A little background--I'm a working photojournalist with some distant
experience in gum printing. Over the years, I've returned to those images
and each time I am reawakened to, and enraptured by, their tender and
magical qualities. I am finally living up to my vow to return to working
with alternative processes.
I have a project I'm beginning work on that practically screams for a
softer feel than silver provides. I am considering both
platinum/palladium and photogravure. I have some questions that I hope
some of you may be able to address.
1) Which process would be more forgiving economically and technically.
Yes, I know, neither! I intend on making 4X5 and 8X10 prints for the most
part. (I do have access to a press for gravure.)
2) Will darkroom--enlarged negatives/positives or digitally created ones
be better? I will be shooting 120 film. Is Burkholder's book helpful in
regard to the latter?
3) Is Ziatype similar to pt/pd? Could someone please give me a good
explanation?
4) What about non-aquatint screens for gravure? What are my options?
5) How many prints can I expect to get from a copper plate. What about
steel facing? Where can I get that done? Can it be done by oneself?
6) I have some 42 baume Ferric Chloride from an engraving supplier in
KC,MO. It was inexpensive--$3/gallon. It is "unadulterated", that is, it
has no copper in it to prime it. Can I use this for the latter etching
baths and use some more expensive 48 Be' for the 48 Be' and 45 Be' baths?
Or can I add powdered Ferric Chloride to the 42 Be' solution to raise the
baume?
I thank you in advance for any answers you may provide.
BTW, regarding some questions from last month. Sheila Metzner is, in fact
a NYC photographer who utilizes the Fresson process a great deal in her
work. She is not a commercial photographer but she does derive a lot of
income from both fashion editorial and advertising work. She is widely
exhibited and sold in galleries. For the most part her specialty is
portraiture but I have noticed that more recently she has been doing
landscapes in the U.S. Southwest. I worked as one of her photo assistants
in the late 1980's and she was constantly on the phone to the Fresson
Atelier. Someone posted a comment on the muted quality of her work. That
can be attributed to the Fresson print and their subsequent reproductions
but it is equally accurate to describe it as a result of her lighting and
film choices. She uses a very cinematographic(can anyone say that?) light
source. It consists of hot lights surrounded by cylinders of silk. We
also used as many as 12-15 flags, fingers, dots, etc. to knock the
contrast way down. A very time consuming and exacting practice which
shows in the "stillness" of her photographs--the only option! Sorry for
rambling but I figured someone out there must be interested. It's not
always the print!
David Kern
dkern@juno.com