Re: Direct Carbon Business Wise

John,

I will attempt to answer your questions. Please feel free to contact me
off-line if I missed the mark.

Bill Foster is an accomplished photographer and printer who has worked
in a wide variety of processes. His printing includes Fresson in the
era when he could obtain Fresson paper through his association with
Echague. Bill is a personal friend and without wanting to replay the
entire story published in Post Factory Photography, we had planned to
visit the Fresson workshop together. In the 11th hour he suffered a
heart attack which precluded our plans to visit the workshop together.
Thankfully he has since fully recovered.

As to why the Fresson family no longer supplies paper is anyone's
guess. I would think that the Fresson's stopped selling the paper for a
variety of possible reasons. I can conclude only one thing and that is
that they did not need the income from paper sales to sustain themselves.

As to Nadeau, I am at a loss. I have had several phone conversation
with him over the years. The first of which was to order a sample print
as he had offered in one of his very first books . . . my hypothesis is
that my print will someday show up strapped to the back of the turtle
that he sent down the road in the 80's. All kidding aside, I am not
aware of any prints made by Nadeau which leads me to surmise that he is
still working out the bugs in his coating machine and/or chemistry.

As to convenience, I think the only way that the process will be widely
(as in alternative printing widely . . . a minuscule portion of the
photographic market) used is through the availability of print paper. I
hope to do this but technical success and business success have nothing
to do with each other. Lastly, as a fall back there maybe some simple
ways to coat the paper which would make it somewhat more practical to
produce one's own. As of right now I can honestly tell you that I have
not figured that one out but I don't intend to ignore it. The
investment for my semi manual coating method is more than what the
average person would ever consider and once its refined to further
improve the paper's quality I can assure you it requires a zeal that
transcends finances.

Sincerely, Art

Grafist@aol.com wrote:

>In a message dated 31/07/05 05:02:48 GMT Daylight Time,
>achakali@wideopenwest.com writes:
>
>
>
>> Though the chemistry is crucial, it is
>> a very physical process and my coating methods are probably unlike the
>> Fressons', which translates into slightly different asethic . . . void of
>> egoism . . . I prefer my rendition. Exactly how this plays out is still
>> open, but I plan to have the capability to print my own work, as well as to
>> someday provide workshop instruction and materials for general use. That's
>> one short statement, which requires one heck of a lot of time and money .
>>
>>
>. .
>
>
>> as I write this note equipment and pieces and parts are in shipment.
>>
>>
>..............................
>Hi ART, Thanks for reawakening my long term interest in Direct Carbon since,
>as you may recall, I had been researching these processes since 1990 when I
>was introduced to the work of Jose Ortiz Echague and also made the acquaintance
>of Bill Foster , a friend of Echague who knew him personally and used to
>print on Fresson paper when it was no longer available to the general public. Bill
>was very helpful to me and I must resume contact to let him know how things
>are going.
> One thing we oftened discussed was why the Fressons decided to
>discontinue the manufacture and sale of their Direct Carbon paper. Also, why
>Luis Nadeau also withdrew his business interests in making Direct Carbon paper
>and printing for clients.
> I would be most interested to hear your views on this and
>whether you see a viable future in resuming production and marketing of Direct
>Carbon paper in a similar way to that of Carbon transfer. Even though I developed
>a system of my own to make the paper in a similar way to yourself it would be
>so much more convenient to be able to purchase it ready made. When you
>consider the number of years that the Fressons were selling their product to the
>amateur market one wonders how many genuine prints on Fresson paper are out
>there floating around. Then there are the actual prints made by the Fresson
>studio, of course.
> My energy and finance almost ran out on the issue of finding
>a corporate backer for the production of my own Direct Carbon paper but maybe
>it would still be possible as I am now retired from full time occupation and
>can devote some more time to the PR aspects, but sorry, APIS is somewhat beyond
>my reach, as it must also be for thousands of others, worldwide, with
>enthusiasm for this subject.
> Speak later. Sincerely
> John - Photographist
>
>
>
>
Received on Sun Jul 31 09:50:48 2005