Re: Ink jet and alt / platinum in the woods

Jack Fulton (jfulton@itsa.ucsf.edu)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 08:44:26 +0000

Gary Auerbach posted :
>I think you are talking image production of the future. With my small
>computer skills that dont go beyond scanning an image into a jpeg file,
>I have decidely moved towards the past. The low tech approach.
>Just give me a small 25 ml bottle of potassiumchloroplatinite, some=20
>EDTA, a contact frame and send me off to the woods. Use a little sun,
>a clear sparkling stream if necessary, and a good density 11x14
>negative shot in camera.
>I will come back with a great handcoated platinotype that will last 500 years.=20
>No comment on iris type printers, quality is certainly in appearance.
>But like most photographs taken this century, will not be viewable in
>150 years. Inks and pigments for printers need to be improved to meet
>real archival standards.

Essentially I agree w/Gary, however, to me, he takes a very hi-tek
approach to longevity. Yo tambien but w/35mm color, b/w made in dkrm. To
me it is the process, like life, which consumes. I realize some of my
work will last 150 years & dependent upon who cherishes or hoardes them,
that will suffice. Ultimately the desire is to create meaningful artwork
and the thread is to use an alt. process. Not that the Digerati are the
Illuminati of tomorrow more than within the electronic possibility there
NOW lies a feasible methodology of creative potential allied with
beauty, not gimmicks..
My considerations are meant to embrace such technology, not throw the
infant out with the amniotic fluid.
Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
Jack