Alt print wanted

[Chris Dunham]

I'm interested in the plat/pal and perhaps carbon printing process with 8x10 negs. Only problem is that I've not seen first hand any examples of this sort of work, don't think there is anyone doing either process in Western Australia.

Is there someone who would be willing to sell me a print of what they feel to be a good example of either pla/pal or carbon printing? To be specific I'm looking for a print that has high contrast or will let me see how much contrast can be achieved, deep blacks etc.

Cheers,

Chris.

[Mark Woods]

I just took a workshop with Per Volquartz and Jim Fitzgerald in both processes. DON'T DO IT!!!!! I became totally hooked and am now buying an 11x14 camera because both processes are amazing -- but only contact print. I look at my 8x10 gelatin silver prints on archival paper and they are really nice, but I look on my PP and Carbon prints on water color paper and, whew! If you go there, there may be no turning back! ;-) Good luck.

Both men are on the members list and give instruction. Maybe you could contact them and they would to an online version. That said, there is so much that is hands on the show you some of the short cuts that it might be difficult to describe what they are doing -- particularly in Carbon Transfer. Jim told me that he tried to do a survey, google search, ask everyone he know. And to the best of his knowledge there are only 200-300 Carbon Transfer printers in the world. Pretty exclusive club.

[Chris Dunham]

Thanks Mark, as I suspected - I'm playing with fire :)

Chris.

[Mark Woods]

Yes indeed!!

[Vaughn]

Chris, my 8x10 platinum prints sell for $400US and my 8x10 carbons for $1000US. I'd be more than happy to sell you one of either, or both!

But what might be a better compromise is for me to send you a couple of almost-good-enough rejects, then eventually you send them back to me. I might toss in 4x5 or 5x7 instead of 8x10 to keep the envelop small and light. Throw a couple Aussie bucks in the envelope to cover my postage and allt would be all good. I'll spend it next time I am in Oz.

I taught myself carbon printing without ever seeing a carbon print (other than my own attempts) -- actually this was a good thing. Not knowing what they were "suppose" to look like, I made that decision based on where the process took me...I pushed the raised relief I noticed in the early wet prints, and photographed scenes that had a range of 7 to 13 measurable stops of light to get the contrast I could record in the carbon prints. (7 stops I give the neg extra development, 13 stops I can process the neg at the "normal" time.)

I use no contrast agent at all for my platinum/palladium prints...and if my neg is too contrasty for Pt/pd, then I know it will make a great carbon print!LOL!

Attached is a dusty scan of a 5x7 carbon print. My Pentax Spot Meter read 0 in the dark area inside the cave (how much lower it was than 0, i don't know). The sunlight slanting into the cave on the sand read 13. I exposed at 2 or 3, and developed the Tri-X neg "normally". This is what the carbon process is capable of. The print is a "straight" print -- no burning/dodging. nor masking.

Vaughn

[Mark Woods]

Sweeeet!! Vaughn, what a generous offer.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Stay away from carbon transfer printing. You will become helplessly addicted and never again print any other way...

[Vaughn]

The first one is always free...heh, heh, heh...

edited to add...

But Wait Chris! There's More!!

Call Now! and Vaughn will throw in his carbon printing manual for absolutely free!

Actually I can email you a pdf of my step-by-step manual, no pretty pictures -- pretty basic stuff. Just how I make carbons...you'll get as many different sets of instructions as there are practioneers. It is what I taught Jim F, and he is slowly recovering and probably will eventually make some nice prints.;)

Vaughn

email me at: vgh7001 at humboldt.edu

[Mark Woods]

LOL. That's right!

[Jim Bradley]

:eek:
Chris, my 8x10 platinum prints sell for $400US and my 8x10 carbons for $1000US. I'd be more than happy to sell you one of either, or both!:eek:

Andrew this is our little trade looking a little one sided...sorry about that...but you're not getting the print back:D

Jim

[Daniel Stone]

The first one is always free...heh, heh, heh...

edited to add...

But Wait Chris! There's More!!

Call Now! and Vaughn will throw in his carbon printing manual for absolutely free!

Actually I can email you a pdf of my step-by-step manual, no pretty pictures -- pretty basic stuff. Just how I make carbons...you'll get as many different sets of instructions as there are practioneers. It is what I taught Jim F, and he is slowly recovering and probably will eventually make some nice prints.;)

Vaughn

email me at: vgh7001 at humboldt.edu


Vaughn, I know this might be considered hi-jacking, but could I email you regarding that pdf? I'm interested in learning how this is done, I'm new(er) to LF, and making fine prints is my goal. I'm like you, I've never seen a carbon print in person before, so I'm open to learning!

if not, that's ok.

-Dan

[Mark Woods]

Hello Vaugn, I would like the PDF that you have. BTW, Jim praises you and at the same time has made some carbon transfers that are quite beautiful.

my email is: markwoods9@yahoo.com

Thank you in advance.

