Advanced Process Forum

Platypus 2012

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:26:57 +0000

I'd like to thank Dick and Melody for hosting the Platypus gathering last Saturday. Prints were shown continuously on two large tables throughout the day by the Usual Suspects and lots of faces new to me, as well.

Gordon Mark showed some stunning platinum portraits on plate finish Strathmore (no longer available); indefatigable Patrick Alt announced his instructional DVDs and showed lots of large format platinum nudes (oh yeah, Patrick knows skin tones) and some cyanotypes. Dana Sullivan showed an impressive level of achievement in wet plate; Jan Pietrzak, who showed wonderful Polaroids at the last Platypus, brought poetic medium format contacts in platinum, providing more proof that you don't need a big print to make a big impression. Gary Baker drove down from Colorado (thanks, Gary!) and brought some large double transfer carbons; Gary's technique achieves a uniquely beautiful print surface that I have never seen duplicated. Wayne Lambert showed some accomplished Mexican portraits in platinum, and a couple in inkjet, too, so we could compare side-by-side. Keith Schreiber captured some extremely delicate tones in his platinum landscapes; I wish I had been able to spend time talking to Keith about his work. Melody showed us some recent Immogen Cunningham images printed in platinum using fumed silica. Sorry, I don't mean to leave anyone out; I should have taken notes. If you haven't attended Platypus, it's a terrific opportunity to see a variety of work up close in an informal setting, and engage artists directly about their work ... and yours. And the food is pretty good, too: chile, brie in puff pastry, and lots more. Thanks for a good time, everyone.

-- Philip Schwartz

Awesome pics of the Chilean volcano burping

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:33:52 +0000

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394503/Chile-volcano-causes-ash-cloud-lightning-tears-sky-apart.html

Job opportunities

Thu, 12 May 2011 22:51:27 +0000

I used to load 50 lb sacks of Bandini* all day for 10 hours at Green Arrow Nursery on Sepulveda Blvd in the SF Valley in the late 50's for a dollar an hour or about 50 bucks a week.

* as the ads went: "Bandini is the word for fertilizer"

Attached Thumbnails

What's up with the b&s website?

Fri, 06 May 2011 15:02:20 +0000

Anyone have information about what's wrong with the bostick-sullivan website (it's just returning "403" errors), and when it might be back up?

I'd call to ask but sadly need to get things done at work, and B&S is closed by the time I'm back home...

-- Jorj

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I want one

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:11:29 +0000

Only thing is the deluxe version is $150,000.00 and the basic is $50,000.00.

This guy only had the camera for a night and said he stayed all night playing with it. I think he did some very creative things just being in his hotel room. I guess walking Vegas streets at 2:00 AM with a $100,00.00 camera that you borrowed is a bit risjy.

Gallery

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 07:53:01 +0000

Is there any way to turn off the gallery pane? If I want to see what's in the gallery, I'll select it from the menu! I really ought to be able to close this pane, or control the view in my personal settings.
mages

Awesome!

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:11:56 +0000

Steichen Strand and Steiglitz at the Met in NYC

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:37:59 +0000

I had some free time during a business trip to NYC on Tuesday so I stopped in to see this show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

My overall view of Steichen has been clouded by the WWII and Family of Man images that he is well known for. I had not appreciated his work at the turn of the century. The Steichen room has 8 or 9 prints that are Direct Carbon (more on this later).

They have the show set up with one room for each artist. It's an alt-process extravaganza.
Gum Dichromate, Platinum, Direct Carbon, Autotype and Silver as well as combinations of different processes on one print. All are vintage prints presented well. The lighting is a little dark, but I always think that is the case.

Rather than go on and on about the show I will simply say that if you can get to NYC you must see this show. The prints are amazing and to be able to see them all in one place at one time is remarkable.

Two comments:
1. They have an area off to the side where they discuss the processes and materials. There is quite a bit of information (for an art museum anyway) on Platinum and Gum printing. They even have materials on display. But not one word on Direct Carbon (the prints were specifically labeled Direct Carbon, transfer was never mentioned). So I wonder if they don't know anything about the exact process he used or if they chose to simply not discuss it. I find it odd that this institution would not know anything about the process but there was really no one to ask. Those Carbon Prints did not appear to be anything like Fresson, they looked like really good silver prints with a large range. Very deep blacks, inky black. Highlights were very well defined. The photos in the catalog do not do the carbon prints justice.

2. Autochromes. The actual original Autochromes from 1907 were on display, back illuminated for four days in January. Since then they have duplicates on display as they are concerned about fading. These color images are difficult to believe they were made in 1907. I can understand the stir they created at the time. Again, the catalog does not convey the effect of the transparencies.

Get there if you can. These are all images from the Met's collection. There was no indication anywhere that this show would travel.

And this!

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 18:31:56 +0000

This to music what carbon printing is to photography. I can see his graduate adviser saying "Hey you can do this on a synthesizer, why bother with this?"

It ain't the same!!!!

Check him out, he has quite a few on youtube.

Cirque Du Soleil goes nature

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:11:12 +0000

Now my thought is the guy doing the video could have gone over an sat on the plastic and ripped it off and stopped the whole thing, but hey this is art!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AxRT60-kw78

Neat Trick

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:51:56 +0000

I think I recall seeing this back in the '50's in Pop or Modern Photography. It's still worth a new go-round.

--Dick

Unbelieveable!

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:26:11 +0000

The end of an era

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:39:35 +0000

Please go look.

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2011/01/photo-enlargers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Reader&pid=668

Changing my email address

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:53:47 +0000

I tried three times to change my email address but it didn't work.

My email changed from clj.rt@verizon.net to clj.rt@frontier.com because Frontier bought Verizon here in Washington state. Any hints?

Curt

Bergger Film?

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 01:24:23 +0000

Hi All,
Excuse me, but I have been off in my own little world of emulsion making for "a while".
Having read of the demise of both TMX and TMY in 8x10, I went looking for Bergger Film on the B&S website. Nothing there. Has Bergger stopped selling film in the U.S. of A.? Or everywhere ?
An APUG search turned up nothing about Bergger pulling its film.
My Soul is balanced on a Tightrope,
Bill

I must be missing something

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:28:59 +0000

Cindy Sherman

I guess I don't 'get' this

Sotheby's Paris Photography auction

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 20:45:14 +0000

November 19th. This is a link to the catalog. All vintage stuff
Carbons by Sudek & others, Carbros by Outerbridge, platinums, lotsa iconic images.

Just thought some might be interested in prints as objects.

john

Cool light qestion

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 02:07:23 +0000

Hello out there is alt process land. I know this is not a alt process question but if anyone can help it would be appreciated. I have an older cool light that needs to be filtered to work with VC paper. I am alnost positive that it is yellow. I need to know the density of the yellow filter.
tony aka runmtn2

Hey, Pigment inkjet prints for $30K

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:03:52 +0000

Check this out

I'm speechless. Especially because the review (who sounds like he enjoyed the exhibit) says some of the prints are "underwhelming"

So much for the theory that there is no more "print as an object" philosophy. $30k is an object.

My ridiculous opinion, of course.....

John

Replacing Film Silver with Palladium

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:42:03 +0000

Hi ,

I was a member of BS forums 11 years ago. I had been too much influenced made me to register meeting at 99 at Bostick.
But with last minute decision , I did not jump to the plane. May be Melody remembers me .

Well , I have something in my mind. I learned this technology after discussing with Eastman House , Motion Film Dept. , RIT Kodak Archives and few retired Kodak Research Lab Experts . This was a research on two color 1922 - 1927 Movie Film chemistry.

I learned that Red Green colors were not the result of dyes but inorganic metals impregnated after bleach.

I dont have nearly no knowledge about

-Bleaching and its commercial products for BW Films ,

-And possibility of replacing light exposed film silver with palladium.

First Kodak idea , Second mine.

I have no money for cameras and I am thinking to manufacture or buy a pinhole anamorphic camera. It is possible to get 6 cms to 17 cms bw positives with this camera. I am thinking if I could replace the silver with palladium , I would have big film or print like slides at my hand.

Richard , Can you help me ?

Best ,

Mustafa Umut Sarac

Istanbul

Happy feller

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:22:49 +0000

OK, I have to mention this.

Yesterday we had a visitor, not just any visitor but a VISITOR!

Like many of the older folks here, when I was young -- I still am mentally -- I became interested in photography, images actually. My dad knew where to find the recently arrived Life Magazine -- in my bedroom. I always went to the last page, anyone remember Miscellany? As for photography, that came in my teens. My dad had a darkroom so I learned the basics there. Later I discovered, after he died, his secret stash of "special" negatives. They were pretty tame by today's standards but pretty racy for the 50's.

I digress. My addiction to photography was in its early stages but I was bit, bad. In those days you learned from the magazines. Popular Photography, Modern Photography, and 35 mm Photography were big. The annuals were where you learned about what the images were about.

One of the seminal writers for these magazines that had a major influence on me was David Vestal. My VISITOR! I spent the better part of the morning showing him around. David is now 86 going on 20.

My avatar of the man with the umbrella was done in the very early 70's, clearly in my mind, I was trying to be David Vestal. Funny though, my street work was quite different from Mr. Vestal's. His work in the 50's was a macro view of the city's, mine was a micro view. But clearly walking the streets with my Canon VT, I imagined being David Vestal.

It made my day, week, year, and decade and.....

When I read those articles in my teens, I never dreamed that Mr. Vestal would come by to visit!

And thanks to Jan Pietrzak for bringing him by!

