Sandy King, July View Camera

I read the new View Camera Magazine the other day, and in it was an article with accompanying carbon prints by Sandy King. A joy to read and view, some very fine work exhibited for sure.

Some day I'll grow up as a photographer too.

Nice work, Sandy!

- Thomas

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I read the new View Camera Magazine the other day, and in it was an article with accompanying carbon prints by Sandy King. A joy to read and view, some very fine work exhibited for sure.

Some day I'll grow up as a photographer too.

Nice work, Sandy!

- Thomas

Click to expand...

How does he males those large negatives?

Don Bryant

The July issue is one of the better issues lately, Jim has a photo in it too. The more I hear about Carbon printing the more I would like to see some close up. I've only seen very old original prints. On a cost basis I wonder how Carbon printing compares to contact printing on Silver Chloride? The Carbon process is more complex from what I have read. How close to Dye Transfer in difficulty is it?

The July issue? Geez, I was just able to find and purchase the May-June issue at a B&N. The Keith Taylor work, and Sandy King's stuff were excellent. In fact the entire issue was refreshingly better than has been the case of late. So....I'll eagerly anticipate finding the July issue somewhere....sometime....somehow! (and...no, I won't subscribe until there's a more consistent standard of quality established for a couple of years at least.)

jovo said:

(and...no, I won't subscribe until there's a more consistent standard of quality established for a couple of years at least.)

Click to expand...

I'm a former View Camera subscriber and we are reading off the same page. Please everyone I'm not trying to start a VC magazine bashing thread, just agreeing with John.

Don

Hi Thomas,

Thanks,

Hope you had the chance to see the real stuff at PhotoStock. Schedule was so hectic I don't recall who saw prints.


Sandy King

Thomas Bertilsson said:

I read the new View Camera Magazine the other day, and in it was an article with accompanying carbon prints by Sandy King. A joy to read and view, some very fine work exhibited for sure.

Some day I'll grow up as a photographer too.

Nice work, Sandy!

- Thomas

Click to expand...

Thomas, I really wish you could have seen Sandy's prints at Photostock. They blew me and many others away. I have never seen anything like them. Truly works of art.

Sandy your work is amazing.

I really encourage anyone interested in Carbon to take a workshop with Sandy. I was very fortunate to have been in his Photostock workshop and it was awesome. You are learning from the best for sure!

donbga said:

How does he males those large negatives?

Click to expand...

Don't ask me. I hand-color stuff.

<Inside joke twixt Sandy and me>


The VC article was nice but those carbon prints of Sandy's are just awesome in person.

Actually the VC issue had some pics by a few APUGgers: Diane Maher, Jim Galli, & Scott Davis were in a piece on the whole plate format. The article on Keith Taylor and 3-color gum printing was also nice. It was the best issue of VC I've seen in awhile. Kudos to those in print.

Sandy,

I really wish I could have made it over to Photostock this year, but some personal circumstances prevented me from going. Not meeting you, shaking your hand, and saying thank you for how you unselfishly contributes to the community was one of my greatest disappointments with it.

Maybe next time.

- Thomas

sanking said:

Hi Thomas,

Thanks,

Hope you had the chance to see the real stuff at PhotoStock. Schedule was so hectic I don't recall who saw prints.


Sandy King

Click to expand...

Hi Joe,

I did post about the article about Keith Taylor, but forgot about the whole plate article... That was ALSO very good reading. Thanks for reminding me.

I agree, the latest issue is much better reading than I'm used to from them.

- Thomas

smieglitz said:

The VC article was nice but those carbon prints of Sandy's are just awesome in person.

Actually the VC issue had some pics by a few APUGgers: Diane Maher, Jim Galli, & Scott Davis were in a piece on the whole plate format. The article on Keith Taylor and 3-color gum printing was also nice. It was the best issue of VC I've seen in awhile. Kudos to those in print.

Click to expand...

Sandy don't blush

But for the record, Sandy's Carbon Prints that I saw at the Workshop at Photostock were some of the most beautiful prints I have seen in my career which started some 35years ago.
I have had the pleasure of seeing some very very good prints, by Tim Rudman, Les McLean which in silver cannot be beat. These carbon prints are truly outstanding and belong in a museum.
I would say the Carbon Process holds black detail better than any process that I have seen. I love printing Silver and will always continue to do so but because of Sandy I have decided to muddy my hands with this process with a few select clients whose work would benefit from this process.

