From: Jack Brubaker (jack@jackbrubaker.com)
Date: 04/01/03-06:00:58 PM Z
Christina,
I've been out of town for a while so didn't respond sooner. You asked if I
had done the Z method of unsensitized color over sensitised paper. No, but I
have an interest in the concept. It has always seemed to me that the
weakness in gum is that the exposure is from the front but the support is on
the back. The result is that a shallow exposure can wash off if the coating
is thick (perhaps thick enough to get a great Dmax). In carbon printing this
is solved by transfering the exposed side of the emulsion to the support
before development. Is it posible that the Z process would create an
emulsion (the gum-pigment) that will be more sensitive on the support side
and therefore more bonded to the support even in the lightly exposed areas?
I don't know. But the idea is tempting. Judy is right that good ideas
usually find there way into the intellectual marketplace. The Z process
didn't and is suspect for it. But, it is also true that ideas gain or fail
to gain acceptance in part because of the dynamic associated with the
advocates. Perhaps Zimmerman had a great process but lacked the stature to
rock the establishment boat. I look forward to more info. Don't have the
time to try it soon myself.
In a similiar thought I have not continued with ernest effort in carbon
printing because it is so lush and not as open to accident and manipulation
as gum. A process in between would be great. Could that be Z? I have great
empathy for Betty Hahn's comments in #8 about being frustrated by too
perfact a print. It doesn't leave room for screwing with it. It becomes too
precious. In this regard James' regret for how seldom photography allows
room for "gesture" strikes a note with me.
Jack
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 05/01/03-11:59:53 AM Z CST