--Dick

Something, something... eee... o.O

Mon, 31 May 2010 21:53:58 +0000

Hello everyone
This is something what I shot on DSLR camera:

1-A

2-A

3-A

1-B

1-C

2-C

3-C

1-D

2-D

3-D

And I

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7446/ja4ur.jpg

Some of this photos will be good in alt processes?

Glop recipe

Mon, 31 May 2010 21:15:11 +0000

Hi,
I am new to this list, and relatively new to carbon. I would be interested in a few favorite glop recipes, and why authors feel their ingredients work.

the "green" gum printing article

Sun, 30 May 2010 05:58:56 +0000

a while back you had a great article about printing "green" (er) with gum. I wanted to re read thru it again but couldn't locate it. Is it still available?

Crystal.

the new look

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:07:45 +0000

Dick, I like the new look of the forum. The gallery preview at the top of the page is a great addition, I often forgot to check the gallery with the old layout.

26th anniversy Platypus Party July 31st 2010

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:40:22 +0000

Every other year we do an APIS which is the Alternative Process International Symposium. On the between years we do out Platypus Party and this year 2010 is the Platypus year. Platypus is a gathering of alternative photographic process workers hwere good chile is eaten and prints are shown. It is an informal gathering unlike the more formal APIS. Originally it was held at our home in Van Nus California but has moved since 1995 to our home in Santa Fe NM.

The first gathering was in 1984 so this is its 26th anniversary. Quite a feat in the alt world.

This year it will be on Saturday July 31st from 2:00 to 7:00 PM. Bring prints or if you are new and just want to come and look, feel free. Food and drink provided.

You may also want to check out the Santa Fe Opera program if you are coming. Santa Fe has a world class opera and a stunning campus and is often listed in the top 10 operas in the U.S. Best to order tickets now as it is mostly sold out in the summer. Also reserve a space now at the airport for your Lear Jet or Gulfstream as spaces there are at a premium. All of those rich New Yorkers grab them early.

The party is at the home of Dick and Melody Sullivan, 18 General Sage Dr, Santa Fe, NM, 87505. Call B+S at 505-474-0890 for more information.

Also if you have something you think would make a good presentation at APIS 2011, give a call to B+S and ask for Melody.

--Dick Sullivan

Phase II for the team

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:06:44 +0000

OK Gang, I think, with great help from Herr Doctor Howard, we've reached our first milestone.

I am sure that Howard will continue refining the process and I've figured out how to make low load tissue, the #50 yellow and magenta were superb and the blue was ok. I think I can improve the blue. I think at this point we need to look at actually making our own prints.

So here's the plan. Get out your trusty old Barnack Leica I prototype or what have you or your trusty old digital camera left to you by your grandfather and shoot some color. (or find some already shot!) Preferable is a digital shot in the 6 to 12 meg range. For the initial go round, shoot something with "abstract colors." It's always good for ones enthusiasm to have a few "keepers" in the beginning so skin tones are going to be a bit tricky at first. So an image that's a bit off on one or another color and no one can tell is a good first go.

Howard and I discussed this yesterday and we figure evenings are a bit short for the time needed. So if we can plan on either a Saturday or Sunday to get started that would be good. Once people get the hang of things then I can open the lab on weekdays or weekends. I am here most weekdays. Weekends on either day are available, even if I'm not here so long as two people come. This is for liability and safety reasons.

We'll discuss this more on Thursday evening.

Note:

Wasn't one of the first regularly broadcast programs in color Disneyland? Didn't it say "Welcome to the world of color."

OK, just Wiki'd it. No.

Quote

Television's first prime time network color series was The Marriage, a situation comedy broadcast live by NBC in the summer of 1954.[49] NBC's anthology series Ford Theatre became the first network color filmed series that October.

I wasn't aware it went back that far.

I think in the alt world this is about as exciting!

--Dick

What you will learn

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:54:45 +0000

The workshop will be held in the studio of The Carbon Works, a division of Bostick & Sullivan in historic Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Carbon Works is the center of the universe of carbon printing

1541 Center Dr, Santa Fe, NM, 87507. 505-474-0890.

It will be limited to 5 students maximum. There is a minimum of 1 student, so if you sign up, the workshop will go.

The studio is fully equipped facility designed for carbon printing. There are three industrial UV exposure units with a total of 10,000 watts power.

All materials will be provided.

It will be taught by Dick Sullivan and aided by his assistants.

This will be a two day intensive workshop in the basics of the traditional carbon process.

It will cover all the steps from cutting the tissue to presentation of the final print.

Prospective students are encouraged to download a free copy of Sullivan's carbon manual at:

http://www.thecarbonworks.com/manual010810.pdf

Color team 2/25/10

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:00:41 +0000

Only a couple of us met. It was however a rilly good session.

Howard brought several 4 color prints that were pretty darn good for this early in the game.

He ran some curves and has showed me that I need to drop the pigment load so that there is more exposure latitude. I think we can handle this with the new machines.

I am very encouraged with the results. Of course not perfect, lots of tuning needs to be done, but these are problems we can deal with.

As Mort Sahl used to say: "Onwards!"

Mort who?

Quote: ""Most people past college age are not atheists. It's too hard to be in society, for one thing. Because you don't get any days off. And if you're an agnostic you don't know whether you get them off or not." Mort Sahl

A fun day in Santa Fe

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:32:15 +0000

This was quite a coincidence. Well, maybe not, this is Santa Fe, and we are a Native American center but.....

A young fellow came in today wanting some help with cyanotypes on fired clay. He was a student of a friend of mine at IAIA, Institute of American Indian Arts, an credited 4 year college here. He was also interested in finding some early photographs of Native Americans. We went over to the computer and I showed him the hi-res scans of Gertrude Kasebier's very human portraits she took in the 1905-08 period of members of Buffalo Bill's Show. As we were paging through he went said excitedly, "That's my great great uncle!" Interestingly, he only has a faded group shot of him in his family archives and apparently no one was aware of the LOC scans.

It made my day!

Amos Two Bulls

--Dick

The "Classic Photo Movement"

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:31:17 +0000

I get a monthly newsletter called "The Photo Collectors Newsletter." It's usually about 10 pages long and is fairly expensive, like maybe $150.00 per year. It focuses on what its title suggests, news for photo collectors. The last three issues have had long articles on PhotoLA, a photographic print marketing event held annually in Los Angeles.

Reading between the lines, there appears to be a movement afoot. The newsletter is being subtle about it and not trying to throw any fuel on the fire, but the message is coming through fairly clearly.

Let's call it the "classic photo" movement. it's origins seem to have been sparked by PhotoLA's entrepreneur, Stephen Cohen's decision to host the event in an an empty car dealership. That got squelched real quick and was moved to Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, but in the interim, Michael Dawson, a prominent LA dealer, set up a small photo selling event at his gallery. It was called the "Classic Photo Show" or something like that. It was a big hit.
Several things seemed to coagulate during this event.

One, the works shown and sold were "classic photos." Ok, to me this seems to be a new term and by its usage implies, vintage and contemporary photos in a classical mode. Perhaps easier said by what it is not: huge digital photos or perhaps even huge photos. There is a contemporary market that shakes its head in wonder as to why a dealer can ask $4,000.00 for a 4x5 Caponigro print. "My God, what can you do with it? Put it in a drawer?"

Secondly, PhotoLA's booth fees begin at around $11,000.00 for standard booth for the three day event. Figure in another $10,000.00 to bring work and staff to the event and at 50% markup you have to figure in $50,000.00 in sales to more or less break even. There was no figures for fees for Dawon's event, but implications were it was clearly not in that realm.

The PCN clearly does not want to start any kind of turf war or anything like it, but clearly there is something going on here:

There seems to be reaction against big big prints, especially by the traditional collector audience. Digital figures in here prominently. These attract buyers who are interested in decorator items. These are prints that can "hold a wall." Curiously there appears to be an attraction for museum acquisition here as well as they too like prints that can hold a wall. Let's not forget that in the last quarter century museums have gone turnstile. In economics there is a dictum that bad money drives out good. Bad art driving out good?

Secondly, there seems to be a reaction to what many think are obscene fees for a booth. I am sure Mr. Cohen can show us numbers that justify those rates but a typical PhotoLA hosts about 100 dealers so we are talking upwards of a million dollars in booth fees and then the $15 per day entrance fee for buyers who number in the 10's of thousands over the long weekend does seem like it requires some justification.
Thirdly, the revolt does not appear to be just anti-digital, though that does seem to be the core of it, there is a solid move against the huge print. The critical criteria for a 36 x 48 inch print is quite different than that for a 4x5 Caponigro.

Comments please!

--Dick

Off and running

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:53:15 +0000

We met again on Thursday the 18th of February.

The team was Peter Elzy, Maddy, Willis, Howard Efner, me, David Hyams, Andre Ruesch, Rory Earler, and two new guys wh o Failed to get thelLast names of, Henry and Wes.

Lots of discussion concerning contrast and print speed. Howard and Molly Berger worked on color carbon last year and Howard feels that as you lay down the colors contrast builds and you have to make very low density pigmented tissue. There is also some discussion as to whether to go with a a half tone screen, as Ultrastable did back in the 90's or stochastic. Elzy thinks we can go stochastic with no problem.

The second issue that is my pet idea is to do the four colors first on clear plastic, as was common with Color Carbro, sandwich them on a light table and judge the color. If changes are needed only one sheet need be redone --(hopefully.) When all is well and good, transfer to paper. There's the rub, four transfers that each may take overnight to effect. I want to try using a vacuum setting archival glue.

So for this Howard made a plain old b+W carbon image on plastic and I will cut up into pieces and experiment with vacuum glue transfers. If you can effect a transfer in 10 or 15 minutes, that would be a big benefit.

