Have you ever purchased a silver gelatin print from a living photographer?

[Certain Exposures]

Have you ever purchased a silver gelatin print from a living artist? Who did you purchase from? What did you think of their printed work when you received it? How much did you spend?

By the way, long ago, I received a comment to stop being uncultured and call "darkroom prints" silver gelatin prints instead. I asked a few people if they'd ever held a silver gelatin print. They all looked at me like I had five heads. I would have had the same reaction before Googling the term.

[paulbarden]

On LFPF, this audience knows exactly what is meant by "silver gelatin", so it depends where you're speaking and to whom. That said, I'm not going to state how many cranial appendages some of us may or may not have. ;-)

[Salmo22]

My preference is to try and acquire the majority of silver gelatin prints from living artists. For example, I have a silver gelatin print from - in no particular order:

Mark Klett

Scott Baxter

Jay Dusard

Brad Armstrong

John Kitts

John Sexton

Austin Granger

Richard Laugharn

Dick Arentz

William Fuller

These have come when money and opportunity presented itself - a rare occurrence at my house. I don't recall the purchase price on an particular print other than to say I've never spent more than $500 on a single print. A couple involved trades. I am in the process of converting a seldom used small living room into my personal gallery. My humble collection of silver gelatin prints will have an honored place there.

[Michael R]

Whoever called you uncultured is an idiot.

I have B&W silver prints by George Tice, Mark Citret and John Sexton. They're great but I bought them when they were far less expensive, especially the Tice prints. I'd like to part with most or all of it along with some other artworks, since I honestly prefer sitting with a good art/photo book than having to worry about expensive original prints. I never bought them as investments, but since some of them have gone up so much I'd rather have the money. Recently I asked the museum if they would be interested in the stuff I have and they wanted it all. I haven't discussed it further with them yet but I might even donate it for the tax credit. Others think I should keep them as investments but it makes me nervous.


Have you ever purchased a silver gelatin print from a living artist? Who did you purchase from? What did you think of their printed work when you received it? How much did you spend?

By the way, long ago, I received a comment to stop being uncultured and call "darkroom prints" silver gelatin prints instead. I asked a few people if they'd ever held a silver gelatin print. They all looked at me like I had five heads. I would have had the same reaction before Googling the term.

[Drew Wiley]

An octopus distributes much of its sentient activity to its arms. My own collector preference is for antique photos, especially but not exclusively amateur ones - cyanotypes, albumen prints, distinctly flawed and bronzed early silver gelatin prints, plus quite a few Daguerrotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes in the overall family collection. In one way or another, all of them could be classified as "darkroom prints", at least in the coating stage. So could dozens of other methods developed over the course of photographic history.
Nobody pushed a button on a desktop device.

[Mark J]

I bought an 11x14" print of climbers on a ridge in the Alps ( Doldenhorn ) from Bradford Washburn in 2001, when he was represented by Panopticon in Boston.
The print is the best print I have in the house ( better than a Brett Weston one ) , it was printed from a 9" x 7" aerial camera negative.
I think Bradford was about 90 when he did this work - I wish I will be still around at that age, let alone using my darkroom.

I think I paid about £300 plus postage at that time. I'm not sure if it has appreciated at all, given inflation, but it's a beautiful subject and a reference example of a print, for me.

[bmikiten]

It is always a pleasure to support a working photographer!

John Sexton (28 prints both direct and through brokers)

Brett Weston (3 portfolios)

Jay Dusard (way underrated)

Oliver Gagliani (2 portfolios and prints)

Carl Chiarenza (check him out)

A large collection of lesser known local and national artists as well. There's nothing better than walking around the house and seeing masterful images on the walls.

[Vaughn]

No, but I have exchanged silver gelatin prints and have been given them. I value the few prints I make, therefore I value the prints I receive in exchange to be of equal value.

Every profession has its terminology which make communication easier between its members. Those outside the profession pick up the jargon if they are interested in communicating with those in the profession. With the recent increase in interest and practice of alt processes, including hybrid workflows, the terms "darkroom print" and "silver print" become too vague to be useful on their own -- unless one's audience are only silver gelatin print makers in darkrooms. Silver is used in several processes besides silver gelatin...as is gelatin. Most, but not all require a darkroom, and some only require the more recent term, a dimroom.

It is the speaker's responsibility to know one's audience, and then speak in terms they will understand. If the speaker wishes to use the term silver gelatin print, then they should be prepared to define the term. I do not hesitate to say "the same kind of photograph Ansel Adams use to make in his darkroom)" if that is how best to describe it to someone who never had to consider the definition of the label, "photograph". I also will describe my LF cameras as the type where I throw a dark cloth over my head behind the camera. Then if there is the interest, then I can slide into more advanced terminology.

