I think Palladio has been a help to the alt-photo world and platinum
printing in particular. From my observation, more people who start with
Palladio go on to handcoating than the other way around. As for quality,
that is in the eye of the beholder, but for the *average* printer, the
*average* Palladio print is probably better than the *average* handcoated
one. With handcoating, it's like climbing Mt. Everest, it's the last
kilometer that's the killer.
Palladio's advantages are obvious, so let me say what I think are the
advantages of handcoating:
You as a printer are more involved in the process. It's got the "I made it
factor", as opposed to the "I did it" factor. It's a subtle difference that
I believe has an effect on ones artistic expression. I don't believe that
art and technology exist in isolated realms.
You can pick and choose the paper that expresses what you want to express
with your image. Take for example, Ernestine Ruben's work. She is a fine
paper maker as well as a platinum printer. She does sculptural papers with
Pt prints, and prints on a variety of beautiful handmade papers. Each image
is fine tuned to a particular paper to express what she wants to express.
Not everyone makes their own paper, so this might only extend to some
subtle difference such as choosing to use Crane's Platinotype that was
designed for Dick Arentz over 10 years ago. It has a slightly dull white
with no artificial brighteners, some people love it and some hate it, no
one has to use it. There is a wdie variety of papers to choose from.
You can have greater color control. With the developing out system paper,
you have a color range, though somewhat limited, but it seems to be broader
that with machine made paper. With the new Ziatype palladium and gold
system, you can get a very wide range of print colors from sepia red brown
to cold neutral black, from gray blues to purple blacks.
With the Ziatype system you can also print *normal* negatives in the .80
contrast range. Ernestine Ruben and Jim Luciana came in from East Coast and
have spent the better part of this week here in Santa Fe working with me on
the Ziatype printing system. Among many other successes, they were able to
make full tonal range prints on Polaroid Type 55 PN negs, unintensified and
right out of the camera. We got dmaxes above 1.40.
You also know what is in the print. How much gold, how much Pt how much Pd,
how much Pb, how much etc. I am uncomfortable with an ingredient list that
says "made with platinum group metals."
You are not sole sourced. You can buy chemistry from a variety of sources
for handmade prints. If we belly up in the middle of your printing marathon
for your show at the Met, you have many other suppliers who can fill your
needs.
It's cheaper.
It's more fun.
To sum up, in the hands of a master, handcoated paper has a large number of
variables that can be fine tuned to make a more precise artistic statement.
I also believe that the organic involvement of the artist in the making of
an image will also be translated, in a positive way, into the expression of
that image.