Sooooo.... If you have any ideas that may help us, please, please chine in. WEe can use all the ideas and help we can get.

--Dick

I have not failed

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:43:02 +0000

"I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that don't work." Thomas Edison

Junker heaven updated

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:20:26 +0000

I have been buying surplus stuff at Norton Sales since the 1960's. It's still in existence, Though Norton no longer owns it. Way back in the days of Norton is was pretty well organized, that is as surplus heavens go. Now it is really bizarre. The building is about 16 ft high and I'd guess it is better than 75 x 150. The organizing scheme is rather crude: "over there is hydraulics," "over there is electronics.

This is prime time for dumpster diving in surplus stores. Companies are folding right and left. All sellers and no buyers. I was able to buy 8 motors for 25 bucks a piece that sell on Ebay for close to $200.00.

Sometime ago some dufus did some model shots in the facility. Behind her in the pic here is a sample of how the facility is stocked. Multiply this mess by a factor of several hundred and you'll get an idea. Don't get me wrong, this is one marvelous place and one where what you are looking for is probably there, just where is the question. When I was there last week Carlos was laughing his head off as some one called and wanted to sell him a website that he could put his inventory on.

Carlos pointed me to more pictures. How anyone would allow them to be made public is beyond me. I keep a messy office but.......

I figure most carbon printers have technology side to them, otherwise, they wouldn't be making carbon prints. So I think you'll enjoy these:

Attached Thumbnails

Just for fun

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:07:58 +0000

I am listening to a book about the history of baseball by George Vesey.

I learned something useful.

There is a pitch in baseball called the Linda Ronstadt:

It Blew By You.

Estacion Indianilla Mexico City

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:30:36 +0000

One of the high points of my trip to Mexico last summer was a trip to this museum in Mexico City. It is an architectural wonder and a fine example of how to save older structures. The museum was originally a power station for streetcars. Thus in several of the later shots in the video located on the "remodel" menu on its web site at: http://www.estacionindianilla.com.mx/ you can see some of the dynamos.

In the basement is: the TALLER GRAFICO LITOGRAFIAY GRABADO a well fitted out graphic studio that does a lot of photo gravure work. Somehow all of my pictures taken there have disappeared, those damned little SD chips can fall through the cracks!

The slide show on the web site does not do justice to the building, it does show the remodeling of it but not one shot shows the effect of the old dynamos rising up out of the floor. I think it is a truism of architecture in that photos rarely do justice to the building, that one needs to be "in" it to savor its reality.

Mexico City is condensed chaos. After living in Santa Fe for 15 years where no one in town is more than 10 minutes away and waiting for two lights to make a left turn is a major traffic jam, Mexico City is an experience. The one thing that I came to realize, quickly in fact, was that Mexico take their culture seriously. It's not a very rich nation but they do support their arts. I suspect they spend lots more than we do per person on the arts than we do. You often see folks wearing what appear to be farm clothes and BF Goodrich style sandals in the museums, so it is not only the elite that benefits.

I was also amazed at the status given to artists in Mexico. Myself, Jon Goodman and Julio Galindo had a show in the museum in Xalapa -- another wonder for a small town! We were in a round table discussion and throughout the opening reception and proceedings we were referred to as Maestro Goodman, Maestro Galindo, or Maestro Sullivan. And me without an MFA???? Maestro? Perhaps a little unnerving to egalitarian Americans.

http://www.chilango.com/arte/ver/1152/estacion-indianilla

Above is a view of the dynamos. It seems that many of the photographers seem to try to avoid the wondrous dynamos!

Note: Ac current can easily be upped or downed in voltage. High voltages lose less that lows when transmitted distances. Thus cities were wired AC (to Edison's chagrin.) Dc electric motors can easily do things that is hard or wasteful for AC motors. They can speed up or slow down with increases or decreases in voltage. Reverse polarity and they can run backwards. Thus they are ideal for streetcars, so they took city voltages and ran AC motors to drive DC generators (dynamos) to run the electric motors on the streetcars. Not a terribly efficient way to use electricity.

--Dick

If it ain't broke

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:40:48 +0000

Below is a sample of some legendary work by FSA and WIS photographer Russell Lee who only died a few years ago. Russell worked for the Farm Service Administration, a New Deal organization, as a photographer and did some marvelous work. It was documentary in nature but... he had a knack of capturing that which went beyond just documentation. He was in the same league as Walker Evans, but I think he had more constraints than Walker, but even so, was able to capture the humanity anyway.

It was made in October of 1940 and is 69 years old. The baby in the father's lap was about the age of myself at that time. I was born in February of 1940.

This was an image of a homesteading family in Pie Town New Mexico. They lived in what was called a dugout, a house mostly below ground with maybe one or two rooms. Lee spent some time documenting the town, its people and festivities of which I'll post more of below. You can tell from Lee's work that he was not just there to take pictures and move on. (Other FSA photogs, seem to have this attitude but not all.)

Life was tough. Maybe a radio of entertainment, though with 5 children or which the oldest in perhaps 7 or 8, there were obviously other forms of amusement. You can bet those clothes moved from one child to the next.

The below photograph is a almost 70 year old 4x5 Kodachrome in a 100 meg+ scan from the Library of Congress, and yes, you and I own this image. Eastman discontinued 4x5 Kodachrome in 1952, but note how fresh and unfaded the image is! Now we have lost Kodachrome forever, that is unless the Chinese revive it like they did with dye printed Technicolor.

Below is a 35mm Kodachrome of the annual Labor Day picnic at Pie Town, 1940.

Kind a yummy I'd say

Below is the Whinery dugout. 4x5 KC. Even the humanity is captured in this shot of the garden. Not the large leaves -- tobacco! And some Dahlias in the back row to brighten things up -- even if you are living in a hole in the ground.

Saying grace before eating, KC 35mm. The blond girl in the foreground appears to be the Whinery girl 3rd from the left in the 1st picture. A woman, if still alive today, is in her mid to late 70's! Photography really does stop time.

--Dick

The Meeting of 11-19-09

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:49:37 +0000

Howard, Peter, Maddy, Gordon, and I met for about an hour and a half.

Peter who has an extensive pre-press background Discussed the ins-and-outs of separation negs. Howard and I discussed issues surrounding registration etc.

I would like to use an old Carbro trick of putting each color on a sheet of plastic and then sandwich them together on a light table to check color balance. That way, if correction is needed, only one sheet needs replacing. The downside is that you need to make four transfers which can take as long as a half a day each. I am looking at a dry transfer method using a polymer, or that is heat sensitive to do dry transfers.

If anyone knows of such a thing let me know. Or even any tips about double transfer carbon is welcome.

We will start our research in earnest after the 1st of the year. I am involved full time in the hell of gravure tissue until then. The holidays do get in everyone's way as well.

--Dick

Introduction

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:01:27 +0000

This forum will be for discussions and images from the team investigating four color carbon images. We meet at least once a week with lab time availalble to member during the week.

More about them later but the team members -- in no particular orders are:

Melanie McWhorter -- one of the key people at the PhotoEye gallery and bookstore, and exhibiting photographer.

Gordon Mark -- camera maker, carbon printer, and expert on Spanish Colonial gristmills.

Howard Efner -- Airstream trailer nut, chemist and sometimes professor of chemistry.

Peter Ellzey -- formerly of CompuGraphics, now independent, one of the country's leading experts on digital negatives.

Andre Ruesch -- Swiss fondue expert, (He's Swiss, what did you expect?) carbon printe, and chair of photography at the Santa Fe Community College.

Odus Lynd -- All around expert in many alt processes, and carbon expert.

Madelyn Willis -- Carbon printer and teacher of tykes at the Santa Domingo Pueblo.

Dick Sullivan -- Color blind dude along for the ride.

This forum will be open and we invite comments and help from those out there. It's amazing the talent and experience that this forum brings. It does make up for it small size by its quality.

More as we go

Irving Penn

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:00:24 +0000

Irving Penn has passed on at the age of 92.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8296030.stm

Howard

Defects and Mistakes - Art?

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:08:16 +0000

I was reading a post in the Carbon Archive Section adressing the lack of basic Photography skills being not taught in todays classes. It brought to mind my early studies in photography, when I was just beginning to produce Pt/Pd images on glass.
I was showing some of my early glass transparency work to my MFA instructer. When I called her attention to an obvious deffect she said "Bill, its the deffects that make it art!".
I could not disagree more! As a person whose hands are not connected to his brain,I spend a great deal of time trying to prevent deffects. It is always my goal to duplicate,on glass, my pre-visualization. If I produce a deffect, I have failed.
This MFA lady was not the only instructor who vigorously mantained that "defects make the art".
However, they all seam to be around the same age and all have MFA degrees.
Just venting,
Bill

Annie's in trouble

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:54:34 +0000

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8240403.stm

As talented as she is, she is more a photographic corporation than an artist.

This must be the calendar

http://blog.brotherhoodofthebean.com/2008/...vazzaleibovitz/

Note also that she is Photoshopping and combining images. Very naughty!

--Dick

Mix of printing processes

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:52:38 +0000

As someone who has a tremendous sense of anticipation at making my first carbon transfer print soon, I'm interested to know what mix of processes various members carry out or if you are dedicated to one process such as carbon transfer?

Assuming I continue with carbon transfer I can still see myself making lith prints and standard silver gelatin prints in certain instances, however I assume the majority of my black & white printing will be carbon.

