive a postcard with some general greetings and with no mention of a username, that's from me, Arvid

 

[drpsilver]

01 Jul 2020

I posted my cards on Monday, so they should be landing in your mailboxes soon.

So far I have received cards from ...
The card from mfohl looks like it was taken with a pinhole camera. I like the perspective, and inviting nature, of the photograph. What does "WPPD" mean?
Oxleyroad sent a photo of a street being "de-contructed". These kinds of projects are fascinating to me. They give me a better appreciation on the infrastructure we need to maintain our societies.
The card from hkbenji gives the viewer a lot to look at, and for. I like the detail and how one needs to look for the climbers. I like the format you choose - it focuses the viewer on the image.
Luis-F-S photo of a double clematis, a plant I have never heard of, is well composed and photographed.

Thank you to all for sharing your work.

Regards,
Darwin

 

[mfohl]

01 Jul 2020

So far I have received cards from ...
The card from mfohl looks like it was taken with a pinhole camera. I like the perspective, and inviting nature, of the photograph. What does "WPPD" mean?

...
Regards,
Darwin

WPPD = World Pinhole Photography Day. Check out the submissions at www.pinholeday.org

 

[tezzasmall]

Well, my 10 postcards, (instead of the usual 6; with the extras made especially for this special round) went into the post on Tuesday 30 June 2020.

And I too have received 2 cards so far.

1. from Mark / mfohl; a high key study of some bicycle wheels, which I like at all angles and views of the card. And it's good to see good old reliable D76 @ 1+1 getting used.

2. is from Oxleyroad; the previously mentioned shot of some roadworks in progress. A great view, from the front into the distance and I think that you managed the range of tones very well. Oh, and my card has a great bit of burning in on the sky!

Thanks as always to everyone involved and I look forward to seeing more cards, as they arrive.

Terry S

 

[mfohl]

I received drpsilver's nice Fungus Ladder yesterday. Some artistically arranged fungi on a tree trunk with a nicely blurred out background, owing to the (lack of) depth of field. Thanks!

-- Mark

 

[rst]

I got Marks very nice look through the pinhole under the table. Pretty cool image, although Mark, I do not understand the comment about it being underexposed. I like it as is, yes, you might have lost shadow detail, but I also do not miss that shadow detail in the image. These dark areas add a lot to the mood of the image.

Cheers Rüdiger

 

[radiant]

Phew! I got my cards printed, labeled and posted today. What a huge work amount it takes to print and ship 28 cards. Now it's done and time to enjoy checking mail and receiving your cards!

 

[Lucid]

@mfohl - I received your card today in the post. A very welcome surprise at the end of a long week! I really like how much detail has been captured in the fence. The asymmetry of the fence works well and is balanced by the shrubbery. Many thanks!

 

[hkbenji]

@Lucid - Thank you very much for your kind words.
I sent the cards around two weeks ago - unfortunately, I could only use airmail to some countries in Europe. USA and others will be by Sea only. France only allowed courier (prohibitively expensive) and Russia nothing at all for the moment. So I will send those cards once the situation improves.

 

[hkbenji]

@BSP - Thank you. I had to look up some regulations to make sure the postcard size was acceptable. Glad it arrived okay!
@vedostuu - Thanks for your comments. When I compare my inkjet prints made now with my darkroom prints from years ago, I prefer the inkjet work. But I still miss the darkroom!
@drpsilver - Thank you for your encouragement!

 

[cramej]

So far, I've recieved

@Oxleyroad : always fascinated by heavy equipment, frustrated by road construction. It's nice not to have to travel much right now!

@Luis-F-S : flowers never get old. Very nice! I really like the paper, I think I need to try some of that.

@drpsilver : fantastic contrast on that fungus!

@mfohl : that makes me long for the wet, cool weather of fall, especially since it's been hot and dry around here.

Thanks, all. I enjoy seeing the 'everyday' from others. Getting about half my cards in the mail this weekend.

 

[BSP]

Another week passed and three more postcards to report back on:

@madhatter / Arvid's first time participating in this exchange is a direct hit with an image of a mysteriously closed door. Nice gradient and symmetry offset with intense contrast. Did this door keep a fire in or out? Thanks Arvid, good one!