MW

[Chris Dunham]

Vaughn,

Wow, many thanks for the generous offer, a couple of almost prints would be great in any size you see fit. Will pm my address. It's clear I've plenty to learn about the various types of alt printing but getting a hands on look at the possibilities is a going to be a great help.

Regards,

Chris.


Chris, my 8x10 platinum prints sell for $400US and my 8x10 carbons for $1000US. I'd be more than happy to sell you one of either, or both!

But what might be a better compromise is for me to send you a couple of almost-good-enough rejects, then eventually you send them back to me. I might toss in 4x5 or 5x7 instead of 8x10 to keep the envelop small and light. Throw a couple Aussie bucks in the envelope to cover my postage and allt would be all good. I'll spend it next time I am in Oz.

I taught myself carbon printing without ever seeing a carbon print (other than my own attempts) -- actually this was a good thing. Not knowing what they were "suppose" to look like, I made that decision based on where the process took me...I pushed the raised relief I noticed in the early wet prints, and photographed scenes that had a range of 7 to 13 measurable stops of light to get the contrast I could record in the carbon prints. (7 stops I give the neg extra development, 13 stops I can process the neg at the "normal" time.)

I use no contrast agent at all for my platinum/palladium prints...and if my neg is too contrasty for Pt/pd, then I know it will make a great carbon print!LOL!

Attached is a dusty scan of a 5x7 carbon print. My Pentax Spot Meter read 0 in the dark area inside the cave (how much lower it was than 0, i don't know). The sunlight slanting into the cave on the sand read 13. I exposed at 2 or 3, and developed the Tri-X neg "normally". This is what the carbon process is capable of. The print is a "straight" print -- no burning/dodging. nor masking.

Vaughn

[sanking]

Something that has not been mentioned so far is that there is no one "single" look about a carbon print, as we might say about prints by other processes. For example, a vandyke print, or a palladium print, or a pt/pd print, has a certain look. The look is subject to toning and some modifications but on the whole there is considerable similarity of all palladium prints.

Carbon is totally different. Prints may be any color, on almost any type of surface (paper, metal, wood, etc.), may have very great surface relief or none at all, may have a shiny glossy look or a matte look with a bit of sheen.

So the bottom line is that any carbon print you look at will have a look that is not necessarily like that of any other carbon print. Even carbon prints on the same paper surface may look totally different depending on the carbon tissue used to make the print, and on numerous other aspects.

If interested have a look at my article on carbon transfer printing at http://www.alternativephotography.com/articles/art110.html. People who have seen my work know that I am a fairly competent carbon transfer printer and the article contains a lot of knowledge and experience that I have picked up over the years about carbon printing, though by no means all of it. I also moderate a Yahoo discussion group on carbon transfer printing, link provided at the end of this message.

BTW, if you happen to live near Louisville you can see some of my carbon transfer work at the Paul Paletti Gallery (http://www.paulpalettigallery.com/) as I have a few prints there on consignment for sale by the gallery.


Sandy King

[77seriesiii]

Vaughn/Sandy or anyone who knows,

I've never seen a carbon print before and am interested in this process as well. I'm going to be in the Baltimore area for a few weeks, do any of the museums/galleries in the area (including DC) have Carbon prints on display?

Thanks,

Erick

[sanking]

Vaughn/Sandy or anyone who knows,

I've never seen a carbon print before and am interested in this process as well. I'm going to be in the Baltimore area for a few weeks, do any of the museums/galleries in the area (including DC) have Carbon prints on display?

Thanks,

Erick

I can not help you with Baltimore but there is a photographer named Kevin Martini-Fuller in Philadelphia who teaches workshops on carbon transfer for Project Basho. He has a web site if you are interested in contact information.

Sandy King

[Brian Stein]

Chris

You might also look at taking a workshop from these folks http://www.goldstreetstudios.com.au/index.html as it is closer to home than Sandy or Vaughn! (No affiliation, I am thinking of taking one of their classes on cyanotype with mike ware)

[Chris Dunham]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the link, it's certainly closer than the USA. I see they have a course in December. Don't think I can wait that long. Once I've checked out the prints first hand and decided on a direction will launch into it full steam ahead :)

I am as always a little amazed and somewhat delighted at the generosity of folk on this forum, my thanks to all who have offered prints and print swaps etc and of course the invaluable links and advice. Keep it coming :)

Cheers,

Chris.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Chris, everything that has been said in this post is true! Vaughn taught me carbon printing a little over a year ago and I have not wanted to print any other way. Sandy has some good information on the process in the link he posted and I can send you my little info guide I wrote so if you want send me a PM with you e-mail. I have some almost there prints also that I could send to you just let me know where you are.

The image that Vaughn posted is one of the ones that got me hooked on the process. You can walk into that image. You will not go back to any other printing process, well maybe some do, once you understand the potential of carbon and see the results. You do need a lot of time when you do carbon.