Tom

sending pm's or creating albums

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:50:19 +0000

I've tried sending some PM's to ask this, but it doesn't appear to be sending them (i look in my sent message folder after sending, and it remains empty). Also, attempting to create an album gives me an error about an invalid category, but it doesn't allow me to change it to anything.

Am I doing something wrong?

thanks!

jim

Print Swap

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:18:59 +0000

Ok, All you TAPF users.

While doing the APIS 6th Print Swap, Richard asked me if we could do a FORUM PRINT EXCHANGE, I said yes, no problem.

Ok, let me re-think this.

1. ship work to Santa Fe, NM

2. a mix of work not every body does carbon on this site (me included)

3. dead lines to get the work in

4. do the swap/exchange

5. ship the work back

ok, sounds easy?????

a. we need to have a max size of prints

b. loose prints???? matted prints????

c. shipping??????

d. dead lines ????? some time next year yes/no

e. each person needs to cover shipping costs, that's just the way it needs to be.

What do you all think

Jan Pietrzak

New Members

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:27:38 +0000

Richard????

Should we set-up a new member 'Say Hi' spot or just use this space to do it.

Jan Pietrzak

PMs not working

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:56:02 +0000

Richard,

?????? The PMs are not working ??????

Jan Pietrzak

This will make your day for you!!!!

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:11:36 +0000

Test

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:43:44 +0000

Test

Prairie puppies are up!

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:05:47 +0000

Two days ago I saw the first prairie dog doing sentry duty in the field next to the lab. Last fall just before going to bed they were big round fat and plump. Now they are as trim as a White House Marine Sentry. Two days ago it was 70 degrees out and balmy. Today 4 inches of snow with lots of confused doggies. Last night it was 20 degrees.

Mr Sena who owned the field died recently and I suspect it will be developed as commercial property soon.

What will become of the prairie dogs?

This:

CSF Rising from the dead????

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:27:35 +0000

Just maybe our good Guv Richardson can pull this off.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/

Just maybe!

RIP College of Santa Fe

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:06:49 +0000

It looks as if the College of Santa Fe is going down hard. The State Senate is refusing to fund a State takeover. Gov. Richardson is trying hard to save it, and if anyone can, he can. The college of 600+ students is about 35-45 million in debt. Bankruptcy looms if the Gov's effort fails. This means the Marion Center of Photography gets scrapped and the leftovers sold on Ebay.

SH*T!

--Dick Sullivan

Someone tell Sandy it doesn't snow in South Carolina!

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:27:26 +0000

It just don't!

Piper Cubs

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:25:45 +0000

Did you know that 1940's vintage Piper Cubs sell for $50,000.00 to $90.000.00.

I have about 20 hrs in them before the age of 8. My father took flying lessons on the GI Bill and used to take me up with him after he soloed. Used to go above the apartments where we lived (Barcroft Apts, 4 MIl Run Dr. Arlington Va.) Rev the engine to get my mother to come out and then do aerobatics above the apartment. Scared the pi$$ out of her. We used to fly up to Olney Md to his sisters farm and land on the dirt road running from the highway to the house. We had to duck between crossing power lines landing and taking off. It was fun growing up.

Post counts

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:10:27 +0000

I have just been looking at some older threads, next to some recent ones.

I have noticed that the 'number of posts' of members always show the same since some time...

Not that it really matters, but it's nice to be aware of bugs...

For example Colin Graham, it always shows 0

18 guests online!

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:49:42 +0000

I just looked and we had 18 guest reading on the forum. That's pretty good. I wonder what attracts them. What are they googling?

--Dick

digital negatives for salted paper-do they work?

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:02:21 +0000

Hello, has anyone tried making digital negatives for the salted paper process? I have tried numerous methods and am coming to the conclusion that the density provided by a printer is not sufficient for this method's requirements. I might need to stick to making at a photolab on film. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks for your advice!

Images from the Andr�e expedition

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:43:03 +0000

Ever since I was very young I have been fascinated by the explorers in the Arctic and Antarctic. I think it is defined in my Norwegian blood to feel this way. The expedition (except for Amundsens journey to the South pole of course) that has fascinated me the most is Solomon August Andr�e�s fatal attempt to reach the North pole by balloon in 1897. It ended badly, a few months after departure the expedition ended up on a small island and all three of them died there.

I have given a short version of the story on my blog (link in signature).

Their last camp were found in 1930 (33 years later) and also the negatives with images from the expedition were found: They were developed and could give the world an amazing insight in what they went through. Can you imagine? The rolls were embedded in water, mud and ice for three decades before development.

I suggest you take a look at the image gallery at Grenna Museum in Sweden, all images are there. Also unretouched and previously unpublished images. The text is swedish, but the images speak for themselves. I can help translating if wanted.

From the preparation in Virgohamna

From the expedition (the 33 year old negatives)

Finding the Andr�e-camp in 1930

Exhibition - need a good "title"

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:59:37 +0000

From november 21st I will have an exhibition at a local gallery here in Longyearbyen which will be carbon prints with images that is showing human activity on the island. Mainly remains from the coal mines and the result of present tourism activity. It is an important issue for the government to keep the island "untouched" and to preserve the nature and the wildlife. I want to show that the reality is quite another thing. The image in the exhibition that will provoke the most is of a (20 litre metal) fuel can partly embeded in the fragile tundra with the governors symbol on its side. They are not better than the rest of us.

Here are some of the images from the series:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47768885@N00/564060023/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47768885@N00/564060013/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47768885@N00/531243586/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47768885@N00/531239774/

If you google "Svalbard" or "Spitsbergen" which is the two common names of the island you will find many nice images with polar bears, walruses, glacier fronts and the untouched wildlife. The last few years the media has told us that global warming will cause the arctic ice to disappear and the polar bear will loose its habitat. This all may be true but it has caused Svalbard to be a stadium to watch "global warming", and the pressure with tourists, scientists and politicians has increased dramaticly. In all this I want show that we do not preserve the island as good is we like to think.

I am asked to have a title or a name for this exhibition of 20-22 images all in the same genre as the links above.
Any good ideas for a catchy one?

Back from the B&S Carbon Printing Workshop

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:02:44 +0000

I returned home last night from the 5-day B&S Carbon Printing Workshop in Santa Fe, informed, enthused and ready to print!! We started by looking at many good carbon prints and meeting instructors and students at a get-together diner at Dick and Melody's beautiful home. Then, the next day, our small group of students got excellent, easy-to-understand instruction from Dick, Howard Effner, Gordon Marks and a couple of Dick's lab assistants, (plus, a wealth of entertaining stories). Most important, we got lots of practice making carbon prints in Dick's large lab. (I stress practice because repetition is necessary for me to remember anything these days.) Getting to pick Bob Herbst's brains was also valuable.

The workshop isn't cheap, but you come out of it with real working knowledge of carbon printing, and of those little things that take trial-and error time to discover on your own -- if you ever DO discover them.

So all in all, a good experience, and one I would recommend if you're halfway serous about carbon printing.

Marco

Ah like minded people! :-)

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:58:36 +0000

Hello All!

I'm excited to join this forum and chat a bit with like minded people. I'm from So Cal. I may have met a few of you at Rich's party a few summers back. I print primarily in gum but like some of the other "cool" processes

Crystal

G. Ray Hawkins going to jail for a year and a day

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:39:21 +0000

Noted Los Angeles gallery owner, G. Ray Hawkins going to jail:

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/arti...t_id=1003800566

This is sad. The amount of the fraud is not high compared to some cases I've seen. My guess is he didn't plea bargain out and they went after him hard.

I've known G. Ray since the late 60's when he worked at the Ashgrove folk club on Melrose as a dishwasher and general handyman. The Ashgrove was a hangout for political activists. Taj Mahal, who eventually became a world reknown blues singer used to live in a back room at the Ashgrove and it was fun hanging out and Taj would do his thing.

G. Ray had one of the earliest photo galleries in Los Angeles and when I was President of CameraVision, a non-profit gallery, and we couldn't pay the rent, G. Ray was always available to chip in to help. He and Stephen White would handle our fund raising auctions.

It's a sad story but I am sure there is a lot more not being reported.

The hazards of manhood

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:27:18 +0000

Ananova:
Deckchair trapped testicles

A Croatian man got a nasty surprise when he tried to get out of his deck chair and found his testicles had got stuck.

Mario Visnjic had gone swimming naked in the sea at the Valalta beach in western Croatia, reports 24sata.

His testicles had shrunk while in the cool sea and slipped through the wooden slats when he sat back down on his wooden deckchair.

But as he lay in the sun they expanded back to normal size and got stuck between the slats.

He was eventually freed after he called beach maintenance services on his mobile phone and they sent a member of staff to cut the deck chair in half.

Back in the saddle....well, almost

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:16:25 +0000

Dear all,

Just wanted to poke my head into the room and say hello. It has been quite some time since I last posted to these forums but we have just been reconnected to the net after an extended period of not having access to an ISP.

We are slowly beginning to settle into our new location and have started the long process of rebuilding our household, offices, and lab. The move, which began in September of 2007, met with some complications and became much more difficult than either my husband or I had ever anticipated. It was an adventure I wouldn't want to repeat.

Things are going to be slow while we take time to regroup and rebuild, but I wanted to let you know that we have not fallen off the end of the earth and also say Hi to all the new members that have joined the forum since my last contact.

Best,

Andrea

OK, I've now seen a Carbon Print

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:21:59 +0000

I managed to see my first Carbon print in the flesh yesterday.

I was lookingat an exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) which had a display of around 60 images, showing the spread of processes over the years.

In the middle of it was a Carbon print by Etiene Carjat, titled Portraite of Charles Baudelaire. Anyone else seen this image?

