Between the Space

By ewan • Feb 4th, 2010 • Category: Daily Shots
Toyocaflexx 6x6, HP5+, Rodinal 1:50, Ilford MGIV Matt, Selenium Toned

Toyocaflex 6x6, HP5+, Rodinal 1:50, Ilford MGIV Matt, Selenium Toned



ewan
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12 Responses »

  1. Kal Khogali on February 4th, 2010 at 5:55 pm:

    Beautiful print, which for me is made exceptional with that leafless tree in the middle as a focal point. Incredibley bleak, and I can just imagine what a gorgeous little print it is. Fine Art at it’s best. K

    PS I could not open it as a link. Suggest that you don’t mess with it, and Lawrence can put it right and explain what you need to do…I had the same learning cycle when I started!

    Rgds, Kal

  2. lorin on February 6th, 2010 at 10:23 am:

    superb image.

  3. jude on February 7th, 2010 at 3:36 am:

    I agree.. superb and also it looks like it is etched on cloth to me.. love it.

  4. kaden on February 7th, 2010 at 7:09 pm:

    Hi Ewan,

    I too like the beauty and simplicity of this composition. Really nicely done.
    I am also happy to see that you are a camera enthusiast and that you like TLRs.

    I personally am not too fond of matt just because it tends to make images look a bit flat.

  5. ewan on February 7th, 2010 at 8:27 pm:

    Thanks all for the supportive comments.

    Kaden, interesting that you are less impressed with matt prints. I have to say that I am a bit split myself now having used matt a lot. I prefer the lustre of matt and generally don’t take so well to the shiny effect of glossy paper but I have to say that I am reconsidering this. I haven’t used much Ilford FB glossy at all but have used Kentmere VC. There is a nice crispness to the prints but I do get a little frustrated by the almost dimpled surface on Kentmere. I do need to experiment I guess. Toning does seem to improve the flatness of matt and I have just started using more selective ferri bleach on highlights but I do know what you mean by matt paper. Kal recommended using glossy for portraits (which I guess I tend to do less of) and the matt for the more pictoral landscape stuff?

  6. kaden on February 7th, 2010 at 10:27 pm:

    You know Ewan I really like the way you think about images by connecting them to the end result in print (this just after reading your comment on Kal’s image, I Am A Tamil #9). It is really the way to go. Nowadays many folks don’t think that way since their output ends at the digital file.

    I mostly use Ilford MGIV FB for printing. I have experimented with Matt and even Semi-Matt. It looks great while wet but once dry is pretty much a different story. I also experiment with toning and bleaching you are right about a slight improvement there. I only use RC for strip testing. Nevertheless glossy remains a fave of mine.

  7. Stu on February 8th, 2010 at 9:36 am:

    Hi Ewan,

    Nice to see you here.

    I like this a lot, and I think it’s the bleakness that appeals to me too. It reminds me of traditional Japanese or Chinese art, and it’s quite rare to see such a level of order applied to the British countryside (presuming it is Britain of course).

  8. Kal on February 8th, 2010 at 12:43 pm:

    Just to catch up on this excellent discussion about printing and the photographic process. I tink the print is it. I also believe that is why analog means so much more to me. The time I invest in the creation of a print, requires me to like it enough..and so..the rest stands aside. Very few people can afford (or have the space) to print all the images they have in digital format, and the ease in a strange way, acts as a dis-incentive to do so. I also believe the aesthetics of a print are a function of all the choices, even the weight of the paper, the size etc, and that is what makes it an art.

    Rgds, K

  9. kaden on February 9th, 2010 at 7:11 am:

    Btw, let me bring something else peripherally interesting to the conversation. Just tonight someone showed me the images of Lilian Bassman. She was a fashion photographer who retired and someone found on her lab a bag of negatives. When she got them back she bleached them to create an interesting high key contrast and loss of detail. These images were published by the B&W Magazine in 2006. Here are some of these images:

    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ZRS2VbptV4E/R0hYyLiX4qI/AAAAAAAAAAU/SNTOvz2ilWw/s1600-h/bassman+collage.jpg

  10. ewan on February 9th, 2010 at 10:35 am:

    I have to say, I have been looking far more seriously at the history of photography recently and the more you study the more you realise just how much stunning and inspirational work has been forgotton about over the years. In a different style and from a a different age, I picked up a book from a second hand shop recently on the Scottish pioneer photographer J Craig Annan, some of the travel shots he took in Spain and Italy and printed are just amazing. Some are real jaw droppers and would still be if they were taken today. Thanks.

  11. Kal on February 9th, 2010 at 12:06 pm:

    Kaden, It’s a small world! She actually used Coccine (a red die) to paint the back of the emulsions to allow the print to be bleached out when it was printed. She could therefore use lighting and selective retouching to get exactly what she wanted…oh and you can wash it off! I have a favourited thread on apug discussing her and her techniques….It is even possible to still buy Coccine (link in the thread) and I guess apply it to 4×5 and 8×10 negs (I imagine MF would be tough). Either way, I think much of her work and style is driven by the couture…as Ewan says..so much inspiration out there, and much of it from another age.

    http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/71213-i-want-print-like-lillian-bassman-how.html

  12. kaden on February 10th, 2010 at 2:46 pm:

    It is very interesting. When I saw these images on the B&W magazine I thought she brushed the bleach into the print.
    What made me think that was the precision of it, namely the necks of the models being bleached. Wow, that makes it
    even more creative.

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