suitability of 4x5 contact prints for exhibit

[j.e.simmons]

A few years ago I saw an Andre Kertesz exhibit at the Southeast Museum of Photography. A large number of his prints were very small - I suppose 6x9 cm. They were wonderful.

[Jan Pietrzak]

John,

A number of years ago a wonderful book was done on Kertesz....it was 4x5 to 5x6 in size the way in which most of his work was shown.....the small print lives.....jp

[jbenedict]

The "ideal viewing distance" needs to be kept in mind. If a viewer cannot get 1'-2' from the print, the print might not be very effective.

[Drew Wiley]

Why not? We should be the ones determining the size of our own prints, not any convention or rote formulation, over even current custom. I knew a fellow who displayed 35mm contact prints in big mats and frames, each with a magnifier attached. I personally like to mix large and small prints on a display wall. But my
routine joke about all this, is that now that the current museum fad is taking small format images and blowing them up to room size, the next fad will be 35mm contact prints. Seen it all before. The fashion pendulum swings.

[ShannonG]

Dry mount ,,yes,, not only the small venues but art gallery's ,foundations and collectors are liking small prints more and more,,,go for it...

[Greg]

10 years ago I earned my MFA in Photography. At that time I took an old folding Kodak camera and removed the front lens and bellows and replaced them with a pinhole. In the back of the camera, I fabricated a curved film holder in which the film ran along a 1/3 of a circular arc. Result was a 90 degree wide angle pinhole camera. Image size was 2 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches. Contact printed the negatives. Final prints same 2 1/4 x 4 1/2 inch dimension. Dry mounted on 8x10 mat board. Exhibited them and only received very positive comments on the print size. Photo paper expenses were never so low per print. Go for it....

Greg

[mike rosenlof]

Thanks for all the replies. I usually contact print onto 8x10 paper sandwiched with the negative under a piece of glass, which turns the surrounding paper black. Should I somehow mask the paper to keep it white? That way, I could have windows cut that would leave a little space around the contact print without having black around it. Or, I could just have windows cut that would frame the images, covering the film borders.

When I contact print 5x7 negs onto 8x10 paper, I have the glass masked to a 5x7 opening with rubylith tape. This gives me the black of the film edges and then a white border around everything. There's enough thickness to the rubylith that positioning the neg is much easier than without it.

[John Olsen]

When I contact print 5x7 negs onto 8x10 paper, I have the glass masked to a 5x7 opening with rubylith tape. This gives me the black of the film edges and then a white border around everything. There's enough thickness to the rubylith that positioning the neg is much easier than without it.

Dang clever! I'm printing this one out for my files.