From: Jeffrey D. Mathias (jeffrey.d.mathias@worldnet.att.net)
Date: 01/30/02-09:53:44 AM Z
Paul Giblin wrote:
> Those of you aswim in the world of platinum and
> palladium printing I wonder how you got started? ...
A friend of the family, Mac (Robert) Doty (the same one who ran the
George Eastman House and several other museums for a while, including
the Akron Art Museum where my mom had run the gift shop and then the
Courier Museum in Manchester NH where I was a frequent supporter, and
had written several books on photography), was reviewing some of my
gelatin silver photographs one evening at his home in Manchester and
suggested that I find a good photographic printer to teach me some
things. Living near Boston, I was told to contact Sal Lopes. Sal has
and still is printing Pt/Pd prints for museums and many well known
photographers, and has published several books of his own work. Sal has
the gifted tallent of understanding and being able to print a
photographer's work the way that they would. Sal told me he was
reluctant to take on students at that time but would review some of my
negatives and prints. Sal's first response to my work was: how do you
get such allfull prints from such great negatives. I told him that was
why I was there.
Sal suggested that I try Pt/Pd printing, but I said: none of that hand
coated stuff for me. So, we worked at silver printing for about a
year. Then one evening Sal grabbed a negative and said: we're going to
print this in Platinum. We went into his work room and he proceeded to
make a print, me with tape recorder noting everything that was done.
Wow what a great print, this was what I was trying to make. I have
printed Pt/Pd exclusively since then. Sal also taught me how to build
enlarged negatives.
> What would you do if you
> had the learning curve to go through again?
The same thing. Find a good printer who's work you like and do exactly
what they do (at least until you have mastered that part). I have also
put together a comprehensive guide on my web site (from link below).
-- Jeffrey D. Mathias http://home.att.net/~jeffrey.d.mathias/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 02/15/02-11:47:41 AM Z CST