From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 03/07/02-10:35:42 PM Z
On Thu, 7 Mar 2002, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
> This is funny, Kerik! (get to know your delete key personally).
> And what is even funnier, is I remember years ago asking an Epson
> question on this list and Katherine Thayer (hi, Katherine!) was the one who
> told me to ask such questions to the Epson list and not here. And now
> Katherine is talking about computer stuff here. Point is, when we need help
> we need help. And it isn't going to kill us to be a bit OT once in a while.
> Heck, I'm trying to perfect (this year) a digi-neg to use in gum printing so
> it is very important to me that we continue to keep tabs on the digital info
> because it is absolutely relevant to alt process....
Is it off topic to say one is medium PO'd by someone dares to decree what
is acceptable and what not on a list which ranges amiably from Latin
sayings to the 99 varieties of pyrocat HD ?
So let me make a diagnosis -- since all that pyrocat talk (Hi Sandy,
you're a genius) didn't get a thumbs down, while relatively few
considerations of the Epson printer brought the kabosh, do I have to be
Sigmund Freud to suspect that Mr. Lopez is anti-computer? Or maybe
pre-computer? Or has family interest in Hewlett-Packard?
So listen up: The REAL problem for experts nowadays isn't the process,
it's the negative. The Epson printer is our latest greatest hope of
getting excellent, easy (or easy once the learning curve is scaled) large
negative without limiting ourselves to the kind of photograph can be
gotten with a view camera, not to mention the muscle to carry it around.
And need I add that whatever silver film Mr. Lopez is using for HIS
negative is not likely to be around forever...? (When folks come crying
for advice on what next, we'll recommend the Epson list.)
Of course both Kerik & Christine have covered the issues succinctly &
distinctly, but I'm moved to mention my 6 months on the Epson list. It
was wonderful in a way -- if your idea of wonderful is 100 e-mails a day.
And I learned a great deal about where to get a good buy on a printer, the
options for ink, the options for printers, etc. But fact is, our use of
the Epson is so very specialized (and get this, there are a bunch of
experts RIGHT HERE with that special knowledge) that alt-photo is a much
better source of the info. Plus a lot of folks contemplating the plunge,
who may also appreciate the background material.
I could go on and on about this, but I won't.But I will add that if we
don't permit the *experts* to extend their reach, then action on the list
becomes newbies only. Not to mention that few folks can keep their sanity
with more than a couple of lists, & alt printers need all the sanity they
can get.
> Yes, there is: no one ever answered my question of why doesn't warmtone
> paper sabattier well???? OR, is this even true???? What would be the
> scientific reason it doesn't work, or is this a fallacy? Judy, I know you
> do sabattier--do you know, or anyone else??
> Chris
Ah, Chris, as we know there's as much nonsense written about sabatier as
there is about.... say, gum printing? But since no one has answered that,
maybe no one knows, so I get a free guess.
First of all, in my experience, all bets are off with modern papers. It
was always a "rule" that VC papers wouldn't reverse, but they do. So what
age papers does that rule refer to? If it ever had any validity, I'd say
maybe the warmtone were silver chloride & the cool were silver bromide
which reversed better... (For all I know, the tonality is the other way
around, but my Brovira was COOL, and I take the "bro" to mean bromide.)
Anyway, I solarized mostly with old Brovira #6 & found it was the GRADE of
the paper, not the tone that made the difference.
HOWEVER, what and how are you solarizing with? I did a
through-the-negative reversal that worked differently from the full
exposure white-light reversal. I think that Solarol-type developers work
differently. Those developers were NOT good for my method, but worked well
for others. So odds are there are other variations from "the rules" as
well.
Is that perfectly clear?
best,
Judy
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