Alright! Again, sorry I've been silent for so long, but I wanted to have a chunk of time in which to write some good solid feedback.
First, thank you everyone for the kind comments about the image I submitted, I'm glad people got a kick out of it.
Third print was by Apug member Fleath... A print from photographic Etch plate
This print is a real treasure, the work that went into it must have been insane!!! but the result is magic! this is the first etching plate print i have ever seen. I love how the process has embossed the paper what inks create this tone? it is really well suited. thank you for making us this.
Thank you very much for the kind words Stephen, I very much appreciate it coming from someone who's work I've enjoyed so much. The Ink I used wasn't anything special, just a stiff relief ink, so it wouldn't wipe out of the shadows. The colour itself was a bit of an ordeal, and again I relied on my friend Melissa's extensive experience in colour to help me mix a sepia that looked "right". Just Red, Blue and Green in the correct ratios.
Alexander: Lovely print! Like Stephen Frizza, this is the first one of these I have seen and I too love the way that it has embossed the paper. Such a lot of work, but the result is worth it! The process and the warm tone really complement the delicacy of the roses. How many prints can you run off a plate before it is too degraded?
Thank you!
In theory you can run off an indefinite number of copies, as much as a photographic negative can, but already the particular plate for this image has started to degrade. The material scratches reasonably easily, but is mailable, so the pressure from the etching press doesn't seem to hurt it too much. A copper plate photogravure would need to be clad in metal if more than 50 prints were to be made from it - the pressure from the press would slowly flatten the plate and the image would become blurry. As an historic aside, the fine images published in issues of Stieglitz' Camera Work magazine early last century were all hand printed copperplate gravures.
The convention, at least in the printmaking world, is to cancel a plate that has had an edition run from it. This involves cutting it in half, slashing it with a Stanley knife, or some other method of rendering it unprintable. I haven't canceled the plate as it's part of the body of research for my degree...and because I cant bring myself to do it just yet. I wont print a second edition from this plate. So, rest assured there's only 10 editioned prints, 2 proofs, and 3 imperfect prints. And one test printed in a gaudy kind of orange, which was a bad idea...
On to the important stuff!
In no particular order...
Glenn - Arches at the Gravesteen
First of all I'll have to thank you for sharing an image from your travel abroad, I always get a kick out of seeing photos of far off places. I like how you've printed this image, and on a paper I've never used much of. Ilford's Gloss offering always rubbed me up the wrong way, but it works for this image, especially in the tones of the floor from the light coming in through the door. Actually, that's my favorite part. Great range of tones, I love a good print with clean whites and solid blacks. The rough border of the print appeals to me, and I think suits the subject wonderfully. Fantastically done.
Mick Fagan - Looking up
I dont see enough high-key portraits like this, it really works. I like what you've done with the grain, and it's got a brilliant sculptural effect. A full range of tones and very clean. I've never seen much warm tone work, and it's very subtle in this print but it make it for me. Without some warmth it might drift too far towards a sculpture instead of a portait. I've seen a similar pose done before and somehow they'd made the nostrils the focal point by accident...not really the best look. I'm quite taken with the stamp in the top right too, a lovely touch.
Andrew K - Normanville Church (That's just what I'll call it)
Fantastic! I'm always interested to see the effects different processes have, and it works so damn well for this photograph. I also really appreciated the sheet you included detailing your process - we were nearly in the same tintype workshop, I think. Me and 2 of my friends were trying to make it to Gold Street earlier this year for one of the tintype workshops, but studies (and expenses) got away from us. Hopefully later in the year - One of my friends took their carbon workshop and came away with an amazing print. Also, we went to the same camera market, and Victor Harbour was my neck of the woods for the 6 years before I moved to the city. It is a small world, in the end.
Back to your print though - it's wonderful. I was always very fond of the frame lines grafmatic holders leave, and the 4x5" image sits nicely in the middle of the page. I know what you mean about the hand-made effect, and I really feel it adds.
The composition is very nice, and you've worked a great range of tones into it. I love the bark of the tree, it reminds me very much of the trees I used to play in as a kid. The scene is very familiar. There's quite a lot of depth to it.
Alright - I'm rabbiting on now - but bloody well done, and I really appreciate the effort you've put into this exchange.
Ashley - Old Farm Window
My dad grew up in the mallee around Waikerie, and we lived about half an hour outside of Kapunda for a few years when I was a young lad, so scenes like this strike a chord. Brilliantly printed, I love the detail of the spiderwebs especially. Great composition, and I think your split-grade printing has been quite successful. It's a very natural feeling scene with a great breadth of tones. The dirtied glass is particularly interesting. Well done mate.
Andrew Carson - Discovering Dandelions
A wonderful photo that you're sure to cherish for years to come. I remember dandelions from when I was quite young, and telling the time with them...I don;t think that really worked though, thinking now. I cant tell you the era of your camera, but I know that the older Voigtlander folders are quite well respected. I've shot some Shanghai GP3 in the past and had mixed results, but yours has come out just fine. Great shot.
Nige - Bark
Great use of print toning here, Viradon isn't something I've had any experience with, but the name comes up from time to time. A fantastic clean print, with great detail and tones. I've not done much traveling in Victoria but it's certainly on my to-do list. It's just a lovely photograph, well executed and a great example of the tactile feel a good fiber print can have with the right subject matter. I'm a bit curious about the paper you've used, as it's not something I've heard of?
It all just works.
Ian - Caledonian Road, 2003
This is just utterly gorgeous. Fantastically composed on the square format. It reminds me of a lot of the structures out in the Port Adelaide area here, especially the bricked up windows. You're right about the two chaps in the black coats in the foreground, they really seem to suit the part. I cant help wondering where they're walking off to. The print just seems so damn warm. Not just the tone, but it feels like the sun coming up, the light is perfect. Fantastically printed with a wonderful range of tones and not too much contrast. I never knew D3200 could look so smooth.
Barrie - Just a landscape image
I don't think I've ever held a photograph from a Hasselblad in my hands
I'm very impressed with the warm tone, and how it has a similar quality to Nige's Bark photograph, but quite different. Spot on composition and an honest representation of a common country scene. It's got a wonderful sweeping quality, and it feels very quiet.
Tim - Ulun Dog Bratan
The first thing that strikes me about this photograph is the reflection of the temple in the water, and what seems like reeds and lily-pads in the shadows. The tower almost has a glow about it. You've balanced the contrast and focus nicely. I admit I barely even see the dog, my eye is drawn directly to the middle of the image, and then up and down, before I notice him. The tiles at his feet look fairly modern, and the more I look I see the gate to the temple, on the right. A friend of mine traveled in Bali in early 2009 and shot predominantly colour neg film - you've captured an entirely different mood to what I've seen before.
Stephen - Untitled self portrait (2002)
Ah, HIE! Another one of those things I never got to experience, sadly. This has been another of the prints that has garnered the most attention when other people have viewed "the bundle", the grain really catches your eye. It's got a great other-worldly feel to it. The ocean becomes a landscape - what I think is the ocean? It could be a desert...but I like it a lot. Wonderful execution of an image that seems quite deliberately conceived. It seems almost out of scale the more I look at it, your figure seems to dwarf the scene but I suppose that's just the landscape feeling more and more surreal.
I like it a lot.
I carried the envelope around with me at school for a few days while I was looking for a satchel to keep it in, and they all got a wonderful response from everyone I saw. People read the information sheets that have been included too, so thank you to everyone for putting in so much time to explain your execution.
I'm pretty geared up for Exchange round 2