@terry s / Terry's little timemachine takes us back to the eighties and immediately reminds me of Orwell's 1984 and the horror of crazy bureaucracy. Wonderfully composed, exposed, developed, preserved and printed. Top notch stuff. I would like to learn about that teaspoon D72 formula you mentioned. Sounds like fun to work with.

@drpsilver / Darwin's carefully composed gathering of funghi in the wild is fun to look at. I keep thinking I am seeing little figures dancing around in circles. I am enjoying this one very much, thanks.

 

[tezzasmall]

@terry s / Terry's little time machine takes us back to the eighties and immediately reminds me of Orwell's 1984 and the horror of crazy bureaucracy. Wonderfully composed, exposed, developed, preserved and printed. Top notch stuff. I would like to learn about that teaspoon D72 formula you mentioned. Sounds like fun to work with.

BSP, I'm glad you liked the postcard sent, as I too was rather taken with how well it all turned out. I say this as the majority of my early 1980's negatives, are usually very dense from over development, but his particular one was spot on and very easy to print.

As for D72, I'd definitely recommend it! It's only takes a few chemicals to make it, along with some 'baking measuring spoons'. It is a great developer and seems to have a really good shelf life, both in stock and when diluted, in my case in a Nova slot processor. Once I've finished my supply of Ilford MG developer, I am seriously considering using D72 for all my printing.

Recently, I have being testing in D72 @ 1 + 2, all the various papers that I use regularly and paper from a number of nearly empty packets of paper, some left overs from the 1980's. It was good to see that ALL of the various Ilford papers, whatever their age, worked great in the developer, with the biggest let down being Adox RC matt paper, which gave something like a grade 0 print, when I used the grade 3 throughout the tests. I suppose one can't have everything, and the Adox paper works fine in the Ilford MG developer, so I will use that paper up whist I continue to use the MG dev.

I have also just received a card from Jouni / vedostuu in Finland. A great card and a lovely, non-franked 'Manga' stamp.

Phew! I got my cards printed, labeled and posted today. What a huge work amount it takes to print and ship 28 cards. Now it's done and time to enjoy checking mail and receiving your cards!

Yes, it can take a lot of effort, but don't you feel good at the end of it all? And then there is the anticipation of waiting for the receipt of your set of cards!

And it's great to receive it so quickly, when it was only posted on Friday and today is Monday. Especially with the world in turmoil at the moment, so well done to the various postal services.

The card is an interesting close up of what looks like an older, maybe vintage car, showing us just the side mirror, and the two windows, one being open. The text on the back says that it was developed in caffenol, so I'm even more impressed now! I've read a lot about it and looked at various pictures on various sites, but have never received a print developed in it up until now. I have also tried it once, without a lot of success and it all left me with a rather stained and smelly developing dish. But, based on this print, I might give it another go.

There's also a bit of dialogue from a film on the back, but I won't say what, so others receiving the card can discover it for themselves. All I will say is, it was totally new to me and had me googling to view it.

So many thanks again vedostuu for a great card.

Terry S

 

[radiant]

And it's great to receive it so quickly, when it was only posted on Friday and today is Monday. Especially with the world in turmoil at the moment, so well done to the various postal services.

The text on the back says that it was developed in caffenol, so I'm even more impressed now!

So many thanks again vedostuu for a great card.

Wow, your writing gave me goosebumps - really! I'm so happy it created this kind of response. The pain of cutting, glueing and stamping washes a way quite quickly, it seems

Yes it is RC paper that has been developed in caffenol. I developed the first proofs on Ilford paper developer but then switched to Caffenol on the fly for an experiment. And I was totally amazed how well it worked, so I continued for 31 cards more Some of the cards are more coffee toned than others but definely all has some toning. I loved the toning so much that I started to think that I should developed all papers in Caffenol from now on! And maybe the tones were a bit better with Caffenol when I compared the two differently developed prints side by side. Maybe that was just placebo..

Maybe I mention now that the cards photograph has been featured in Ilfords instagram-feed so it is a bit instagram-famous too

Thank you Terry for the nice words.

