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Thread: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

  1. #21
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    I'll try to make the connection, Bob. We had giant full-service labs here, only 10% of which was known to ordinary clients. One is still there the size of a football field. When the owner wanted to retire and wanted to give me all the equipment, but I neither the space nor interest for it, and took only one choice Durst enlarger. He's probably not a billionaire but pretty darn close. Never took a day of vacation in his life but has massive real estate holdings both commercial, residential, resorts, restaurants etc. Made a science out of work, and could run his real estate empire at the same time as a gourmet kitchen in his studio taking some of the most artsy food photography I've ever seen, then printing 60 inch wide immaculately detailed Cibas with it - and yes, ruining his lungs by having hundred of gallons of Ciba bleach in daily use. Not worth it.

  2. #22
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    But there were also people locally who did exquisite hand-printed color carbons. They barely ate and paid their rent. At one point, someone at Kodak gave one of these persons a pile of 14x17 film out of sheer pity. It was the largest size tray he could carry thru the bathroom door with wet carbon tissue to wash off in the tub. Never made money with it. The art market doesn't usually care about how much work was put into something. You do it cause you want to.I worked with all kinds of incredible artists before I retired. A retro 50s red Formica table would sell for 75k, while an exquisitely carved mahogany table was considered just a hobby. Some of the craziest work I saw was ion deposition holographic color images on 3d "oragami" sculptures. These did sell high, and I supplied some of the necessary equip, tooling: try Rae Douglas, Light Waves, maybe. I should double check the link.

  3. #23
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    Lightest. Sorry. I don't know if any of the photographic images appear on those several sites, but the color method is analogous and comparatively permanent, just like dichroic filter coatings similarly made.

  4. #24
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    It's Lightrays. I see he still has one cubistic portrait sculpture posted, bearing a photographic imprint. That's not pigment or dye, but permanent iridescent vac ion-deposition coating! An utterly different path to color. Still not at the stage of true process colors, but several big companies are trying. If it happens, you'll have nano-pigments far smaller than anything in inkjet and as permanent as the minerals seen on Mars on in Death Valley on Artist's Drive. That's why it's important to poke around and see what's being done by innovative people.

  5. #25

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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    I agree with you in that the art market does not really care how much time or effort a person put into it. So if a person is making color carbon prints and hoping to live from print sales, good luck because making it to the top of the art market is probably going to be a long,hard ride . And that is generally true for all types of photography, though some individuals I know do have a niche market in print sales due in part to a particular process or work flow. But offering specialized printing services and workshops is an entirely different proposition, the key here would seem to be promotion, along with skill, and just being in the right place at the right time.

    As for color carbon, making hand made color prints today is a very different proposition than in the past because the basic materials are no longer produced, so one either has to make them, or pay to have them made.

    Sandy


    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    But there were also people locally who did exquisite hand-printed color carbons. They barely ate and paid their rent. At one point, someone at Kodak gave one of these persons a pile of 14x17 film out of sheer pity. It was the largest size tray he could carry thru the bathroom door with wet carbon tissue to wash off in the tub. Never made money with it. The art market doesn't usually care about how much work was put into something. You do it cause you want to. .......
    ...
    For discussion and information about carbon transfer please visit the carbon group at groups.io
    [url]https://groups.io/g/carbon

  6. #26

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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    Quote Originally Posted by sanking View Post
    But offering specialized printing services and workshops is an entirely different proposition, the key here would seem to be promotion, along with skill, and just being in the right place at the right time.
    I was in contact with Calvin Grier recently and it looks that his business is going forward, with a lot of activity. In his case we can speak about promotion and skill, but not about being in the right place , in Spain there is very low activity in all that, but fortunately his global promotion is well done and delivering results.

  7. #27

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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    Why not near Valencia? Lots of potential customers live in the EU.

    Who would have thought that someone in Australia could have developed such an active business in offering workshops and materials for hand made photographic printing processes? But that is what Ellie Young has done with Goldstreet Studios in southeastern Australia (http://www.goldstreetstudios.com.au), and now she has established a brand for her studio in several locations in China.

    Bob Carnie does have a good location in Toronto for his type of printing services, but great location often comes with high rent.

    Sandy
    For discussion and information about carbon transfer please visit the carbon group at groups.io
    [url]https://groups.io/g/carbon

  8. #28

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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    Sandy, you are right, present globalization helps to stablish a business away from markets. And well, lower cost and good quality manpower (like a brand China) may be an opportunity for some expansion in labour intensive works...

    Perhaps for the workshop share of the business (it may be an important share) being in the suitable area is more important, as traveling far can be discouraging, in that way being near of a really big city with some known push in traditional process should help.

  9. #29
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    China can be a nightmare to deal with. Ask anyone who has tried - and I've known a LOT of em. Ironically, I've also ran into quite a few well-off Chinese tourists who have an interest in large format photography. One of them recently pointed at something sticking out of my packs and expressed the only two words we had in common : "Sinar?", "Norma?"

  10. #30

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    Re: New Color Carbon Printing Service business... A new trend ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    China can be a nightmare to deal with. Ask anyone who has tried - and I've known a LOT of em. Ironically, I've also ran into quite a few well-off Chinese tourists who have an interest in large format photography. One of them recently pointed at something sticking out of my packs and expressed the only two words we had in common : "Sinar?", "Norma?"
    yes, but if you have an iphone... it has been manufactured there... and xiaomi may be better

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