Heres a link to the image (Note that the link is not to a Carbon Print but a Woodbury but the same neg was used)
http://www.usc.edu/programs/cst/deadfiles/...mages/469bg.jpg

The carbon print was much smoother that the one depicted and the background was printed substantially darker. I was quite impressed with the depth available as well as the tonality.

Note to myself. Must try this process when I get older

Phill

My Heston story

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:47:41 +0000

Back in the late 70's or early 80's I taught gum classes in my garage workspace. The space was primitive to say the least. The classes were taught through the non-profit CameraVision Gallery. As I was looking at the checks I saw that one student's check was printed Lydia Clark Heston and Charlton Heston. When I talked to Lydia she preferred that she just be plain old Lydia. Lydia usually came with her studio assistant but one day she came alone and I knew she does not drive so someone mut have brought her. At nearing the end of class in walks Mr. Heston to drive her back home. I introduced him awkwardly as Lydia's husband and there was no sign of obvious recognition. Most people have seen celebrities up close and realize that often without makeup and film lighting they look quite different. After they left, one of the students asked, having some sense of familiarity with the face, "Who was that?

I said, figuring he knew, "Moses."

All I got was a puzzled "Huh?"

Heston had spent the intervening class time in a nearby neighborhood bar called the Tonga Hut. It's still there with Tiki torches outside and all!
That must have been a hoot. He could have gone to Don Drysdale's Dugout or the Pink Pig, a bit more upscale, but he chose the Tonga?

He came as her driver a number of times after that, but I don't think anyone realized who he was. At the last class we had some champaign and showed prints and Lydia was talking about shooting Charlton on the set and the cat was out. Several students asked him for autographs and later I "apologized."
Heston said no need to. When he was in college as a drama major he dreamed of the day when someone on the street would walk up and ask for an autograph.

Lydia did make some really nice gum prints but I don't know if she ever continued making them.

The later Heston and I did not share many political ideals. The early Heston marched in Washington and Selma with Dr. King. When and where he got off the bus is a bit of a puzzle.

The few brief encounters, through my association with his photographer wife, were quite cordial. I was invited to the house for a book signing by Lydia. I spent quite a bit of time talking to an elderly man about photography. He seemed quite knowledgeable and discussed his photographing of Native Americans in Arizona. As I previously noted, one may not recognize someone out of context. Melody later asked me what was all the animated conversation about that I was having with Barry Goldwater. Boy was I out of my element! Llater in the reception, I took up drinking single malt Scotch with Richard Gere who also seemed out of his element as well.

Perhaps Heston was not a great actor but certainly an iconic one.

He sort of fits in with my take on John Wayne. An iconic actor, but not one I shared many ideals with.

Ok, one last story from Wayne's recent bio. Seems that Maureen O'Hara was driving him back home (apparently he needed to be driven) and were heading down Highland Ave going through that fairly Ritzie neighborhood. Wayne suddenly said "Stop! I need a drink." O'Hara, a bit puzzled, finally stopped. Wayne got out and walked up to a house and rang the doorbell. The door opened and he disappeared inside. O'Hara, after about 15 minutes of sitting decided to investigate. She went up and rang the bell. She was invited in, and there was Wayne with a glass of Scotch. The obviously startled residents had provided him a nice tall glass and Wayne was dutifully chatting them up. I am sure this story is a legendary one in that family. "Hey, we were just watching TV one evening and the doorbell rang....."

--Dick Sullivan

An Army at Dawn -- What are you reading now?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:04:30 +0000

Just getting started reading (with my ears) the unabridged version this book. Being 68 I am old enough to remember WW II. I grew up in Washington DC so the War was everywhere. I can still remember crossing the 14th st bridge on the way to Grandma's and looking east down the Potomac river and seeing the siege dirigibles all the way down the river. Hundred's of them! These were large gas bags (blimp like things) tethered to cables to prevent low level bombing.

I can remember vividly driving into town with my family from Arlington the night they turned on all the lights after the war was over. During the war the town was dark.

I can also remember my first banana at the age of 5. Fresh bananas were not to be had during the war, at least in my neighborhood. There was an inedible version of dried banana that was reconstituted in a mush. Yuk!

Anyway, Atkinson's book is so far a good read. Having won the Pulitzer for history does, indeed, make for a good recommendation. The first thing I learned was the North Africa invasion was a controversial move. There were two theories of how the War should go. One was to strike at the heart with devastating force and head straight for Berlin. This was the one held by the American military. Roosevelt overruled and went for an intial strategy of surrounding the Axis and slowly strangling it. Roosevelt's Democrats lost 60 seats in the House due to perceived inaction on the war when in fact the invasion was up and ready to go, but was secret. Had the plan have been known, the political ramifications would have been quite different. A plus for Roosevelt. He sacrificed his party for country. Not quite the way it is today.

So far the description of Patton is pretty much that of a gadfly. We'll see.

What are you reading?

--Dick

More fun from the Library of Congress

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:21:27 +0000

Here is a Kodachrome 4x5 (discontinued in 1951) made by Russell Lee in October of 1940:

This was taken in October of 1940. I am 68 and was about the age of the baby in the father's lap. The other children are into ther 70's now and the parents, if alive are in their 90's.

This is one of the famous Pietown images taken by Russell Lee for the FSA, Farm Services Administration, later to become the War Information Service.

Several things are striking about this image. One is the Kodachrome --

"I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away."

Look at the quality of the image scan from the 4x5. LOC does not do any correcting to the image, so this has stood pristine for nearly 70 years! I have heard, -- and if you know any more about this let us know -- that Eastman made very few changes to Kodachrome over the year. Yeah, there was Kodachrome 64, but we're talking Kodachrome. I suppose the old axiom, "If it ain't broke...

And what a treasure this image is.

Do you think it is "arty?"

When you look at Lee's work in comparison to others working in the same venue, FSA, farmers, etc, you can see a real sense of composition.

This is a nice 35mm Kodachrome of the local gas station.

It's a nice touch having some of the "townies" yakking it up in the picture.

The family picture has lots of nice dynamics. Everyone is in nice clean clothes, something difficult to obtain if you are living in a hole in the ground. These were called dugouts and were easier to keep warm in the cold winters and cooler in the hot summers but were primitive by any means. This was 1940 and these were homesteaders, mostly from Texas and Oklahoma. Perhaps dust bowl survivors. This was the Whinery family and it would be interesting to locate any living survivors in this picture.

The focal length of the lens and the smallness of the room has forced the family to squeeze together for the picture adding to the dynamic.

Three older girls and 2 boys. Five children and the oldest is maybe 8 or 9. Ok, no jokes about no tv on the farm!

The mother looks worn out and tired. The father is trying to look like the authority figure with a set jaw. Three of the children are looking straight at the camera an look excited. The two girls are looking away and are distracted.

What dynamics do you see in this picture?

--Dick

A New Image to Comment On

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:05:41 +0000

This is one of the seminal images in American History:

Taken by Alexander Gardner, one of the famous Civil War photographers. It is titled "Adjusting the Ropes." This is the full image taken by Gardner on 8x10 wet plate collodion. It is one of a series he took that day. It is of the hanging of the Lincoln assassination conspirators.

The image to critique however, is this crop from the full plate shown above:

Note that even having to work in an almost 100 Degree July Washington day, Gardner was able to get this amazing detail on the glass plate. Consider also the slow shutter speed and wide aperture he had to use.

There are four condemned on the scaffold with a whole crowd of others. Why so many are up there is beyond me. Could be the social event of the season. I dunno. The two in the crop are George Atzerodt (on the right) and David Harold (on the left). Harold was testified to as having the wits of a 5 year old. Likely he was smarter than that, but he certainly wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. I see a lot of drama in this image. What do you see?

More fun

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:21:13 +0000

This is sort of a no winner and no loser contest to see what weird, eye catching or wacky pictures we can find on the Library of Congress web site. Instructions on how to get there are in the previous topic.

You can post the pictures right here in the message by:

Clicking on the browse button on the lower right.

Selecting the image from one of your computer's foders.

Then click on upload.

Put you cursor where you want the image to appear in your message and clcik on Manage Current Attachments.

Here's mine:

I was 11 moths old when this was taken. Perhaps it doesn't quite live up to the rules set down about being eye catching. To me it brings back one of the most poignant scenes in my life.

In September of 1960 I was aboard the USS Cavalier and we docked at Echo Pier in Pearl. This was a Tee shot away from the USS Arizona. At that time there was no memorial on it, just a pontoon with a flag pole. A detachment boated out every morning at 8:00 to raise the flag.

Within a few minutes, maybe an hour after we tied up I was on deck and saw one of our gunny sergeants sitting, staring out at the Arizona, with tears streaming down his cheeks. I backed away and saw one of my friends waving me back. Now Marine gunnies aren't supposed to cry, at least not in 1960, so I went up to my friend with a puzzled look. One sentence:

"His father is on board."

--Dick

The secret photo cache!

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:25:32 +0000

I've noticed that, at least in my parts, few people are aware of the valuable cache of free photos available at the Library of Congress web site. There are literally millions of scanned images available for downloading and many are scanned in very high res.

TITLE: Charles Burroughs and Floyd Burroughs, Hale County, Alabama

This one an example. It''s free to use. It's available for download in a 205K tiff file.

Can anyone guess the photographer?

Or this tintype photographer in front of the U.S. Capitol taken by esther Bubley in Mar of 1943.

Most of the images are very boring and not very interesting. But then, maybe not, if the subject is pertinent to your issue at hand. I thinkit is a geat place for school children to find images to spice up reports etc.

