Great great Grandma's negatives

[catrackgraphics]

I inherited more than 200 of my great great grandmother's glass negatives. Mary M. West was the only female photographer in Bradford, Pennsylvania from 1870 to 1906. She moved to the area with her photographer husband, Jacob, and broke off from him in 1896 with her own studio. She was know in town for her photographs of women and children. The personal negatives that I inherited include photos of her grandchildren, family and many landscapes.

I have been doing historical research on her for years and have now been researching what it took to be a photographer during this period. I have just discovered that she belonged to the Photographer's Association of America and attended the convention in Celoron, New York. I am pretty sure that one of her negatives is a photo of Fitz W. Guerin, who was the associations president at the time.

I purchased a professional flat bed negative scanner and wide format printer to produce prints, and I am amazed at the amount of detail that the negatives contain.






Any suggestions of how to get the most out of her negatives is greatly welcome.

[Michael E]

Any suggestions of how to get the most out of her negatives is greatly welcome.

What do you want to get out of the negatives? Resolution? Tonal scale? Appreciation? Knowledge? Income?

I understand your excitement about the images. 200 plates from that era are a very interesting find. If they are connected to your family, even more so.

Michael

[catrackgraphics]

What do you want to get out of the negatives? Resolution? Tonal scale? Appreciation? Knowledge? Income?

I understand your excitement about the images. 200 plates from that era are a very interesting find. If they are connected to your family, even more so.

Michael

I am working on a book about her and will be including her photographs. I would love to have a display of her collection at the local university in Bradford during their old home week also.

[Jim Noel]

Contact print them on silver chloride paper from Michael and Paula.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Contact print them on silver chloride paper from Michael and Paula.

Good idea. Anything digital in the path to print can interfere. It is unlikely she had the kind of control we might attempt with a scan, or that a digital device might impose without our knowledge.

[catrackgraphics]

Contact print them on silver chloride paper from Michael and Paula.

What would it take to do these type of prints? I don't have a darkroom and developing equipment.

[Jim Jones]

What would it take to do these type of prints? I don't have a darkroom and developing equipment.

If you have both negatives and prints of some of the portraits, you could scan the negatives and adjust the image in an editor until digital prints match the original prints. This would give you some feeling for how the photographer and her material interpreted those negatives. This knowledge might also apply to the scenic views. 16 bit scans and an editor that can accommodate them permit smoother prints than 8 bit scans if much adjustment is required.

[catrackgraphics]

If you have both negatives and prints of some of the portraits, you could scan the negatives and adjust the image in an editor until digital prints match the original prints. This would give you some feeling for how the photographer and her material interpreted those negatives. This knowledge might also apply to the scenic views. 16 bit scans and an editor that can accommodate them permit smoother prints than 8 bit scans if much adjustment is required.

Thank you. I hadn't thought to compare them, but will. I have them all scanned, cataloged in Adobe bridge, and packaged in archival folders. I have been researching the photos for location and dates.

[Bruce Barlow]

Contact print them on silver chloride paper from Michael and Paula.

+1

I did that with some glass negs a few years ago. It was really fun to do, and the prints were marvelous.

If your bathroom has no windows, the trays go in the bathtub, the paper and neg on a piece of plywood you set on the toilet, with a lightbulb overhead. Then sit on the floor or an upended 5 gallon bucket. It's a variation of what Edward Weston did with silver chloride paper. The paper is really slow, and even with a bulb you'll have multiple second exposures, so changes are easy and pretty forgiving. Use a metronome as a timer, and cover and uncover the paper with a piece of cardboard. You'll get the hang of it in about ten minutes.

Most of all, have fun.

[catrackgraphics]

+1

I did that with some glass negs a few years ago. It was really fun to do, and the prints were marvelous.

If your bathroom has no windows, the trays go in the bathtub, the paper and neg on a piece of plywood you set on the toilet, with a lightbulb overhead. Then sit on the floor or an upended 5 gallon bucket. It's a variation of what Edward Weston did with silver chloride paper. The paper is really slow, and even with a bulb you'll have multiple second exposures, so changes are easy and pretty forgiving. Use a metronome as a timer, and cover and uncover the paper with a piece of cardboard. You'll get the hang of it in about ten minutes.

Most of all, have fun.

My laundry would probably work - no windows. What chemicals would be needed in the trays. It has been years since I developed prints for the high school yearbook.

This explains an article that referenced a skylight being used for making prints not as light for portrait photos in Guerin's studio.

thank you!