An exchange+salt + Object Glass of Science + APIS 2006

 
Loris
 
It is because the contribution that science has made to the art of
photography is often forgotten that I organised a successful conference last year,
2005, at St Edmund's Hall and the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford.
The conference had such good speakers, see _www.hands-on-pictures.com_
(http://www.hands-on-pictures.com/) , that the University were keen that we should
return in September 2006. This gives us the opportunity to combine the Object
Glass conference with APIS 2006.
 
The proceedings of the 2005 conference will be available soon as an edition
of The PhotoHistorian, a pdf or a CD. We are taking orders. Copies of the
APIS 2004 proceedings are also available as a double edition of The
PhotoHistorian at a cost of 17 GBP
 
Those coming to the Object Glass/APIS 2006 conference will receive the
proceedings as part of the registration fee of approximately 150 GBP which will
include accommodation. Accommodation will at St Edmunds Hall which is a
'college' of the University. It would be good if you could come, ( our Group has a
background of interest in photography in Turkish territories in 19C). We are
taking provisional bookings now. One feature of the conference will be a
presentation on uranium photography.
 
I demonstrated the chrysotype rex and cyanotype rex processes at both APIS
2004 in Scotland and APIS 2005 in Santa Fe. It was at The Object Glass
conference in 2005 that Michael Maunder demonstrated the results of his research
into Sir John Herschel's work in the early 1840s while my presentation was
complementary to Mike's as I had gone back to Herschel to confirm our
'retro-invention' results. Taking these two together justified our claim that the
conference represented a revolution. I did invite Mike Ware to this conference but
he felt unable to come.
 
Getting to your comments about stability of prints. I did refer earlier to
the Hill and Adamson salt prints made in the 1840s which look as good as
anything made to today. Conversely, one could almost infer that you take stability
as a greater priority than the beauty of the final image. I am sure that
this is not the case, but, as Mike Ware says, any salt process is not going to
be as stable as a platinum print. But, when it is done properly, 160 years for
a salt print, does represent a good example of stability.
 
I have reasonable faith that anyone in 2166 will be able to look at any
remaining salt prints that I have made. I am not so sure that they will be able
to have a similar opportunity, with C types or digital prints in 2016 let
alone 2166..
 
All the best.
 
Terry
 
Making pictures: Indeed, but considering photography's close relation to
technology, I guess we can say that photographers probably are the most
technically oriented / concerned type of artists. I can't imagine a
group of painters discussing... for instance longevity for many hours.

As for simplicity of Salt Print: I can assure you that it isn't simplier
than... for instance Ziatype. Actually, I can't imagine a simplier
process than Ziatype. And a Ziatype is terribly stable compared to a
Salt Print... My current personal approach is to only practice processes
which make archival / stable prints. I don't consider [Untoned x (Salt
Print + Vandyke + Kallitype)] as archival / stable. Yes, Salt Prints can
be toned to make them quite archival but I don't see a reason to add
another step into the process (That is toning... And Salt Print also
includes a fixing stage. Ziatype on the other hand is only washed in
water, and cleared in citric acid.) One very obvious advantage of Salt
Print is cost (as Christina also pointed out). Making a salt print and
then toning it in Pt or Pd is indeed much more cost effective (but only
when not considering the "labor" involved - and time can be quite
precious sometimes). I personally don't see emulsion cost as a big
player in the equation because I have to import the fine papers I use at
premium prices + shipment / customs costs, and paper takes the most part
of my printing costs (this last point is highly subjective / specific to
my conditions of course).

Regards,
Loris.

Terry King FRPS

RPS Historical Group (Chairman)

_www.hands-on-pictures.com/_ (http://www.hands-on-pictures.com/)

Moderated Discussion Group

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1. An excellent thing is as rare as it is difficult.(Spinoza)
2. A man's reach should be beyond his grasp or what's a heaven
for.(Browning)
3. Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora.(Occam's razor or
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Royal Society).
5. If ignorance is bliss, why are not more people happy ? (anon)
Received on Fri Mar 24 04:28:16 2006