I'm very proud to know that I've gotten Mark Woods hooked on carbon. The negatives we worked on at the workshop were amazing images. We managed to pull a very nice print out of a less than optimal negative for carbon. Mark understood the potential of the process. It looks like the 11x14 I had on display may of had something to do with his recent purchase. BTW here is an 8x10 studio shot I did on some 8x10 x-ray film. Another bonus to carbon printing is that the costs are very low for materials but the cost in time is high. Best of luck.

Just to mention, if anyone needs info about carbon transfer just send me a note and I'll send my word document to you. If you are in the So. Cal area let me know and maybe we can get together and I can show you the real deal.

Jim Fitzgerald

[sanking]

Chris

You might also look at taking a workshop from these folks http://www.goldstreetstudios.com.au/index.html as it is closer to home than Sandy or Vaughn! (No affiliation, I am thinking of taking one of their classes on cyanotype with mike ware)

My comments are not meant to reflect negatively on the goldstreet studio workshops, or to anyone mentioned in this thread.

I would encourage anyone seriously thinking about investing in the time and energy to take a workshop in carbon transfer printing to do some homework and make sure that the potential instructor has a body of work that clearly shows he/she is someone you could really learn from. You know how it is, many people can talk the walk but walking the walk is a different matter. Learning carbon transfer printing will be an adventure that lasts a lifetime if you get a good start so make sure you get a good start.

It is perfectly possible to learn carbon transfer printing on your own. In fact, I learned on my own, through 19th and 20th century carbon literature, and others have as well. However, carbon printing is of a level of difficulty much beyond any of the other alternative printing processes and doing a workshop with a qualified teacher will literally jump start your learning process by several years.

Sandy King

[Robert Hughes]

Why take a class on cyanotype? It's about as complicated as washing your clothes, or tying your shoes with velcro straps: Mix solution A with solution B, slop it on a sheet of paper, contact print for 5 minutes in the sun, wash, dry, display! There's the class - so you can credit my Paypal account. :p

Now carbon printing or gum bichromate printing would be worth shelling out money to take a class for. I still struggle to get a decent monochrome bichromate print, and am scared to even attempt carbon.

[Mark Woods]

The carbon prints are little diamonds. ;-)

[sanking]

Now carbon printing or gum bichromate printing would be worth shelling out money to take a class for.

And keep things in perspective. I just finished a three-day carbon transfer workshop with a South African woman living in Asia. She probably spent two or three times more on air fare getting here and on lodging and food than for my workshop fee.

Folks in the US are really fortunate to have people in various parts of the country who can give good carbon transfer workshops.

And if you will pardon the commercial, let me mention that I am scheduled to teach a five day workshop on carbon transfer printing this summer at Photograhers Formulary, June 27-July 2. . http://www.photoformulary.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=3&tabid=14

The venue is so spectacular it is worth the visit even if you don't want to learn carbon printing.

Sandy King

[Chris Dunham]

Hi Jim,

Many thanks for the kind offers and advice. PM sent. Lashed out and paid for my first 8x10 camera today so that's a little bit of gear that will compliment this type of process - luckily I've a couple of lenses that will cover 8x10.

Cheers,

Chris.


Chris, everything that has been said in this post is true! Vaughn taught me carbon printing a little over a year ago and I have not wanted to print any other way. Sandy has some good information on the process in the link he posted and I can send you my little info guide I wrote so if you want send me a PM with you e-mail. I have some almost there prints also that I could send to you just let me know where you are.

The image that Vaughn posted is one of the ones that got me hooked on the process. You can walk into that image. You will not go back to any other printing process, well maybe some do, once you understand the potential of carbon and see the results. You do need a lot of time when you do carbon.

I'm very proud to know that I've gotten Mark Woods hooked on carbon. The negatives we worked on at the workshop were amazing images. We managed to pull a very nice print out of a less than optimal negative for carbon. Mark understood the potential of the process. It looks like the 11x14 I had on display may of had something to do with his recent purchase. BTW here is an 8x10 studio shot I did on some 8x10 x-ray film. Another bonus to carbon printing is that the costs are very low for materials but the cost in time is high. Best of luck.

Just to mention, if anyone needs info about carbon transfer just send me a note and I'll send my word document to you. If you are in the So. Cal area let me know and maybe we can get together and I can show you the real deal.

Jim Fitzgerald

[Eric_Scott]

previous snipped>>>People who have seen my work know that I am a fairly competent carbon transfer printer<<<remainder snipped


Sandy King

Fairly competent??? Now that is a classic example of the term "understatement".:)

[Chris Dunham]

Big thanks to Dennis P for sending over a super P/P print - wow is it cool ! I've never seen anything like it before and the digital shooters (as well as myself) are stunned. Great motivation. Only problem now is that all my regular silver prints look very half baked in comparison.

Chris.