.... if one wants to visit Toronto and if one is very serious about photography, the absolute best time is April 15th - May 24..Contact Photo Festival is active , some years better than others, some of the best gallerys really open their doors and make an effort, Every two or three years one of the better galleries does calls for entry from alt and silver workers for Contact.... its a great time....
I think you were in the Arta show were you not Colin?I can concur on this point. I had the good fortune (some would say dumb luck) to exhibit with a small group at a gallery for CONTACT in 2014. It was a wonderful time to enjoy photography, and it really seemed the city was full of exhibitions and photographs.
From small corner shops to street side displays to large established galleries -- it was all there for a person to take in. Just great.
I work with both enviourments, like many here I am not linked to one way being better than the other, and I never trust second hand information or do I trust manufacturers claims...
RA4 prints are beautiful whether made by a skilled enlarger operator or skilled digital operator. I got burned in my first 15 years of colour printing as this product does fade and I have seen it in my life span of printing for others. Epson and Canon both seem to be making huge timeline claims on their product line, if you believe them I have a bridge I want to sell you. ( I am making hand made pigment prints now as I do not believe the hype of inkjet lasting 300 years, reminds me of Cibas 200 year guarantee(anyone remember that) and if so if I can find the responsible party I have a bone to pick with those marketing boneheads.
I switched from RA4 to inkjet for three reasons.... One the wet chemicals really stink and need lots of volume to keep the lines going, and today the Inkjet papers have a broader Palette of colours possible and more selection of papers. ( I just saw Ed Burtynskys show and he has switched to inkjet for the bigger prints he is showing.) This is significant as he owns both RA4 and inkjet like I did.
I did a test (seems like 10 years now) where I took 8 x10 BW negative and made an enlarger print on Ilford MG4, then I scanned the negative and made a Lambda Fibre , and a Inkjet on Bayrta paper. To be fair I had a competing printer in Toronto make the first print from the enlarger setup and then I matched with the scanned versions... These prints were at 30 x40 inch size and over a period of 1 year I showed the prints to different larger groups, Springfield Mass, and other east coast groups as well as groups in Toronto, I only asked one question and it was can anyone tell me which print was which... Sounds easy you say well no , over 300 people replied everyone had a different viewpoint and there was only one person out of 300 actually told me exactly which was which and that was Les McLean. the tip off was the enlarger print was soft in one corner... Other than Les people could only guess and most were not correct.
This was a very valuable lesson for me , and it is the reason I keep making inkjet , silver prints... People have their needs and we can satisfy them with multiple options.
A competent enlarger operator has their sets of skills , that many here can relate too. . But a competent digital PS expert has the same but different skill sets but IMHO both are equally talented. I am kind of not answering the OP's question but
reacting to ( are Digital Prints better than Enlarger Prints) the simple answer , they are both good and both have their merits.
I think you were in the Arta show were you not Colin?
no poutin for your pomme frittes ?Well, Bob, I did take real Canadian maple syrup with me on my last backpack trip for sake of morning pancakes. Nothing is better.
Ok this gets you close in my books... if you post a photo of you and bigfoot wearing Toronto Maple Leaf toques or Blue Jay Hats it will go a long way to get you readily accepted up here.Hi John n Bob, I did take real Canadian maple syrup with me on my last backpack trip for sake of morning pancakes. Nothing is better.
Up here being Toronto; not so much in the rest of the country.if you post a photo of you and bigfoot wearing Toronto Maple Leaf toques or Blue Jay Hats it will go a long way to get you readily accepted up here.
I thought the canadian border was at Ottawa and Thunder Bay ... BillUp here being Toronto; not so much in the rest of the country.
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The question is, how does a print that is generated by scanning film (along with doing the digital processing of the film, such as converting the negative to a positive image, retouching, etc.) and printing the scan with a high quality desktop printer compare to a print generated entirely in the darkroom?
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I grew up as a Leaf fan (Dave Keon et al). Of course, I was born in "the centre of the universe".I only mention the Leafs as they have some great players and management now and I am indeed jumping on the bandwagon.
Only for small c Canadians, eh!I thought the canadian border was at Ottawa and Thunder Bay ... Bill
Shower included bob??My lease is up this year, my new space will have a huge sink in the middle , walk around with drain to the bottom under the sink and water coming from above huge hoses.
everything that I do will surround these sinks from PS station, inkjet printers, plate burners and enlargers... I hope to be able to turn it into a silver darkroom with a filck of the switch but also be able to utilize
the sink for various jobs... pt pd, gum and even staining frames...
darkroom , dim room, PS room , Framing room all in one space. screw the stairs.
You will never know if you dont try...I just don't have the skill, or the equipment (or the space for it) to do wet printing.
Having the scanner and a higher-end inkjet (first HP B9000, now Canon) allows me to produce far better prints than I think I could do if I had a wet darkroom.
is is most likely a live work building so I will have a shower but only for personal work... Super big sinks to lay in though and spray water on oneself with a hose.Shower included bob??
You will never know if you dont try...
Alas many people are waking up to wet process!!
Your not the only one Ken, I feel hand made prints give me the same excitement as when I first started to print.Being now somewhat old and grey and now surviving on my pension income, I now find it somewhat difficult to
justify the cost of silver/gelatin paper and now find I appreciate more 'pleasure' and 'satisfaction' in scanning my LF negatives and printing the resultant slightly enlarged 'negative' image onto Pictorico for making prints using the 'archaic' print processes with my home built UV light source. It is a much slower means of producing a print.. but somehow... I now get a LOT more (personal) satisfaction than that which I used to 'feel' when I coud better afford
to purchase 'commercial' B/W printing papers.
Ken
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