On Wed, 4 Feb 1998, Luis Nadeau wrote:
> ==
>
> You hit it right on the head! Have you ever watched someone play a
> Stradivarius? Nothing could LOOK simpler. Can you play the same instrument
> with the same level of virtuosity? I think not.
>
> Carbon and bromoil look amazingly simple in the hands of a master. You go
> home and make me one excellent print from each of 3 different negs, in 2
> monochrome colors on 2 different types of support and let's see how many
> months you need to achieve that, in Texas during the summer.
Luis,
Perhaps my point is purely philosophical, at least with regards to the
rhetoric involved, but I have to stick to my guns: Carbon is easy! I
mean no disrespect, after all I have ALL of your books, but for years
I shied away from carbon because I kept reading about how commercial
tissues where no longer available and tissue was hard to make; this
was my own fault of course, but my apprehension was based on what I had
read and heard. One of the things I learned from watching Al Strauss
demonstrate the way he works (a relative beginner himself at the time)
was that making the tissue was probably the easiest part of the
process.
> I have written monographs on most of the main alt-photo processes used
> today. I know what sells and what doesn't. I have been teaching workshops
> on and off for about 20 years. The workshops and demos are always well
> rehearsed and everybody is impressed at how easy it seems to be.
I beg to differ, both of the demonstrations I referred to in my
original post, Klaus Pollmeier and Al Strauss, were rather informal,
unrehearsed, and done in unfamiliar surroundings (in both cases
courtesy of Judy Seigel).
> At least one professional printer on this list tried carbon and then gave
> it up. Can you come forward?
Why should I. I have been making my living off of photography (both
as a printer and a photographer) for over 25 years now. I consider
alternative processes my hobby and heed John Ryder's advice to
letterpress printers to avoid trying to make money off of it; you end
up with no time to pursue you own interests because your always doing
work for someone else.
> Can anyone name *one* person making a decent living making custom
> *monochrome* carbons? I certainly don't know of anyone.
Money does not have anything to do with it. I did not say carbon was
fast or efficient enough to compete in the commercial marketplace, I
said it was easy. Though I suspect if handled properly, given all the
hoopla about how long prints will last, somebody with the right
marketing could make a living off of carbon. I would add that for a
commercial operation I think the biggest obstacle would probably be
the cost of disposing of toxic wastes in order to comply with
environmental regulations.
> The number of things that can and will go wrong with carbon is staggering.
> For some unknown reason, most of these problems disappear after a
> considerable amount of experience has been gained. Most people don't hang
> in there long enough to become sufficiently experienced however.
Sure, to become really good at something you have to work at it.
Experience is one of the best teachers. I would not argue that it is
a short path to "mastering" the process; but learning the basics is
another matter - very simple.
> And then, if it is a little too hot in the room you will experience
> frilling or reticulation, usually with the print that had the perfect
> exposure... In the winter, you get air bubbles caused by warming up cold
> water, especially with thick art papers. The list goes on and on...
Sure, and it was obvious from the Josef Sudek show, The Pigment
Prints: 1947-1954 at ICP last spring that Sudek was no "master"
printer (even if he did do the transfers single handedly). Lots of
frilling, uneven coats, dust, some bubbles, but the photographs - the
end result of his work - were absolutely beautiful. My point again is
that by constantly hammering in how difficult a process is we scare
newcomers away. To make a "perfect" print is one thing, to make a
beautiful photograph is another.
> Been there, done that, and got the T-shirt;-)
Me too.
-greg
>===for PGP Key finger Greg Schmitz <gws1@cunix.cc.columbia.edu>===
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