> Dan Burkholder of the book on digital negative fame has come up with a very
> practical use for the high end Epson printers.
>
> He scans his platinum and palladium images and adjusts the color and
> tonalities so that they match the originals a closely as possible. He
> prints them out in @ 5x7, two to a page on high quality paper and then puts
> them into thos nicee bound books with the plastic insert pages bound in
> that you can get at Office Depot. He also puts in resume and bio
> information and a short write up on the platinum print. He then sends these
> to the galleries handling his work. These are not a substitute for the real
> thing, but a sophisticated catalog whereby the potential buyer can get a
> quick look-see of his work and then ask to see specific images.
>
> I talked to John Stevenson of the Platinum Gallery about it and he said it
> was terrific. A real way to engage the buyer in a person's work. People are
> often reluctant to ask the gallery person to start pulling out prints, but
> if they see something that they like in the book, they can ask for
> something specific. John thought it was a terrific marketing tool.
But let me add to this that I saw some Epson stylus prints my former
student, the beauteous Carmen, did on some super-arty paper. Her
"inspiration" was the split-tone effect of tannic acid-toned cyanotypes.
The Epson prints were very very beautiful in their own right -- nothing to
do with platinum printing, and actually nothing to do with the original
"inspiration." They are also, as we know, not archival, but the "effect"
can be great.
Dick's story above makes me wonder how, just for looks, not counting
value, labor, cachet, propriety, verisimilitude, correctness, mess, speed,
or anything else, the "look" of the printer print would stack up against
the "look" of the "real" platinum... I would certainly be curious to see
the two side by side. The possible beauty of the Epson print may be what
led the French journalist into error.
For both plusses and minuses the analogy I'd make would be to Polaroid
transfer.
Judy