Postcard Exchange Round 59 Comments and Feedback

[Todd Barlow]

Received as of today:
Don Heisz - The Tree - Inspiring me to not be so hasty to get rid of fogged paper, great result!
Pitotstock - A Simple Still Life - Inspiring as well modern materials with vintage look, well done!

 

[Don_ih]

I received very nice cards from @BHuij , @AnselMortensen , and @Todd Barlow -- all three cars are wonderfully composed and printed. Thanks!

@Todd Barlow - the fogged paper I used was quite frustrating for any attempt at using it normally. This was a rare time when an experiment gave a result I liked - and also used up almost all the paper....

 

[henryyjjames]

I just put all my postcards in the mailbox this morning! I'm excited for them to start arriving!

 

[henryyjjames]

Today's update:
I have received @Tel's card "East 31st", @mfohl's "Two Cans", and @Michael Howard's "Old Stones"! Beautiful images!

 

[Daniela]

I received @Todd Barlow 's "Abandoned dock" today. What a lovely composition! It arrived perfectly ok and took only 5 days. I looked up the camera you mentioned and it's a beauty. I also enjoy the darkroom time as much as the shooting time. Thank you for sharing!

Mine are printed and I just need to get them ready to go

 

[koraks]

Looking forward to all those cards! Well, my fair share, at least

In the meantime I've also finally mailed mine. I hope they make it to their destinations. It's the first time I'm sending them as proper (well, makeshift) cards without an envelope, so it's a bit of an experiment. I'd be interested to hear in what state they arrive.

I ended up printing a couple different images instead of just one. It sounded like a good idea the way others have mentioned it and I figured I could follow suit.

 

[MattKing]

In the meantime I've also finally mailed mine. I hope they make it to their destinations. It's the first time I'm sending them as proper (well, makeshift) cards without an envelope, so it's a bit of an experiment. I'd be interested to hear in what state they arrive.

FWIW, I have a partially curated collection of several dozen postcards - ruthlessly edited from a few hundred postcards - collected over more than 20 rounds. The vast majority were sent without envelopes. And amongst the few hundred cards, there were very, very, very few that suffered enough damage to affect my enjoyment of them.
A fair few show some signs of the mail system, but those signs, in most cases, only add character.
It may be important to note that the vast majority of those cards are black and white darkroom prints. Many of them are on Ilford Portfolio paper, but certainly not all of them.

 

[mfohl]

I received a card and a xerox in the mail today. The card, an actual 5x7 print, is henryyjjames' print "Under the Spanish Sun". A nice beach print of Henry's flatmate basking in the glow of a Malaga sun. Looks great, and with only one other beachgoer visible. I also like the sneakers. Nice print, thanks Henry!

And also Rrrgcy's "Oh, Carrie". This one is complicated! A matte print over a postcard, hand colored, then xeroxed (in case the postcard fails). The print is of a variety of mango, the sweetest, according to Robert. This is a very cool addition to the collection! Thanks Robert! And I will let you know when the postcard arrives.

 

[koraks]

Many of them are on Ilford Portfolio paper, but certainly not all of them

Well, that's my concern. There's a limitation to the materials I've used in that they're not very sturdy.

 

[henryyjjames]

The card, an actual 5x7 print, is henryyjjames' print "Under the Spanish Sun". A nice beach print of Henry's flatmate basking in the glow of a Malaga sun. Looks great, and with only one other beachgoer visible. I also like the sneakers. Nice print, thanks Henry!

Wow, that was quick! I would have expected at least another day for delivery because they were only picked up Saturday. Go USPS!
I did my postcards from the last round on the Ilford Portfolio 4x6—in Ireland, a box of 100 costs €34 ($37.08), but the same box costs $71.65 in the States! (€65.70). Almost twice as much! So I went with the 5x7, which was a little less expensive for the same count.
I also sent out a few different versions, so I'm excited for them to arrive.

Regarding the envelopes, I have received five total so far this round, and two that came as postcards had at least one penny-sized gash on the image that took the paper's emulsion off.
Today's arrival from @Todd Barlow was one of the victims of the postal system. Regardless, it's a wonderful print! I love the old nails. Also, I could never cut my paper that evenly— well done!

 

[MattKing]

Well, that's my concern. There's a limitation to the materials I've used in that they're not very sturdy.

None of my cards were ever on anything other than standard thickness RC paper. For most of those 20+ rounds, I used three small Avery 5160 adhesive laser labels on the back to supply the card description and the address information, which probably helped stiffen the cards as well.

 

[BHuij]

I've sent a fair number of postcards (both for PCX and non-PCX exchanges), and my standard thickness Ilford MG RC Satin/Lustre in 4x6, without any stiffeners, seems to mail just fine. I suppose if you sent 1000 postcards like that, and 1000 postcards with thicker paper or a stiffener or what have you, you might get a measurably higher survival rate with the thicker paper, but the standard stuff seems to send just fine through the USPS, even internationally.

