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> From: "Ronald J. Silvers" <rsilvers@oise.on.ca>
> Date: Sat, 25 May 1996 13:06:04 -0400 (EDT)
> Subject: Re: Some Examples of the Aesthetics of Paper
David Beekman (May 24th) asked me to give some detail to my suggestion
that hand coating papers for platinum and palladium have different looks
that are more or less suitable for different negatives. David, I'll
give it a try. Pardon me for being wordy in my response, but I don't
know any other way of conveying my judgments than by specific examples.
My first encounter in coming to a conclusion that papers have their own
look is when I dealt with a particularly difficult negative--it had
deteriorated, been restored, and required considerable burning and
dodging. The negative had a density range of 1.43 minus .32, or 1.10.
The image is of a girl (about 10 years old) sitting on an old style
tricycle made of a thin metal body and large metal wheels. She is
wearing a sailor style outfit: matching dress, hat, and coat. A studio
backdrop of flowers and vase, and rug below surrounds the figure. The
photograph probably dates about 1905.
I had been using cranes plantinotype for a pt/pd print. But found the
paper gave much too "heavy" an appearance for the image. Moreover,
plantinotype failed to obtain a smooth feel to the texture of her coat,
also absent was a sense of a leather look of her high button boots.
I eventually used cranes parchmont to print the image. The overall
look of the image improved, I believe, not only because of the
"discerning textual ability" of parchmont (it even created a cold, hard
appearance to the metal tricycle), but because cranes parchmont offers a
more airy look. For this print it allowed the image to "float" a bit in
keeping with the subject matter and atmosphere.
In another negative I found cranes platinotype to work wonderfully to
bring out a lovely look of satin in many of the blouses worn by women in
their group picture (dated 1915). Nineteen women are standing or seated
together in the studio. The light is coming from a window to their
left. It crosses their faces and clothes. The density range of this
negative is 3.13 (!) minus 1.31 giving a density range of 1.82. I used
straight palladium. Cranes platinotype gives the right balance of
strength of the women's presences (their faces) and softness for the
texture of their clothes. I find arches platine comes quite close to
the appearance of cranes platinotype, but I won't use it for repinting
this negative. Generally speaking, I like this arches paper because it
possesses what I would call "a strong presence!!"--but in the case of
this image too much so for the women's clothes.
The last negative I'll mention is that of a family (mother, father, and
six sons) sitting in a small clearing of their farm (probably about
1910). Palladio paper works wonderfully for this image which measures
2.17 minus 54 for a density range of 1.63. The presence of the family's
life of labor is noticeable in the roughness of their hands and their
clear, unbridled faces. Palladio gives a soft presence to this family
and to the setting, heightening in a quiet way what they offer. I use
Palladio for this negative because it creates an expression of reverence
to what this family exemplifies. I would not use arches platine for
this negative: much too "ummph" to it.
I believe different types of papers bring us to recognize different
kinds responsive sentiments (feelings) to photographs. Testing allows
me to learn both about the negative and the paper. I'd like to know if
others have similar responses to the papers they use.
ron silvers