PDA

View Full Version : Masters of the Black Art



tgtaylor
13-Feb-2011, 21:09
In this truly inspiring video Lopparelli Nathalie shows us how a fine print is created out of its raw capture by a modern practitioner of the black art. Directed by Julie Sauerwein the film is in french but you won't need subtitles to understand what is happening.

http://www.atelierfenetresurcour.com/prestation.html

Enjoy,

Thomas

Daniel Stone
14-Feb-2011, 03:33
wonderfully done!

I've bookmarked it for future viewing too :)

thanks for sharing!

-Dan

p.s. just to satisfy MY knowledge base, were those durst enlargers she was using? Nice to have the glass neg carrier I must say! Much quieter than the noisy omegas we have at school.

Frank Petronio
14-Feb-2011, 05:28
I think it's a Durst, it's a beautiful darkroom. The Ferrotype machine (print surface finishing and flattening) is impressive. It's nice to see a young woman so skilled, what does she have? Another 60 years of printing ahead of her?

David Aimone
14-Feb-2011, 06:16
Excellent film! Envious of those big sinks!

What is she doing between first and second fixes? Bleaching with a brush? I'm curious...

Frank Petronio
14-Feb-2011, 06:55
I think so.

jnantz
14-Feb-2011, 07:39
yup, bleach ...

we had one of those metal drum print dryers in college.
one nick in the drum you were not a happy camper,
and the drum was hot enough that when silly photo students
put RC paper through it to dry, well, it melted the prints onto the drum ..

kev curry
14-Feb-2011, 07:56
A few dabs, wash and she's done! That must be one seriously strong bleach solution no?

Fred L
14-Feb-2011, 08:21
I am totally in love with this woman/printer...

MIke Sherck
14-Feb-2011, 08:39
I'm with Fred: I think I'm in love.

:) Mike

Allen in Montreal
14-Feb-2011, 08:48
Very cool video,
a lot of signs of having had a really old school teacher (breathing and rubbing the print). Some fine art printers must be spinning in their graves :) :) .
But she is way too rough with the paper!

Scott Walker
14-Feb-2011, 08:51
I'm with Fred: I think I'm in love.

:) Mike

Me too...but with that darkroom and those sinks

bob carnie
14-Feb-2011, 09:38
I think there was a some acting (embellishment) in this video, as Allen points out the paper cannot handle the amount of touching, slight finger pressure on the back of a print will create dimples that are impossible to get out.
She does seem to have the dodge and burn down well, I use hot developer with a sponge rather than pulling a print to my face, never use tongs on that size of print.
As Ken points out the bleaching is really aggressive but I am sure a lot of this is too demonstrate her style rather than actual workflow. A weaker dilution would need to be used otherwise burnout areas would be obvious.

She does have all the right tools, and hand movements under the enlarger and I think this really quite a nice demo of what we do as enlarger wet printers.
Did not like the cleaning of the negatives with the finger tips, I must say , kind of freeked me out . almost stopped watching at that point thinking the rest would be useless.



Very cool video,
a lot of signs of having had a really old school teacher (breathing and rubbing the print). Some fine art printers must be spinning in their graves :) :) .
But she is way too rough with the paper!

Fred L
14-Feb-2011, 09:41
bob, you would have been mortified to see what went on in newspaper labs ;)

bob carnie
14-Feb-2011, 09:45
I almost took a job at the Toronto Star as a printer , until I saw how they worked under pressure.
Understand the timelines but holy cow , wet negs in a enlarger, 30 sec dev Wow

bob, you would have been mortified to see what went on in newspaper labs ;)

Allen in Montreal
14-Feb-2011, 09:48
I'm with Fred: I think I'm in love.

:) Mike

Ya, she is kinda hot too, which helps. :) :)

Allen in Montreal
14-Feb-2011, 09:51
I think there was a some acting (embellishment) in this video, as Allen points out the paper cannot handle the amount of touching.......

Did not like the cleaning of the negatives with the finger tips, I must say , kind of freeked me out . almost stopped watching at that point thinking the rest would be useless.