Now all I have to do is a Vulcan Mind Meld with Sandy the next time I see him so I can suck all the technique out of his head to mine.
I hope in the process I do not get all his quirky habits which I will refrain from mentioning here.

Very cool Sandy, congrats on the article.
It was a pleasure to meet Sandy as well as all the others, what an unforgettable experience.
I was also fortunate enough to have Sandy give me a brief outline of the carbon process as well as show me the carbon prints. They appear to have a 3D quality with blacks deeper than deep as Bob C was saying…………truly amazing! Just may need to try this process some day...maybe next years workshop?
Way-to-go Sandy.
Steve

Bob Carnie said:

Sandy don't blush

But for the record, Sandy's Carbon Prints that I saw at the Workshop at Photostock were some of the most beautiful prints I have seen in my career which started some 35years ago.
I have had the pleasure of seeing some very very good prints, by Tim Rudman, Les McLean which in silver cannot be beat. These carbon prints are truly outstanding and belong in a museum.
I would say the Carbon Process holds black detail better than any process that I have seen. I love printing Silver and will always continue to do so but because of Sandy I have decided to muddy my hands with this process with a few select clients whose work would benefit from this process.

Now all I have to do is a Vulcan Mind Meld with Sandy the next time I see him so I can suck all the technique out of his head to mine.
I hope in the process I do not get all his quirky habits which I will refrain from mentioning here.

Click to expand...

Bob, it must have been nice to see Sandy's carbon prints. He has been an inspiration in my carbon work. He is the master of the process and I hope one day to meet him, see his prints and talk some "GLOP". The mind meld sounds good also! Great group mind meld at Sandy's! Seriously, carbon is THE process that give you all you can ask for and then some. The shadow detail is amazing and I have had some success with the process and see the unlimited potential that carbon has to offer. Once you start you WILL be addicted.

Jim

Curt said:

The July issue is one of the better issues lately, Jim has a photo in it too. The more I hear about Carbon printing the more I would like to see some close up. I've only seen very old original prints. On a cost basis I wonder how Carbon printing compares to contact printing on Silver Chloride? The Carbon process is more complex from what I have read. How close to Dye Transfer in difficulty is it?

Click to expand...

Curt, if one is set up to do alternative printing I think the costs are a lot less in materials but a lot more in time. I use old fixed out photo paper that no one wants as my final support. You use gelatin sugar, water and pigment basically for the glop. Sensitize with AM or POT Dichromate and you are good to go. Very simplified version. PM me if you would like a more detailed explanation.
I read Sandy's book and took a workshop from Vaughn Hutchins and with a lot of work have gotten to be a decent carbon printer. Sandy has been a great help and inspiration to me so if you get a chance to take a workshop form him by all means do so.

Jim

jovo said:

no, I won't subscribe until there's a more consistent standard of quality established for a couple of years at least.

Click to expand...

I won't subscribe until the ownership changes.

Wow, I am going to have to blush in private over some of the nice things that have been said here about my carbon printing. The generous comments are much appreciated. The only caveat is that having one's prints called awesome and amazing sure sets the bar pretty high for anything I show in the future. I probably should have brought to PhotoStock only the good and excellent work and saved those amazing prints for the future because honestly I don't know how to improve on some of the adjectives you fellows used in describing my work.

In answer to a couple of questions, carbon transfer printing is very inexpensive in terms of materials, especially if you make your own tissue. The pigment, gelatin and dichromate used in the process is quite inexpensive so the major cost is in the final support, which could be fixed out photo paper or sized art papers. For the photo paper you try to find out of date stock that no longer has much value for making silver prints so should be relatively inexpensive. For art papers we use papers like 90 or 140 lb hot press papers like Fabriano Artistico or Lanquarelle. Price on this varies a lot depending on weight and where you buy it. However, by any stretch the cost of carbon works out to be a lot less expensive than pt/pd and silver gelatin.