The site is a bit chaotic. The Library has a propensity to create collections, so stuff is scattered about. Everything is however in the main searchable database, it's just you have to know what to look for and what search tags might be attached to the image.

Ok, here's how to get there:

www.loc.gov
at the top, click on "library catalogs"
over on the right you will see:
[indent]Prints and Photographs
Online Catalog (PPOC)
About - Start Searching[/indent]
Click on "Start Searching"
Click on the blue box on the right that says "I understand. I'm ready. Search the catalog."
(Hey it's the government!)
Now for fun do a search on "bromoil"
Click on the black box that says "Preview Images"

So you're there. It's a bit convoluted but you'll eventually get the hang of it.

Critique this picture

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:32:36 +0000

Have some fun. Pretend you are the "Grand Master Photography Instructor" and critique this student picture.

stealing first base

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:37:02 +0000

Nice camera! It's a 5 x 7 Graflex also known as a Big Bertha.

I did some research and this is Germany Schaefer c. 1912 of the Washington Senators. This is the only man in baseball history to steal first base.

He was on second with a man on third and no one on first. He thought he might sucker the catcher into trying to throw him out at first, letting the man on third go home. Apparently the catcher just stood up and looked dumbfounded holding the man on third. The next day the baseball commission met and made the move illegal.

Schaefer moonlighted in the off season as a vaudeville comedian. Makes sense.

--Dick

Happy Birthday to me!

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Today this old fart turns 68!

I've been married almost 42 years and have loved every minute with my bride Melody.

Just thought that once a year we're all allowed to gloat a little bit.

My prize? Other than keeping the devil at bay and hoping I'm in heaven 10 minutes before he knows I'm dead, (an old Irish toast!) the bride let me buy me a gift. My pick is a the brand new Creative Zen Mp3 player. http://us.creative.com/products/product.as...p;product=16999 I have a previous version that I use all the time (Zen Plus V) but this one has a brighter screen, longer battery, and takes memory chips. I am a books-on-tape addict and those that know me around here often see me with my pod dangling from my neck.

Oh, and I learned a new trick that saves money. I just buy one book and put it on random shuffle so every time I play it, it is different!

--Dick

Security

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:34:34 +0000

Dear Dick,
Christe in a cannary cage, Dick! Is this stuff a matter of national security? We wouldn't want North Korea to get its hands on the procedure for making a Palladium print ? Why all the security and extranious gobbledy-gook permeating this Forum ? Its messing with my linear consiousness.

Running Against The Wind

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:47:21 +0000

Hi to All,
Color Separation being one of my obsessions, I have done every possible kind, In Enlargers seps from color negative and chromes, the latter being much less forgiving than the former, In camera separations using all formats from 35mm to 8x10. I have by far the best results with the in-camera seps,the larger the format the better. So, I went and bought a Curtis 5x7 tri-color camera circa late 1930s.
The seller described the camera as having all parts and "fully functional" This was true only if one dose not mind spots all over ones negatives from filter delamination and corroded pellicals.
Here are my costs to date.
Camera-$750 + shiping
Two new pellicals-$1000 (only one company will make these.)
Three glass filters-$600
Anti-reflection glass for the three filters-$180
Low estimate of costs so far--$2750
I paid about that for my Sinar 8x10 + 1 lens.
Then there was the work involved with alighning the mirrors. This is done with a red pen light laser and a lot of practice.. Glueing the ant-reflection glass to the filters is a one-try,do or die thing.
Whether or not this was worth the cost and effort -"to be determined"
Regards,
Bill

Just for fun

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 18:10:05 +0000

I scraped this off of my diabetic's forum. I could not link to it because it was embedded, in the forum, but thought it would be fun to post. Too bad they are making fun of possum. Obviously they haven't tried it! As a kid in Arlington Va, Grandpa Slaughter, (not my grandfather) who claimed to be a CSA Civil War vet (not likely in 1950 as he was not anywhere near 100 years old.) used to fry up the ones we'd catch for him as kids. He did it outside in a big pot of oil and a wood fire under it. I was the only one in the neighborhood to try it. Not bad.
______________________________________________________________________________
From: Joe Buffalo
Date: Thursday, January 10, 2008 11:21 PM

I thought everyone would like to know about Wal-Marts new wine offering that will bring quality wine to the masses -- I plan to try them all!

-------------------------------

WalMart announced that, sometime in 2008, it will begin offering customers a new discount item ---- WalMart's own brand of wine.

The world's largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California to produce the spirits at an affordable price, in the $2.00 - $5.00 range.

Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to put a bottle of WalMart brand into their shopping carts, but "there is a market for inexpensive wine," said Kathy Micken professor of marketing at University of Arkansas, Bentonville. "But the right name is important."

Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the WalMart wine brand. The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:

10. Chateau Traileur Parc

9. White Trashfindel

8. Big Red Gulp

7. World Championship Riesling

6. NASCARbernet

5. Chef Boyardeaux

4. Peanut Noir

3. I Can't Believe it's not Vinegar

2. Grape Expectations

1. Nasti Spumante

The beauty of WalMart wine is that it can be served with either white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).

P. S. Don't bother writing that this is a hoax. I know possum is not a white meat.

My gripe about limited editions

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:26:52 +0000

The idea of publishing limited editions in photography has reached a point where it is almost a scam. First off, let me say, there is a place for limited editions, but we'll get to that in a minute.

An example: a few years ago Annie Liebowitz had a show at a local gallery and among others, had a copy of her famous John and Yoko image in color for sale. This is the one where John is nude and lying on top of Yoko. Fine. Nice limited edition print, about $3,000.00 I believe -- would be a lot more now 10 years later. But... next year or so another show and another "limited edition" John and Yoko -- same image -- not quite. This one was in platinum and his eyes are open not closed. Ah, good ole motor drive, clikety clack, more film more images. So either the fact that it was in platinum, or the fact that it was taken 1/10 of a second after the previous image, made it another image in and of itself.

So under this scheme we can have "limited editions" up the ying yang. The permutations are so large as to make the term meaningless. lets look at some of the "excuses" I have actually seen used to justify a reprint of the negative.

Different sizes.. "Oh that was limited only in 11 x 14." I suppose a 11 1/64 x 14 1/64 justifies another edition????
Different print process: "That was limited to gelatin silver, this one is in platinum." Hmm does palladium justify another edition?
And the real sticky one, the next negative on the roll or the back up shot on back side of the film holder.

Add up all of these and, well you get the point, we can quickly go into the thousands or millions.

Unlike most issues like this in the world of commerce, there is rarely a disclaimer presented to the potenttial buy as to what the artists consders to be a "limiting" of the edition.

Letting the buying public know would be self defeating. Suppose one saw this disclaimer:

This edition is limited to 25 images in 8x10 platinum. Other editions reserved include: 8x10 platinum, 11 x 14 platinum, 16 x 20 platinum, 8 x 10 Ilfochrome, 11 x 14 Iflochrome, ok, I could go on and fill the page. It certainly would not be enhancing any sales of the limited edition.

Now let's consider how this might effect the artist. Consider the late Arnold Newman. 11 x 14's go for around $7,500.00 and 20 x 24's for $25,000.00. A nice piece of change for a print. This print was made in 1946 when Newman was a young man. The price? Maybe $25.00 or maybe $50.00. Now had Arnold limited his edition to 25 in 1946, by 1956 he may have sold out the edition and netted a few thousand dollars. BUT, he didn't and he was selling the, like hotcakes up until his death in 2006. It is hard to know how many he sold and at what price but i think we can easliy say he probably averaged over the life of the print, maybe $2,000.00 per and sold several thousand. My guesstimate is certainly on the short side. Ok add to this his images of Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Dwight D. Eisenhower and others, and well... you can do the math.

The point for a young photographer is: limit your editions if you are one of the typical flash in the pans and will be forgotten in a few years, but.. if you are destined to be a great master in your old age, keep your options open. Oh, but maybe you can go for that 11 1/64 x 14 1/64 edition.

--Dick

"If you're going through hell - keep going!" -- Winston Churchill

getting old sucks

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:34:36 +0000

Yesterday I turned 65 gretting olds sucks!! figuring out medicare is worse. the only avantage to getting old is that I have not had a real job in 10 years and that is cool!!!

gordon

News Stand Photo Annuals

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:41:50 +0000

How many here remember the photo annuals that came out about once a year and showed up on the news stands? The 3 that I remember the most were Popular Photography Annual, Modern Photography Annual and (and who remembers this one?) Camera 35 Annual. Occasionally there was a special issue like Camera Color, or Camera World, or some other ad hoc name that seemed to be for that one issue only. Buying one hurt as they were often a couple of bucks when magazines were 25 or 50 cents. If you were into photography, these mags were delicious. Many greats could be found there. Some were not so great at the time. I remember Jerry Uellsmann being a regular, Irving Penn another, as well as many other big time fashion guys would show up. That might have had something to do with the annuals being published by the same publishers as the fashion rags and was a good place to use up out takes. The print quality was rather poor by today's standards.

I'd grab one, or more, as they often hit the stand in droves busting my budget. I'd head home and pour over the issue for hours, and then look at it more the next day. The annuals would hang out in the bathroom or on the nightstand, and comfort me for months. I still have some packed away in a box up in the loft at B+S. I've got half a ton of books up there that the boss keeps wanting me to throw away or donate to Goodwill. "You've read them, why keep them?" runs the mantra. Old books are your intellectual children and one does not throw them away!!!

--Dick

How come no one comes here?

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:56:39 +0000

I can't help but notice how only a select few people are posting here. So, I have posted the only real reasons anyone has for not being a part of this great online community.