And oh what fun describing my Jell-O prints to those who never even made a silver gelatin print! Or do not know what a 'negative' actually is. But they might have made Jell-O along the way somewhere, and so I tell them my Jell-O Print (monochromatic single-transfer carbon print) on the wall is made of grocery store bought gelatin, sugar, and lampblack ('"like the soot from a candle"), they get a sense of what it is.

[Pieter]

The term silver gelatin is quite specific. Darkroom prints could be platinum or other. I have a couple of silver gelatin prints from photographers who are no longer alive, but were when I acquired them. A lot of my collection has come from trading services for original art.

[Greg Y]

I bought an 11x14" print of climbers on a ridge in the Alps ( Doldenhorn ) from Bradford Washburn in 2001, when he was represented by Panopticon in Boston.
The print is the best print I have in the house ( better than a Brett Weston one ) , it was printed from a 9" x 7" aerial camera negative.
I think Bradford was about 90 when he did this work - I wish I will be still around at that age, let alone using my darkroom.

I think I paid about £300 plus postage at that time. I'm not sure if it has appreciated at all, given inflation, but it's a beautiful subject and a reference example of a print, for me.

After the Storm on the Doldenhorn is my favourite Washburn photograph. When I worked for CMH Heliskiing we had a framed 16"x20" of that photograph in the dining room of the Bugaboo Lodge. It might be my favourite mountain photograph with people in it. I had the pleasure of having dinner with Bradford & his wife Barbara in 2000 when his book Mountain Photography won the grand prize at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. I regret not buying a print at that time. I consider Vittorio Sella & Bradford Washburn to stand at the very pinnacle of mountain photography. (BTW if i am not mistaken, Brad's Fairchild K8 aerial camera used 7" roll film, so the negative size would have been 5"x7")
I bought a beautiful small contact print from Ray Bidegain. I also traded Jay Dusard a lens for a print of his Martin Black, Stampede Ranch, Nevada 1982. I agree with bmikiten, that Jay Dusard is a vastly underrated photgrapher.

[Vaughn]

[I]... I agree with bmikiten, that Jay Dusard is a vastly underrated photgrapher.

An excellent photographer/teacher. I took my first workshop from Jay (along with Harrison Branch and Bruce B.) in 1985. I had been packing mules for a few seasons by then and appreciated the sincerity and sense of reality of his images of work and people of the ranches. A very down-to-earth person.

[Mark J]

Nice story re. Bradford. I first saw that shot in a copy of Bill Brandt's book 'The Land' in the university library.
I did toy with the idea of getting one of his Mt. McKinley shots a little later, but never did, and regret it now.
I must look up Jay Dusard.

[Greg Y]

Jay Dusard received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981. His book The North American Cowboy, A Portrait published in 1983 is a real gem!

[Greg Y]

An excellent photographer/teacher. I took my first workshop from Jay (along with Harrison Branch and Bruce B.) in 1985. I had been packing mules for a few seasons by then and appreciated the sincerity and sense of reality of his images of work and people of the ranches. A very down-to-earth person.

Vaughn, it's a small world. The only workshop i've ever taken was with Jay Dusard in Bondurant Wyoming. By that time digital cameras were coming in. A gentleman who owned Ries Tripods and I were the only ones shooting large format. One other participant, a young woman working for the newspaper in Jackson was the only other one using film. She had some very nice work done with a Rolleiflex. I brought a 5x7 and a 4x10 box camera (a copy of the camera J.D. had used for his book Open Country), and had lots of time hanging out with Jay. We got to spend one day in the darkroom in Jackson. What I was able to glean from watching Jay print, was the highlight of the week for me.

[Tin Can]

No room on my wall's

I have bought a few, very few

[Alan9940]

I have several silver gelatin prints from both living and deceased photographers hanging on the walls of my home and a few carefully tucked away in storage. Most were purchased directly from the photographer or from the Friends of Photography, in the case of one John Sexton print and one Alan Ross print.

[Corran]

I have an entire corner of one room filled with SG prints, many from friends and some from well-known photographers. Just this weekend I went to an art festival and bought a triptych of cyanotypes and a lumen print from a wonderful young photographer.

Support artists!

[Peter De Smidt]

Yes, I've bought about 20 silver gelatin prints from living artists. I have tons more that I traded for through print exchanges.

[Ironage]

I wanted to start collecting photographs when I was 20 and bought a big color print by David Graham, and a black and white print by Pedro Meyer. Loved them both but my later acquired wife didn’t.

