From: Julian Smart (julian@jsmart.fslife.co.uk)
Date: 02/23/03-05:49:22 PM Z
Christina,
you will find there are a great many people on the list who purport to being
gum printers. I, for one, always felt gum printing, alone amongst all the
alt-processes, to be a calling- an almost spiritual way to produce
photography. Not an endeavor to be undertaken lightly by the instant
gratification brigade..... ;~)
Seriously, though, for Gum printing to work on anything other than a
utilitarian level, every step of the way has to be accounted for in advance
and allowances made for happy mistakes. I feel it is a medium that requires
an exceptional degree of previsualisation and one that will fail on all
accounts should corners be cut. Sure it is very easy to make a one coat gum
from a paper neg on acryllic sized paper, but the results will give no
indication of the potential of the medium and will do little to inspire
further experimentation.
Perhaps, in a constructive way, it may be more interesting for your students
to decide how they want to produce their final prints- what processes suit
their individual photographic styles and subject matter-and suggest the
appropriate technique. This shouldn't be any extra work on your behalf,
rather a re-ordering of what you would have taught them anyway and at least
they will be working towards a visual goal. Rather than trying to tailor a
process to the subject, do it the other way round and shoot the subject for
the process.
I'd be interested in hearin more about the lemon juice technique you
mentioned Demachy used- not come across that one before.
Kindest regards,
Julian.
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