I'm not here right now because I'm over there.

Seasons Greetings

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 03:13:34 +0000

Wishing all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

platium vs. carbon

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:20:44 +0000

There has been a number of coments about platium vs. carbon. They are two very different media, one is not better or more relevent that the other. "apples and oranges" My intrest is the dicussion about cost. some thoughts. Of pocket I suppose platium is more but if you include the cost of labor (Yours) are they that much different. In the late 80's I printed a potrfolio of the work of A.C.Vroman. these were 6 1/2 X8 1/2 glass plates. this consisted of 10 negs and 250 prints. I printed these in about 10 days. I could do 25 platinum prints in an 8 hr. day. The cost for the platinum prints was $1.87 per print. Since I was being paid and the IRS wanted to know, I kept close track. You just need to add for inflation to get the current cost. I cannot do 25 carbon prints in a day. If you are printing for money (others ) or a gallery show do you count your time and do you count your time as a day labor from home depot or as a skilled artisan . This will hold more so for those who coat there own tissue

well off to California for a week.

gordon

Vaughn's intro...

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:06:46 +0000

I thought I did this once, but I'll do it again!

Growing up I remember two original 16x20 Carleton Watkin albumen prints hanging in our hallway at home...one of the Three Brothers and the Merced River in Yosemite, and the other a train somewhere in the Sierras with men standing on top of it. Often I would walk by these prints are study them...always amazed at the clarity and the strange white skies. I was a sickly kid...so home a lot from school, I would go through the drawer full of loose B&W prints (snapshots) that was by my parents bed and just look at them for hours.

My dad gave me his Rolleiflex in 1976 (I was a "youngster" of 22)...it had been our family's snapshot-taker ever since I could remember...Dad had upgraded to a Kodak Instamatic 804. I took a couple rolls of B&W, had them processed and a few printed at the local photo store -- back when they still did such things. Took the Rollei with me when I got a job pumping gasoline on the rim of the Grand Canyon in 1977...had a few rolls developed in a photo shop down in Flagstaff, bought a couple packs of RC paper there, and back at the Canyon made my first prints in a little darkroom set aside for the employees. Took a photo class at Humboldt State and I was hooked. Got a BS degree in Natural Resources Mgt in 1981, but spent most of my last few years at Humboldt State in the darkroom. My two most influencial teachers there were Thomas Knight and Thomas Joshua Cooper.

Not realizing it at the time, I was using the Rollie like a view camera -- on a tripod, f22, and long exposures carefully composed on the little ground glass. Moving to a 4x5 seemed like a natural progression to me. I carried the school's studio 4x5's for miles through the redwoods...I even backpacked them up into The Trinity Alps (ahhh...the strength of my legs and back in my younger days!). I made 16x20 silver gelatin prints.

I spent 12 seasons working for the US Forest Service in Northern CA...counting steelhead, packing mules, building trails, cleaning campground shitters, fighting fires, et al. In the winters I volunteered in the university darkroom as a lab assistant (and taking one unit through Extended Education to officially be a student) and printed all through the winter until it was time to go back into the forest. I managed to save enough money for a field 4x5 and took a couple trips to New Zealand to photograph...a 3-month trip in 1981 hitch-hiking around with a 4x5 with a light leak, and a 5 month trip in 1986 on a bicycle with a newer and lighter (and light-tight) 4x5.

During this time I also worked as a workshop assistant for the Friends of Photography down in Carmel/Pebble Beach -- a great experience! Usually one workshop a year. Met all sorts of great photographers -- faculty, other assistants and participants.

My job with the US Forest Service was evolving into more office work than field work, so in 1991 I jumped at the opportunity to become the darkroom tech at Humboldt State -- and here I still am. I decided to teach myself carbon printing from an article in ViewCamera Magazine in 1992. It took a couple years to get the process down. I never saw an actual carbon print, so I just made them until I liked what I was getting...which was images with a large range of values and a raised relief.

My wife and I had triplet boys in 1997, so I taught myself Platinum printing to save a little time in the darkroom. Now I go between the two processes, and on the very rare occasion make a silver gelatin print.

That's it!

Vaughn

SFCC Carbon Class of 9/13/07 pics up in the gallery!

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:01:08 +0000

Find them at: http://bostick-sullivan.invisionzone.com/i...q=si&img=69

SFCC Carbon Class of 9/20/07 pics up in the gallery!

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:59:20 +0000

Find them at: http://bostick-sullivan.invisionzone.com/i...q=si&img=80

comments about images

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:51:48 +0000

I wonder why no one has made any comments about the images in the gallery?? I am some what torn! I do feel that as visual lit. they should stand on their own but??
Also why did the figure get more views than the rest of the images??

-gm

SFCC Carbon Class 9/6/07 pics up in the gallery!

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:08:00 +0000

Check them out at:

http://bostick-sullivan.invisionzone.com/i...um&album=11

Comments always welcome!

--Dick

Another Introduction

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:44:05 +0000

Another hola from El Norte (Lamy, NM).

I was hooked by photography back in grade school during a cub scout photo project. After seeing the magic of my print developing in the little white tray of liquid, it has been all down hill for the past 50+ years. Too bad the new digital folks don't have the fun and magic of seeing prints appear in a wet darkroom.

The first camera was an Argus C-3 "brick" followed by a baby Speed Graphic. Finally in the mid-1990s started shooting large format. Most of the time I was a silver printer. After successfully escaping from the corporate rat race in 1999, I was attracted to the world of alternate processes. Started off with iron based processes and was fascinated by carbon after seeing some of the work of Vaughn H. and Sandy K. at the 2001 APIS. In 2004, we started construction on our house in New Mexico and said farewell to tornado alley ( NE Oklahoma).

09/06/07 class

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:38:31 +0000

Out of 10 students we ended up with 7. This was Fiesta night, and next to Christmas and Easter, this is the biggest holiday in Santa Fe. Santa Fe celebrates the Spanish Colonials whupping the Indians and re-taking the town. (Politically correct? Don't ask!) More bizarre is it is celebrated by the burning of Zozobra. This is a 40 foot hight puppet like assemblage full of combustibles and propane gas that is torched after much loudspeaker amplified moaning and groaning to the delight of thousands of cheering spectators screaming "Burn him, burn him!) (It's getting more politically correct by the minute.) The whole Zozobra thing was concocted by the artist Will Shuster and the artist colony here in the 1930's. So, anyway, we lost three students to this freak show.

All in all the class went well. This was the first go at making prints. Almost everyone got good prints. We sensitized all the tissue at 2%, we used Renaissance Blac as the color. One student has some very contrasty negatives but even his prints were almost acceptable. Howard Efner and Gordon Mark were assising so we had a 2 to 1 ratio of students to teacher.

I made the first mate and did the development but after that, they all did their own prints. This included sensitizing.

It was a very successful night and during the next class I will have the digital camera out and we will do a picture diary as well.

--Dick

Attached Thumbnails

Inkjet paper suitable for carbon pritning

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:56:41 +0000

These papers are all good for transferring carbon as final supports.

The specular relief can be removed with a Krylon Matte spray:
http://www.dickblick.com/zz217/03c/
Krylon matte spray should be available from Valdez or Artisan Santa Fe as well

These links will take you there:

Luster
http://www.ultrafineonline.com/phquludepa.html

Gloss
http://www.ultrafineonline.com/phqugldepa.html

Semi-Matt
http://www.ultrafineonline.com/prgrphquse10.html

What are you reading right now?

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:29:53 +0000

I do a lot of books on tape. I'm sort of known as the guy with the headphones draped around my neck and the Ipod Nano in my shirt pocket. It is amazing how much reading you can get done this way! In the car, or making a carbon run, one can "read." It takes a bit of doing to get used to listening to books, at least for me it took some time. You use a different part of your brain and I found my mind wandering, but I got it down after a while.

I just finished the Pulizer 2005 history prize book, Polio and American Story. I lived through the polio era so I really related to it.

At the moment I am listening to The Teaching Company's Course on the history of the Broadway Musical by Bill Messenger. That too is fantastic.

I also do read books, the paper kind and am about halfway through: Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics by Gino Segre. Three 5 stars in a row.

I also just finished a biography of W.C. Fields. An hysterical man He drove the early century's censors nuts. Always saying "Godfrey Daniels" in that Fields twang. It reminded people of a common swear oath but they could never stop him as it was perfectly ok.

In the mid 50's I worked on a gardening truck and we serviced the Toluca Lake area of the Valley and one of the homes was the former home of Fields. It was a lake front home and Fileds was fond of shooting at seagulls on the water. This was a crowded valley neighborhood. He lived next door to Deanna Durbin and was annoyed that she would sing on her back porch, so he bought a dog and had it trained to howl when anyione sang. Classic Fields.

A non sequitor or a oxymoron -- or one of those weird things.

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:39:47 +0000

I am still stretching my mind to remember who told me this, it was a person of note, so I trust the authenticity of the comment.

The comment was that their school was dropping the photo history class because they were going digital.

Duh!

-d

Gallery items posted by D. Sullivan

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:31:12 +0000

Ok, we're stil figuring this thing out, but I have posted some of my street photography from the early 70's. Of interest is a few shots of the Hard Rock Cafe, and it's not what you normally think of when you hear that name. It's kind of frightening to think that these images are over 30 years old. A lot of my early work does not hold up, but this does, even now I think it is a confidant series of work.

Almost all were taken with a Canon VT base wind camera with a 50 mm lens. You could rack off 3 shots in 5 seconds with that baby, I preferred this to my Leica M2, as it was faster and the replacement cost was about 1/3 of that of the Leica. In that neighborhood replacment cost was a consideration.