 

[koraks]

Thank you @Tel and @Michael Howard for both of your excellent cards! Mike's suffered some transport damage; a bit of emulsion ripped off, but this is quite typical. 25-50% of the silver gelatin postcards arrive here with this kind of damage. It's OK though; it's still a fine image and a fine print! Thanks both; I'm very pleased with these cards!

 

[Rob Skeoch]

Three cards arrived in rural Ontario, Canada this week.
Abstract from Ansel Mortensen - Nice to see a card printed on the Ilford Post Card stock. I used it for years myself but doesn't seem to be available any longer in my area. Nice shot taken on the blad, real 3D quality to it.
Abandoned Dock from Todd Barlow, just down the road in Cambridge, - hey Todd, thanks for joining the post card exchange, I hope this first effort works out for you. When I first saw the image I thought it was taken underwater. A lot of the shipwrecks I dive on look just like the lower timber with the giant spikes sticking out of them, so the docks are made in a similar way... nice rustic shot.
Mango Tango from Rrrgcy - great experiment with the sandwich of images and the hand colouring of the image. I agree they look delicious and it would be disappointing to come home one day and they're all taken. I have a peach tree in the yard and I get mad when the local chipmunk steals one of them.

 

[Thorsten]

I received Todd's image today, thanks a lot for that. It was a bit dark, so it took some effort to really understand what I was looking at.

I spent Friday evening in the darkroom and made my cards. I mailed them today.

Since my darkroom was disassembled for years, and has only been taken back in operation a few weeks ago, I took the chance to make this first PCX a practice run to get back into the process. I also chose to go a bit bigger this time (no problem to send as postcard, I just had to pay the letter fee instead of the card fee at the post office) because I wanted to play a bit with the enlarger and typical post card size was to small and to fast for me to do much. Then I made some test runs with Sulphur toning, so in the end no card turned out like the other. But that is fine, since in the end they will most probably never again be placed next to each other

 

[Tel]

The excitement is building; so far I've received cards from Michael Howard, henryyjjames, Todd Barlow, Ansel Mortenson and Mark Fohl. All now prominently displayed on my wall. Kicking myself for not having joined in this before now.

 

[SJC1952]

Todd Barlow's nice abandoned Dock arrived this morning. Where I live I'm a sucker for abandoned docks.....and on Deluxe Pearl paper. Thanks Todd.

 

[Todd Barlow]

PCX#59 received as of today:
June 27 - Tel - Lobby - A "decisive moment" with abstract asymmetry, Nicely seen and executed!
June 27 - AnselMortensen - Abstract - Absolutely wonderful. Composition, texture, contrast, it speaks to me!
June 14 - Pitotstock - A Simple Still Life - Inspiring as well modern materials with vintage look, well done!
June 7 - Don Heisz - The Tree - Inspiring me to not be so hasty to get rid of fogged paper, great result!

 

[Todd Barlow]

Three cards arrived in rural Ontario, Canada this week.
Abstract from Ansel Mortensen - Nice to see a card printed on the Ilford Post Card stock. I used it for years myself but doesn't seem to be available any longer in my area. Nice shot taken on the blad, real 3D quality to it.
Abandoned Dock from Todd Barlow, just down the road in Cambridge, - hey Todd, thanks for joining the post card exchange, I hope this first effort works out for you. When I first saw the image I thought it was taken underwater. A lot of the shipwrecks I dive on look just like the lower timber with the giant spikes sticking out of them, so the docks are made in a similar way... nice rustic shot.
Mango Tango from Rrrgcy - great experiment with the sandwich of images and the hand colouring of the image. I agree they look delicious and it would be disappointing to come home one day and they're all taken. I have a peach tree in the yard and I get mad when the local chipmunk steals one of them.

Hi Rob, to quote @Tel "Kicking myself for not having joined in this before now." I haven't checked everyday for the mail for years! There is nothing like holding an image in your hand and it is driving inspiration! Are you going to the PHSC Trunk Sale on July 16?

 

[Rob Skeoch]

Hi Rob, to quote @Tel "Kicking myself for not having joined in this before now." I haven't checked everyday for the mail for years! There is nothing like holding an image in your hand and it is driving inspiration! Are you going to the PHSC Trunk Sale on July 16?

I've never been to a trunk sale any more details?

 

[Rob Skeoch]

RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!!!!
They're in the mail. First time I've ever shot, processed, printed and mailed them all in the same month.
I hope you like it, if not, I hope you like the stamps.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

One more arrived in the mail today. Fast Train by Tel.
Nice shot of the blur, hard to get on a 57 camera. The bridge must swing or something, at least it looks to me like a gear/wheel along the bottom.
That's a nice card stock!!

 

[Don_ih]

I've never been to a trunk sale any more details?

It's a place to go to get more stuff. See here. I'm still considering bringing a van full of stuff. I know a van isn't a trunk...

 

[Todd Barlow]

It's a place to go to get more stuff. See here. I'm still considering bringing a van full of stuff. I know a van isn't a trunk...

Thanks Don.

 

[Daniela]

Ok, mine have been mailed too!
Last round, it seemed like a few of us had issues with timing, and it seems to be the opposite this time.