 

[rst]

Finally, I managed to cyanotype my cards. With some extras that was 18 postcards. And there was quite something to learn from this exercise. E.g.

• Have a lot of paper towels ready when you leave the bottles with emulsion open for a longer period of time.
• When measuring the emulsion per single card, then drops might not be the most accurate way to do it. Better to mix more emulsion and then coat along. Or get better droppers.
• Watch the wash time, to long in the water is no good. But neither is too short.
• Foam brushes might kind of grind the paper which in my case leads to more washing off of the emulsion. Glad I learned that a few days ago and not after having all cards coated.
• For myself I would go with a digital negative, for the postcard exchange I printed the negatives directly and next time I will have to have a better contrast control.
  
• Printing in silver there is a saying that fog has to be printed through. That is true for cyanotype too, but honestly, with such a long exposure time (40mins in my UV box) .... it kind of hurts.

In the end it nevertheless was a lot of fun. Good that my employer gave us a day off so I could spend it on the postcard exchange. Hope to get my cards out by the end of the week.

Cheers
Ruediger

 

[BSP]

My 30 cards for PCX50 have just been posted! Whoohoo!

So be on the look-out!

I choose not to add too much info on the back but as a little teaser here is the technical data on my little creation.

Camera: Mamiya C2220
Lens: Mamiya 65mm f/3.5
Film: Ilford HP5 120
Exposure: 1/125 f/5.6 (not so sunny 16)
Developer: HC-110B
Enlarger: Meopta Opemus 4
Lens: Schneider Kreuznach 80mm f/4
Paper: Ilford Multigrade RC IV Portfolio Postcard 6x4 (Obviously)
Developer: Ilford MG

Keep printing!
Bill

 

[Lucid]

@madhatter - I received your post card this past weekend. I really like the grittiness of the image, and the high contrast works well. It fits well with the current times with how many buildings have become disused. Did you rest the camera on the ground when you took the image? Also, I always enjoy seeing the local stamps on back, and your card is no exception!

@drpsilver - Your card arrived along with Arvid's. At first glance I thought I was looking at something from an electron microscope! The image has a great range of tones and textures, and has a real glow about it. D76 stock with Tri-X looks great as always!

 

[Black Dog]

My 30 cards for PCX50 have just been posted! Whoohoo!

So be on the look-out!

I choose not to add too much info on the back but as a little teaser here is the technical data on my little creation.

Camera: Mamiya C2220
Lens: Mamiya 65mm f/3.5
Film: Ilford HP5 120
Exposure: 1/125 f/5.6 (not so sunny 16)
Developer: HC-110B
Enlarger: Meopta Opemus 4
Lens: Schneider Kreuznach 80mm f/4
Paper: Ilford Multigrade RC IV Portfolio Postcard 6x4 (Obviously)
Developer: Ilford MG

Keep printing!
Bill

Thanks-I will! A few more cards have arrived:
Coffee & Cigarettes by vedostuu-some nicely surreal details and the little story on the back complements the image really well.
Fungus Ladder by Drpsilver- I always enjoy looking at fungi..they evoke the feeling and smell of damp autumn woods for me and as a lover of Surrealism, there's all kinds of interesting symbolism there as well.
Pandemic Pinhole by mfohl- I love pinhole and do a fair bit myself, so I was really pleased to see this. It can work so well with the right subject matter and although you say it's underexposed, this one looks great, especially the alien flare.
Doorway by Arvid- "there are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors" (Jim Morrison). Another great detail picture!
Thanks everyone and take care.

 

[Oxleyroad]

I've had my first three cards arrive during the last fortnight. In no particular order. Luis-F-S - Double Clematis. As to be expected a super sharp image because of the large format negative. It was funny as when my 12year daughter who plays too many video games saw the post card she thought it was of space craft. She had to study the card closely to appreciate it was nature not sci-fi. mfohl - Under the Table. Your creativity inspired me so much so I was looking for places like yours to take photos. Thanks. drpsilver - "Fungus Ladder". I too really enjoy what I find in the forests, but in my case I often do not have the gear when I need it to take a picture.

Also a thanks to the comments from rst, BSP, drsilver, tezzasmall and cramej.