Interestingly the "Nickel," 5th St, LA, was segregated: whites north of Hooper and everyone else south. Even skid row had its rules.

As usual, comments are welcome.

New Carbon Printer

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:10:08 +0000

Hi Carbonistas!

The experience of printing in carbon is new for me. I am in Richard's class and have been musing and messing around, thinking, enjoying, getting alarmed, then, calm, again, in order to determine my porfolio's theme. As I proceeded to write this Post, I kept making errors and not dispatching my post! ....very frustrating. I composed, again and again, this Post. Each of the 4 times, it has been differently expressed. Each time, new ideas came to me....so...it was a GOOD thing.

One of the things that I learned is that I want to print a little bit deviant.
I want to make built-up carbon images.
I want to see the dimensionality of my images....I want to peer deeply into them...and (imaginatively) come out into a place that is the "other" side.
Nothing is wrong with having high expectations for yourself.

Thanks for reading!

Madelyn

Gustavo Intro

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:21:35 +0000

I see photography as an open-ended world, where styles and conventions command to be explored. I take ordinary objects and shapes and put them together in ways where something entirely different is born, and what is seen is more than what meets the eye.

I don稚 see myself as just an ordinary portrait or landscape photographer, but rather an artist that discovers new ways of seeing and I delight in expressing myself through my work.

I began creating photographs at the age of ten years old, and have had a passion for photography ever since. While I have worked in various areas of photography throughout my 35-year career, including family portraiture, editorial, social, and event photography, I have always taken a particular interest in environmental portraiture, the human body, still life, and abstracts.

I strive to represent my feelings and emotions, using photography as the medium. My intention is to share whatever that vision may be! I look at subjects with an eye toward beauty, and I see the world as a place of possibilities and enchantment.

I find that historical (sometimes called 殿lternative processes lend themselves to my vision of the world. In addition, I prefer to work with large format cameras, including my Deardorff V8, Burke & James 5X7, and late 19th century lenses, due to the authentic qualities these tools bring to the final result. I select only the finest of materials to ensure the highest quality of my prints.

When doing portraits, my goal is to create wildly vivid representations, capturing the spirit of my clients in such a way that their very essence of who they are comes to life in what seemingly is a two dimensional piece of art, yet becomes a living heirloom.

-Gustavo Castilla

Introductions

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:50:46 +0000

Hola from el norte (santa fe)

My first real experience with photography was in my fresh. year at college. (very early 60's.) at the time the speed graphic was still but soon to be replaced, the way to go. somehow the 35mm images just did not make it for me. hence a love for large format. I do remember the 60's as I was in school all of them in 1970 I recieved an M.A. in art ( 3-d design and sculpture). and got a job teaching hign school art, ceramics and finaly photo .(high school paid better the the college jobs.)

I started using a 4X5 view camera to capture images for use in sculptures ( my drawing skill are not that great and the camera was faster. THE UPSIDE DOWN IMAGE SHOWS YOU WHAT IS THERE, NOT SOME OBJECT.

I DID WORK SHOPS WITH ANSEL A. (ABOUT 4 OF THEM ) BUT FOUND THE THE "ZONIES TO BE GREAT PRINTERS BUT RATHER DOGMATIC IN THEIR POINT OF VIEW. I HAD TRIED ALBUMEN WITH VERY LITTLE SUCESS . About this TIME i MET DICK SULLIVAN AT A MEMBERS GALLERY IN L.A. AND WAS INTRODUCED TO PLATINUM. WHICH i PRINTED FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS. LAST SUMMER DICK FINALY CONVINCED ME THAT i SHOULD AT LEAST TRY CARBON. PREVIOUS WORK i HAD SEEN JUST DID NOT APPEAL TO ME. (MY FAULT NOT THE ARTISTS.)( ph**ing cap lock).
My photos tend to be what is in front of my camera currently I am doing some figure studies . I did a group of them, took a 2 1/2 year hiatas and did life drawing I still am not very good at drawing but it did help to clear up my vision.
I find that my preferenece in printing is tone value (which is an element of art and not sharpness (not an element of art but one of photography.) I am not much of a colorist so the monocromatic images suit my vison.

Ok! thats enough bullshit for now.

gordn m.

Gallery show for the class

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:42:53 +0000

Andrew Hale of Anahita Gallery on Canyon Rd. has offered the gallery for a weekend showing of our class portfolios. The schema: We hang on Thursday, reception on Friday, and take down on Sunday. Anahita takes the normal 50% of sales.

This could change as the owners have been trying to sell the property for years but Andrew feels this is unlikely. We will determine a date once the class begins.

Andrew is being a rilly nice guy on this so it is incumbent on us to make sure there is a big big turnout! Also you might put pressure on your rich Uncle Harry to buy your portfolio from the gallery.

And, oh yes, we do the refreshments.

So.... we need to do a bang up job on these prints! You just never know how this will affect your career.

--D

Introduction letter for the class

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:23:30 +0000

Dick Sullivan HonFRPS
Instructor: Alternative Photographic Process II
c/o Bostick & Sullivan
1541 Center Dr
Santa Fe, NM, 87507
B+S 474-0890
Cell 474-7027

Dear student,
I'd like to welcome you to the Alternative Photographic Process II class at the Santa Fe Community College. I am excited about teaching this class. We are going to be doing something quite unique and will be devoting the entire class to printing carbon. As far as I know, there is no other ongoing class in the world teaching the carbon process. This process is elegant, permanent, and ranks as one of the great photographic processes of the past. It was the first permanent photographic process and is unsurpassed in beauty to this day. It is a truly exquisite fine art photographic medium. My firm, Bostick & Sullivan, is the first to manufacturer carbon tissue in over 3 decades.

For those not familiar with me, I am Dick Sullivan. I co-founded Bostick & Sullivan with my wife Melody Bostick in 1980. Bostick & Sullivan is the premier supplier materials and information about historic photographic processes.

I have both an earned fellowship (FRPS) and an honorary fellowship (HonFRPS) in the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. I am the author of The New Platinum Print by Working Pictures Press and The Bostick & Sullivan Book of Modern Carbon Printing by Bostick & Sullivan press. I am the President and Executive Director of the Center for Photographic History and Technology, a Federal tax exempt 501©(3) organization. I have taught workshops and lectured in the US and Europe on photographic history and technology.

The materials necessary for making the prints, except for the final support paper, will be provided and covered under the normal lab fee. Carbon can be put on a wide variety of supports and matching the support to the print esthetic is an important choice for the student, thus it is impractical to provide the final support material. The text for the course will be The Bostick & Sullivan Book of Modern Carbon Printing, a 100 page color illustrated manual. This book was written by me, and is sold by Bostick & Sullivan.

The class, except for the first class session, will be taught in the Bostick & Sullivan studio facility at 1560 Center Dr. Santa Fe, NM. (See map inserted.) This is diagonally across the street from the main Bostick & Sullivan facility. The studio is near the intersection of Cerrillos, Airport, and Rodeo. The building is unmarked, but has a turquoise door in front. The first class session will be taught at the college photographic classroom on Richards Ave. Lab hours at the Bostick & Sullivan Studio will be arranged.

Members of the Carbon Study Group of the Center for Photographic History and Technology will be assisting Dick Sullivan in the class. The Carbon Study Group is a research team of the Center for Photographic History and Technology and is lead by Howard Efner PhD., a chemist and photographer specializing in large format and historic processes.
The class will have its own forum section at www.carbonprinting.com. Follow the links and sign up for a forum login. This is a discussion forum with a section for the students in this class. You can discuss your work and progress, share thoughts with other students, and get technical help. You may also email me directly at richsul@earthlink.net for help. My cell # is 470-7027. The Bostick & Sullivan phone number is 474-0890.

This class will be somewhat demanding and will be taught at the professional level. Unlike the Alt Process I class, we will not be jumping around from one process to the other, and therefore, more time can be devoted to building an integrated body of work. In this class students will focus on making a portfolio of 10 to 15 prints in carbon. The prints will be matted and presented in a portfolio box. The box need not be expensive, but should be professional and presentable. Artisan Santa Fe and Valdez Art and Framing have a selection, as well as Light Impressions at: www.lightimpressionsdirect.com. Do not purchase the box at this time, however.

The prints will reflect some sort of unifying theme. Each student will provide a one or two page artist逞ｴ statement about the work. This statement will be an integral part of the portfolio and will be finely printed and typeset. You will be taught how to do fine typeset printing in carbon or platinum.

Grades will be based on class participation, skills acquired, portfolio, and the artist's statement.

You may wish to get a jump start on the class by:

1. Purchasing the Bostick & Sullivan Book of Modern Carbon Printing at www.bostick-sullivan.com.

2. Joining the Carbon Forum by going to www.carbonprinting.com and following the links to the forum.

I am looking forward to meeting all of you on August 23, 2007 at 5:00 PM at the college.

Dick Sullivan HonFRPS

Go to the intersection of Airport, Cerrillos, and Rodeo.
Go West on Airport Rd. about ｼ mile and turn left on Center Dr.
Follow the road around the bend to 1560 on the right just past the Mission Laundry and Southland Auto Sales buildings. The building is unmarked but has a Turquoise door in front. That is the entrance.

Is humor an art?

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 05:37:19 +0000

Histareacal!

Problem And Solution
All in A Day's Work

After every flight, Quantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.
Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Quantas' pilots and the solutions recorded by maintenance engineers.
By the way, Quantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.

(P = The problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = The solution and action taken by mechanics.)

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget