What's been gained in the analog age?

[bob carnie]

We are about to consider putting old bessie to sleep, she has an element gone on the platen , but the press is fully functional. Its funny that as we get further into the future some creative uses can be put forward for 50 year old technology.

I did a bit of research, and large Woodburytypes should be easily done with modern hydraulic presses. A pressing plate setup could be sent to an industrial service, and they can do the initial lead pressing. There's 500-ton presses made, so it's just a matter of finding who would offer the service.

[Drew Wiley]

My hypothetical tweak on Woodbury (an idea I passed along to some folks with the appropriate presses and experimental
incentive) would be to find an epoxy composite which could substitute for the block material. The hardness of this
apparently needed to be very consistent. A very different look than gravure. I wish someone would revive it.

[sanking]

My hypothetical tweak on Woodbury (an idea I passed along to some folks with the appropriate presses and experimental
incentive) would be to find an epoxy composite which could substitute for the block material. The hardness of this
apparently needed to be very consistent. A very different look than gravure. I wish someone would revive it.

It has been revived, more than once. There is someone in New York, Craig Zammiello, who reported recently on pulling some woodburytypes.

www.twopalms.us

This was done the traditional way, I believe.

Years and years ago I sent Craig some literature I had collected over the years on woodburytypes. I thought about doing it myself for a while, but ultimately decided that for me carbon transfer prints and woodburytypes are just too similar to warrant the extra work. Yes, most woodburtypes that I have seen do have a slightly different look, but then a carbon print is capable of about a thousand different looks.

Sandy

[Erik Larsen]

I use a press for pottery, although its only a 30 ton hydraulic. The dies are usually made of ceramical or a proprietary resin product. The dies last for several thousand pressings, with the resin lasting twice as long as the ceramical. I don't know if it's applicable or not to this application. What I have looks similar to this.

[Brian C. Miller]

From what I've read, 5000psi is what's needed for pressing the gelatin sheet to form the lead. So at 2-1/2 tons per square inch, 20 sq-in for a 4x5 would require 50 tons. So that press would be good for 3x4 sheet film.

[Drew Wiley]

Well yes, Steve, laser-etching was what I had in mind for the master. That kind of imaging technology can be used on about anything, even granite. quartz or tempered glass. But the question is the ideal receiver material. I don't think lead would be very appropriate given today's health safety standards, probably not even legal in the case I'm thinking of. And I beg the forgiveness of those who have a stereotype of me as a 100% analog guy - I am for my own images, not nessarily when someone else's work is in question.

[patrickjames]

New ways of imaging on old materials are thought up all the time. Sugimoto for example with his lightning prints. Somehow I don't think much would happen if you did this with your inket paper.

http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/LighteningField.html

Then there is Chris McCaw who exposes large sheets of SG paper in huge cameras pointed at the sun. Of course cameras have been pointed at the sun, but never to this extent. Again, can't do this with digi.

http://www.chrismccaw.com/Home.html

Then there is Learoyd with his huge portraits exposed straight onto Ilfochrome.

http://www.richardlearoyd.com/


I touched on this point in the other thread with my statement that the direct physical involvement with the process is being lost with digital imaging. Of course Paul you brushed that aside since it is inconvenient to your digital world...

[bigdog]

… in what ways have people using analog materials been liberated, ...

To get back to the original question, I can’t speak for anyone else, but it has caused me to realize that I do silver black and white processes because I want to, and not because I have to. It is a medium. Just as a painter may choose oil, pastel, acrylic, pencil, etc., photographers can choose any number of media, of which silver gelatin is one.

... or encouraged to work in new and interesting ways? What can you do with analog tools/materials that's fundamental different from what you can do with digital ones? What discoveries have been made in the last 15 years?

I don’t think there is any “fundamental” differences, if one considers fundamental to mean conceiving and making a photograph. While there have been (surprisingly many) new products in the last 15 years, I don’t think there have been any real breakthroughs in chemical photographic processes. (I could be wrong …)

There is a renewed interest in older, once obsolete, processes (“alternate” processes), perhaps as a reaction to digital.

However, not being interested in alt processes, myself, I have been encouraged to take my silver work to new levels. Since I am now using techniques that are used by fewer and fewer phtographers (even “analog/analogue” ones), I feel I must do it better and better.

[Jac@stafford.net]

[...]
Then there is Chris McCaw who exposes large sheets of SG paper in huge cameras pointed at the sun. Of course cameras have been pointed at the sun, but never to this extent. Again, can't do this with digi.[/url] [...]

Very cool. There was an Italian pin-hole photographer who built a steel camera and did an exposure over a full year. It showed the various arcs of the sun. Astounding and interesting! I would point to it but I cannot find it again.

[Drew Wiley]

OK - I just had a face to face conversation on the Woodbury thing. It's a no-go here on the West Coast. I know the appropriate epoxy chemist and facility, but there's no way I'm going to get involved with the active resins myself. Lead plates
are being laser-etched and pressed in NYC, with a helluva investment in toxic scrubbing gear and permits. That kind of thing
would never pass muster under our current regulations here, understandably. So on to plan B, which I'll keep under wraps.
But there are all kinds of hybrid revivals of old processes, as well as new printing options in the works. The extinction of inkjet is already out there somewhere on the horizon, at least for high-end printing applications, but it's anyone's guess when the two or three necessary critical breakthroughs will transpire.