Life go expensive, and during all the moves I made, and a house fire, I had the David Graham burn! So now I am only left with one silver gelatin print. Color just doesn’t last, the elements have their way with them.




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[Peter Lewin]

Yes, both because I enjoy prints from good photographers, and also because I think if one loves photography we should support upcoming photographers. I have prints I bought through the Friends of Photography (Sally Mann, John Sexton, Linda Connor), at least one silver gelatin and 3 or 4 color inkjet prints from various craft shows, and a couple of platinum prints from Ray Bidegain who used to (still?) posts to this site. I hang (and rotate) the prints on my family room wall mixed in with my own prints. If they blend in with my own work I figure I'm doing OK; if they stand out as much better than my own work, I know I have to work harder.

[bob carnie]

I have a collection of prints from artists I print for Printers Proofs and from friends I have met here and other internet sources. They are all signed editioned print, silver gelatin, carbon transfer, Wet Plate, Gum over palladium and Platinum Palladium. I have a very few super large inkjet prints by living artists that I own as printer proofs as well. Right now its a collection of over 100 signed images and constantly growing.
Many of my friends have purchased my work as well , I prefer my work to be in the hands of people that like what I do rather than seeing it as an investment. I may see this differently as I age.

[Daniel Unkefer]

A couple of years ago I was taking Tim Layton's LF Flower course, which gave me some new ideas. I did buy from Tim a silver gelatin 8x10 contact print, which I mounted and framed, it's hanging up next to my enlargers. I have other original prints from a photographer or two that has passed. Good reference prints in the darkroom are a great help when evaluating my own printings.

[jnantz]

Yes. Both living and dead as well as non-silver based images.

[drj52]

Several purchased, several acquired in trade, no recognizable names except the Adams Yosemite Special Edition printed by Alan Ross.

[Axelwik]

Only one purchased from a relatively unknown local artist. Some prints given to me by Lee Marmon before he passed away.

[FrancisF]

I am trying to improve my own work but now and then I see compelling works I have to add to my small collection b&w prints

Two photographers, I learned of from their works in View Camera Magazine

Yaakov Asher Sinclair http://www.seasonsofthemoon.com/

Allen Hess https://allenhess.com/

Two others I have met personally at photography events

Roger Goun https://rogergoun.org/ (actually we swapped photos - he got a protrait of himself and I got his photo of Gov. Chrisite on the campaign trail)

Peter Bosco https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-bosco-mfa-3459a616/

[Jerry Bodine]

In 1966 I attended my first of four Ansel Adams Yosemite workshops and was offered an opportunity to purchase his photographs at his gallery at a discounted price. I selected two prints: 16x20 “Clearing Winter Storm” and an 8x10 contact print of “Half Dome, Merced River, Winter.” The contact print was a Special Edition Yosemite print made by him before he turned over the duty to Alan Ross. I paid the $200, brought them home, matted & framed them as he would’ve done, and hung them in my home as a daily reminder of the print quality that was possible with my own darkroom work – provided I studied enough. At that time, my color work was filling the walls of my living room and was starting to show minor evidence of fading. The effect of showing color and b/w work together struck me like a gum ball machine (remember those?) and was obviously distracting from the b/w quality. I donated the color work to the Chamber of Commerce where my wife worked, cautioning them that the onset of fading had become obvious and couldn’t guarantee that the fluorescent lighting in their office wouldn’t ruin them rapidly. I filled the empty spaces on my walls with my own b/w prints, replacing them frequently as my work improved. Eventually, my wife decided all the living quarters needed to be professionally redone, so I insisted the living room walls should be painted Zone V gray to show off the prints properly and gave her a gray card for the paint to match. She agreed, and I was delighted to see the prints benefitted significantly. One day I had to call for TV service; when the tech showed up, he walked in said loudly, “Wow, this looks like Ansel Adams !!!” I said “Well, two of them ARE his.” He said, “Really? Which ones?” Needless to say, that made my day. Last year I auctioned off both the prints at Sotheby’s in NYC for over $52,000. Talk about return on investment!

[Tin Can]

I really think Artists get a bad turn in USA

Some countries assess royalities and risiduals back to the ARTIST who often sold ART for a pitance when young

But are now valuable

I have destroyed my sculpture more than a few times

my jealous wife smashed one

[John Kasaian]

My mom bought a silver print, a photo of me wearing a cowboy hat sitting on a pinto Shetland pony and taken on our front lawn. The photo, a 4x5 contact print was delivered the next day. I don't remember how much it cost but I do remember the camera---it was a Speed Graphic.