Roman Loranc no longer printing?

There's an upcoming exhibit of Roman Loranc's work at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, CA:


I noticed that their site states that as of January 1, 2024 "Loranc will no longer be printing photographs." Does anyone know what's up with this? He has had a long and distinguished artistic photography carreer.

Dale

I see that this statement is also on Roman Loranc's website:


It may be simply that he's retiring from printing, and will only be selling existing print inventory. Not sure...

Dale

One way for an artist to generate a retirement nest egg. He may also be ready to explore other avenues of expression.

Who knows what the personal reasons are. But it's always been a tough way to make a living, materials costs have skyrocketed in recent years, and at the end of the day, the photographer-printmaker pockets far less than gallery asking prices. You could go to the opening and simply ask him. I've only talked to him once, and he hardly seemed to be getting rich at it; in fact, he had to live in an especially affordable nook of the State. But he established his own style and certainly left an impression. I don't know if this is a strategy of "artificial scarcity" or not in terms of ongoing print income. Hopefully he can coast along now. I think I'd go nuts if I weren't still making prints - but they might be contact prints unless paper prices stabilize soon!

DREW WILEY said:

You could go to the opening and simply ask him.

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The opening was on January 27th.

He's got a pretty nice darkroom, it's a shame he won't be printing any longer.

We'll see if this is final or not when he liquidates that darkroom gear. That's up around Mt Shasta where he moved. There have been some terrible firestorms up around there in recent years. Property upkeep can be pretty difficult. I couldn't keep up with all the labor necessary for my mountain property any longer approaching retirement, and had to sell it when I was in my mid-60's. Many of those locations, you can't even get fire insurance any more, and when you can, it can be absurdly expensive.

DREW WILEY said:

We'll see if this is final or not when he liquidates that darkroom gear. That's up around Mt Shasta where he moved. There have been some terrible firestorms up around there in recent years. Property upkeep can be pretty difficult. I couldn't keep up with all the labor necessary for my mountain property any longer approaching retirement, and had to sell it when I was in my mid-60's. Many of those locations, you can't even get fire insurance any more, and when you can, it can be absurdly expensive.

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There was a good KQED Spark video featuring him back in 2010 in which it was mentioned that he lives/lived in Modesto. The entire thing is available on YouTube:

His darkroom and work area look like they would be very pleasurable to work in. So well thought out and organized.

And of course, he made lots of beautiful prints in there.

Dale

The little studio or darkroom video tour was his second location in the Shasta area. You can see through his windows the rolly-polly volcanic terrain with scattered jack pines characteristic of that area, and not flat farm land and soggy bottomland. He formerly lived in Modesto, and many of the pictures in his book, Two Hearted Oak were taken near there in the Valley with its infamous Winter tule fog. To get the right light, he had to hazard driving through fog at less than ideal hours. It can be awfully spooky hardly seeing the front of your car when someone comes whizzing by far above the speed limit. There have been pileups of over 200 vehicles in such conditions.

I always timed crossing the Valley either before the fog set in late at night; and then I'd return taking a long slow drive in the morning well above the fog, typically following Hwy 49 in the Gold Country and doing some shooting, and only dropping down to the Valley floor when the fog began lifting around noon or so. I asked him how he felt about the fog, and he replied that it scared the heck out of him too; and he was glad he left the area. Tule fog is cold, clammy, and oppressive - much different from our soft enveloping coastal fog in the Bay Area. But if you time it right, it can give lovely natural softbox lighting out on the farmlands and orchards.

It has always amazed me how many people go whizzing down the main highways in a rush to get to Yosemite Valley or some ski resort, and have never taken time to explore the many intervening farm roads and hill country routes with their own wonderful sights. Soon it will be almond blossom time again.

Those giant Valley Oaks, or what we'd call Water Oaks, are basically riparian, along the river channels. I had a 350 year old one leaning over a spring, which had witnessed many generations of Indians there. When it finally fell, it was like losing an old friend. That's when I counted the rings.

DREW WILEY said:

Who knows what the personal reasons are. But it's always been a tough way to make a living, materials costs have skyrocketed in recent years, and at the end of the day, the photographer-printmaker pockets far less than gallery asking prices. You could go to the opening and simply ask him. I've only talked to him once, and he hardly seemed to be getting rich at it; in fact, he had to live in an especially affordable nook of the State. But he established his own style and certainly left an impression. I don't know if this is a strategy of "artificial scarcity" or not in terms of ongoing print income. Hopefully he can coast along now. I think I'd go nuts if I weren't still making prints - but they might be contact prints unless paper prices stabilize soon!

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the contact print being the final product. That's all I ever make (Azo/Amidol), and some of those things just glow.

I tried Azo, but prefer regular papers like MGWT, since my 8X10 negs are developed, contrast-wise, for sake of enlargement too. But when printing small, I like to mix 35mm shots on 8x10 paper with actual 8x10 contacts. It's my alter-ego when I want a break from big enlargements. I still have plenty of good amidol on hand too, just in case; but most current papers don't respond as well to it.