No More Darkroom Prints from the Library of Congress [Archive]

Franz Jantzen

3-Nov-2011, 08:12

As of October, the Library of Congress stopped offering exhibition quality fiber-based silver prints from its collections. I had the honor of being their sole darkroom vendor for the last several years, and when they told me about this I posted it on facebook and someone ended up doing an article on it. I'm attaching a link and hoping it will be workable in this format:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2011/10/26/negative-attitude-the-library-of-congress-turns-the-light-out-on-darkrooms/

Jason Greenberg Motamedi

3-Nov-2011, 08:15

Thank you for doing the work you have done. I have some wonderful Walker Evans FSA prints from the LoC which I treasure.

Darin Boville

3-Nov-2011, 08:16

Damn. What were (are) your favorite images? Which ones were most commonly requested?

--Darin

Thom Bennett

4-Nov-2011, 14:19

Sad. Franz, that must have been a very fulfilling job for you to print all those famous negatives.

Brian C. Miller

4-Nov-2011, 16:14

I had no idea that service was available. (Mope! Mope! Mope!) There were a number of those I'd have loved to get. Nuts.

ROL

4-Nov-2011, 17:43

From the linked article:

As silver gelatin prints become rarer, it forces artists who still work with film to make choices. “They might include the negative bracket so it can be identified as a photo. It has some cachet.”

What's a negative bracket?

Kirk Gittings

4-Nov-2011, 18:25

I believe they are referring to the film edge. Of course as we all know from Petronio that showing the film edge has little verasity :)

Greg Blank

4-Nov-2011, 18:36

A delibrate betrayal of the of the American Artist in my Opinion, No one knows about the program and then it it is gone? Are American Governmental Instituitions so blind they can't adqequately make use of existing media? I am not sure what the price point was for prints but as a Darkroom worker and contemporary American Artist, I would have loved to own a copy print from some of these- at 45 per print there would have been alot of dollars to be had for Uncle Sam. Even if they were signed or stamped with a current makers mark it would have been a prized posseion for many folks here on the forum. You don't mind if I borrow this post to make a point do you?

Kimberly Anderson

4-Nov-2011, 21:48

I have wanted to order prints for years. I almost cried when I looked at those prints in the trays. Dang it.

Kirk Gittings

4-Nov-2011, 22:09

A delibrate betrayal of the of the American Artist in my Opinion, No one knows about the program and then it it is gone?

I don't think this program was kept a secret-it has been around since the late 30's. I don't remember how I found out about it but it was in the early seventies when I did-around the time when I got seriously into photography. So I have known about it for 4 decades-it has been mentioned numerous times over the years on this forum-but like most people I never got around to ordering any prints. It was also mentioned prominently on the LoC website for many years.

Tim Meisburger

4-Nov-2011, 23:50

What a shame. To learn about this too late....

Richard M. Coda

5-Nov-2011, 10:35

And I will be restarting this service in the near future... stay tuned.

Asher Kelman

5-Nov-2011, 11:42

And I will be restarting this service in the near future... stay tuned.
Richard,

This is wonderful! Presumably Franz and you have or will cooperate on this venture. I'll try to promote this on my website when you get going. Interesting story you must have to tell!

Asher

Richard M. Coda

5-Nov-2011, 11:56

Nope.. this is on my own... I have done it once and the print is beautiful... Walker Evans Garage image... The selection will be limited to only those images that are available as hi-res images.

Sugartree

6-Nov-2011, 14:59

And I will be restarting this service in the near future... stay tuned.

Nope.. this is on my own... I have done it once and the print is beautiful... Walker Evans Garage image... The selection will be limited to only those images that are available as hi-res images.

Are you planning to print these with an ink jet printer at home? Or will you make a digital negative and then haul the thing into the darkroom?

There are indeed some high-res scans on the LOC website. But this is a far cry from what Franz has been doing for the Library, with access to many original negatives, those that came straight from the cameras of Lange, Evans, O'Sullivan and Brady. And having done this just "once" would you say your technique approaches Mr. Jantzen's?

Helcio J Tagliolatto

6-Nov-2011, 17:48

I think L.O.C. is the most impressive Public Organization of this planet. I hope they will continue those offers, even being they digital.

Thank you for what you've done, Franz.

Richard M. Coda

6-Nov-2011, 18:57

Are you planning to print these with an ink jet printer at home? Or will you make a digital negative and then haul the thing into the darkroom?

There are indeed some high-res scans on the LOC website. But this is a far cry from what Franz has been doing for the Library, with access to many original negatives, those that came straight from the cameras of Lange, Evans, O'Sullivan and Brady. And having done this just "once" would you say your technique approaches Mr. Jantzen's?

No inkjet. Real Silver negatives. Real silver prints. I will take a photo of the neg/print that I did tomorrow and post. Not having access to the LOC copy negatives I would say that my technique equals Mr. Jantzen's.

Richard M. Coda

7-Nov-2011, 07:35

Digipics of 8x10 neg in sleeve on lightbox and mounted contact print. Note: Neg is TMax 100, not inkjet.

Richard M. Coda

7-Nov-2011, 07:37

Are you planning to print these with an ink jet printer at home? Or will you make a digital negative and then haul the thing into the darkroom?

There are indeed some high-res scans on the LOC website. But this is a far cry from what Franz has been doing for the Library, with access to many original negatives, those that came straight from the cameras of Lange, Evans, O'Sullivan and Brady. And having done this just "once" would you say your technique approaches Mr. Jantzen's?

Oh, BTW, you can buy inkjets on Ebay. And I don't think that any of the LOC prints were ever made from the original negs... all done from copy negs/prints

OldCrow

7-Nov-2011, 09:54

Oh, BTW, you can buy inkjets on Ebay. And I don't think that any of the LOC prints were ever made from the original negs... all done from copy negs/prints

No the key feature was that you were indeed getting a print from the original negative that the LOC had. This is why it is a shame. The LOC did not own the rights to the negatives, so they could not deny anyone access to them.

this is in the article Franz linked "Jantzen picked up his last batch of negatives—a hefty 27 orders—from the Library of Congress on October 7. “Usually I turn them around in a week,” he says. “I think I took longer per print because I thought that this might be the last time these negatives would go in an enlarger.”

Seems pretty clear that he was indeed using original negatives. Yet Franz could clear this up for us, if he would be so kind.

Richard M. Coda

7-Nov-2011, 10:15

I seriously don't think the LOC would be using old nitrate negatives... They had to be using copy negatives... why would they risk damaging the originals? I'm sure they are stored somewhere safely. If you read the descriptions on the LOC website, they clearly say copy negative or original print.

Jeremy Moore

7-Nov-2011, 13:24

I have a platinum/palladium on drafting vellum of migrant mother... but I printed it myself with a digital negative. Actually, I used to pick images from their high res archives to print for others as bday gifts.

Richard M. Coda

7-Nov-2011, 13:51

Franz Jantzen

10-Nov-2011, 09:40

Walker Evans was one of the most popular! Printing these was indeed a huge honor, and I always felt it was a major thing to live up to, to make the best prints I could. I actually don't know if you can order copy negatives anymore, but if you can I think they would be 8x10 - I still process the Library's 8x10 sheet film, so other than that I believe they are 100% digital. Greg, feel free to borrow this to make a point.

Richard M. Coda

10-Nov-2011, 12:26