In the newspaper and wire service darkrooms we use to rub a really scratched neg into our foreheads, the human grease would fill the scratches rather nicely.

But God help the poor guy who had to reprint that negative a year later!:( :(

Scott Walker
14-Feb-2011, 10:01
Did not like the cleaning of the negatives with the finger tips, I must say , kind of freeked me out . almost stopped watching at that point thinking the rest would be useless.

When I saw that I laughed knowing how it bends some folks out of shape. I have done that to every bit of roll film I have put through an enlarger. I use my forearm or a similar finger squeegee for sheet film :eek:

Fred L
14-Feb-2011, 10:06
one newspaper lab I spent lots of time in had, and note this was a different time environmentally speaking, a hose with hot water constantly running at a lowish flow. got a stubborn area that needed some oomph, soak the spot in hot water. still miss the versamat...

bob carnie
14-Feb-2011, 10:23
Oh I still use the hot water on monster murals, almost burn my dam hands off doing it but really great to have a huge bucket of hot water and sponges along with strong dev bucket next to the developing tray to work a weak area.
If its done right beautiful, if wrong you see it when dry.

one newspaper lab I spent lots of time in had, and note this was a different time environmentally speaking, a hose with hot water constantly running at a lowish flow. got a stubborn area that needed some oomph, soak the spot in hot water. still miss the versamat...

Michael Graves
14-Feb-2011, 11:07
I'm with Fred: I think I'm in love.

:) Mike

With Fred?

jnantz
15-Feb-2011, 06:17
I think it's a Durst, it's a beautiful darkroom. The Ferrotype machine (print surface finishing and flattening) is impressive. It's nice to see a young woman so skilled, what does she have? Another 60 years of printing ahead of her?


and to think until yesterday when i read this,
i always thought the ferrotype machine was a print dryer ..
thanks for setting me straight !

Bob Kerner
15-Feb-2011, 19:55
Interesting. But there was a trailer for a movie about Robin Bell that was circulating about 7 months ago (it's gone from Vimeo now) that was much more captivating then this. I agree with an earlier post: it appeared a little too dramatic, like she was dancing around the darkroom for the camera.

Thank goodness, though, that someone is capturing this stuff on video. There's a whole generation that doesn't realize that pictures can come from someplace other than an SD card.

Vaughn
15-Feb-2011, 20:05
...Did not like the cleaning of the negatives with the finger tips, I must say , kind of freeked me out . almost stopped watching at that point thinking the rest would be useless.

Fingers do not produce any oils, so if one does not scratch one's nose, no problem, I still run wet 120 film between my fingers after the photo-flo -- right before hanging them to dry.

Ari
15-Feb-2011, 21:11
Having spent five years living and working there, I had to cringe when the film was brought to her in those paper envelopes, negs all stuck together in a lump, and everybody handling them with their fingers. Brought back some nasty memories (I'm talking to you, PICTO)
I ended up renting a darkroom so that my negs would at least have a fighting chance.
I like the bleaching of the whites of the eyes; I used to dodge those, but I'll try the bleach method.
Anyone hazard a guess as to dilution?

bob carnie
16-Feb-2011, 06:56
It has to be weak, and build up with application, kind of like the reverse of spotting
only problem is if you go to far , then the print is toast.


Having spent five years living and working there, I had to cringe when the film was brought to her in those paper envelopes, negs all stuck together in a lump, and everybody handling them with their fingers. Brought back some nasty memories (I'm talking to you, PICTO)
I ended up renting a darkroom so that my negs would at least have a fighting chance.
I like the bleaching of the whites of the eyes; I used to dodge those, but I'll try the bleach method.
Anyone hazard a guess as to dilution?

al olson
16-Feb-2011, 11:41
and to think until yesterday when i read this,
i always thought the ferrotype machine was a print dryer ..
thanks for setting me straight !

She is using it as a print dryer. None of the prints she puts in have the emulsion toward the ferrotype surface.

Thanks, Thomas, for bringing this to our attention.

Fred L
17-Feb-2011, 06:32
actually I think she's using it as flattener since her prints are screen dried. interesting workflow nonetheless.