But, there is cost in your time. Someone else asked about difficulty. At this point in time, after more than two decades of working carbon, I have reached the point where the process is very easy for me, and I have excellent control to make repeat prints that are virtually identical. But for someone starting out I estimate that you will need to put in at least 10X the amount of time you would need to become a master pt/pd printer to even begin to master carbon transfer printing. But even for persons who are relatively new to the process, Jim for example, it has a fascination that really grabs you and motivates you to try to do the best work possible.

I hope that some of you will consider a carbon workshop at some point in the future. I will probably schedule one next summer at the Formulary, and it is likely that I will do another one at Photostock at some point in the future. The one-on-one workshops that I do in my own workspace can also be great learning experience as I am totally familiar with the environment and can really cover a lot in whatever period of time the workshop covers, though I encourage 2-3 days workshops in my space.

BTW, in order to really appreciate a well-crafted carbon print, mine or by someone else who does good work, you have to see it with the print in your hands. When you see them reproduced in magazine all that really comes across is the content of the image, and perhaps color. There is simply no way to show in a magazine some of the extraordinary surface qualities of carbon transfer prints. And many people, on seeing a beautifully crafted carbon transfer print, are mesmerized by the surface and textural qualities because they are truly unique to photographic print making.


Sandy King

Not that I can build upon anything said about Sandy's prints, but I can certainly add my appreciation of them to the list. As Sandy said, there is nothing like a carbon print in person. Reproductions don't even come close and the selections Sandy brought to Photostock were truly something to behold. I can't thank him enough for being part of this year's series of workshops.

In view of Ilford's new punitive price rises (2nd this year) it might now be time to investigate the Carbon transfer process and Platinum/Palladium printing as well.

Ian

I've read all the magnachrom issues and seen Sandy's carbon transfer article and examples of his work.
The reproductions look very nice. It has to be amazing to see a 7x17" carbon transfer print in person. Even a 5x7.
Sandy, that's some really nice work.

The carbon transfer process looks interesting. I would like to work on it in a future.

I enjoyed that edition for those articles. Large format and alternative printing offers a way to experience the older techniques and make images that are both archival and artistic. If you look at family pictures the prints from the 19th century are still not faded, but prints from the 1960's often fade, especially with more exposure to light.

Sandy, well said! I totally agree with the learning curve. It is steep but if you TAKE GOOD NOTES and follow instructions and commit yourself totally to the process you will get there. One thing that helped me in my learning process was to see the negative and the print so I could see the density range needed for the process. You will find that it all starts to make sense after a while. I did nothing but make carbon prints for months, two a day, ( damn day job!) and this helped in glop production and learning how to control the process. I'm at a point now of refining my process and starting to experiment with finding my own unique image tonality. You have to hold a carbon print in your hands to grasp what we are talking about. Do take a workshop from Sandy if you can because once you witness the mechanics of the process the rest is in the printing. If you are on the west cost I may at some point give a workshop thanks to Sandy's and Vaughn's generous help.

By the way I finally got my first successful 8x20 carbon transfer the other day. Problem is I screwed it up when I was spotting some areas of the print and I have to redo it. Patience and love of craft are a requirement for carbon printers.


Jim

Prest_400 said:

I've read all the magnachrom issues and seen Sandy's carbon transfer article and examples of his work.
The reproductions look very nice. It has to be amazing to see a 7x17" carbon transfer print in person. Even a 5x7.
Sandy, that's some really nice work.

The carbon transfer process looks interesting. I would like to work on it in a future.

Click to expand...

I was invited to do a carbon transfer workshop in Spain last fall by an organization called the AtelierRetarguardia but had to turn it down because of other committments. I believe this was supposed to be in Mallorca, but I see that AtelierRetarguardia does other historical type workshops in Barcelona so it is possible they will get in interested in carbon again.

Sandy King

Ian Grant said:

In view of Ilford's new punitive price rises (2nd this year) it might now be time to investigate the Carbon transfer process and Platinum/Palladium printing as well.

Click to expand...

I don't like price increases either, but if I understand those processes well enough you are still going to have to use film of some kind. So not using Ilford paper is just half the problem solved.