Just as I am about to begin my own journey into the world of platinum-palladium printing, this gorgeous image arrived in my email inbox courtesy of 20×200.
Clearing, Wakehurst Place, by Beth Dow
I have been a fan of Beth Dow’s work for quite some time now, especially her “In the Garden” series, and always promised myself I would scoop up a medium sized print if one became available on 20×200. (Her originals are a bit out of my price range for now). Well today was the day, and all three editions sold out quite quickly, but I managed to get my order in and will give this print a good home.
I let the e-mail sit unread in my inbox for about 10 minutes. Only 1 medium size print was available by the time I opened it. The good ones go fast.
I was late .. Oh well. I do notice that 20×200 lists this print as “Archival Pigment.” Am I missing something here?
I think that just means it’s an inkjet… but the original photos are printed in platinum/palladium and then scanned for these editions, I believe.
regarding platinum printing are you planning to contact print from a negative or to create a digital negative of some sort?
I don’t mean to pull information from you before you have it but I have been interested in these prints for a while but never managed to jump the “Start-up” hurdle…. So your methods and experiences will be interesting.
Charles
Hi Charles,
I will be printing with digital negatives. I am mostly working from the Digital Negatives book by Hinkel and Reeder, which seems to have the most up-to-date resources and information. http://digital-negatives.com/
And also various resources online, like http://www.hybridphoto.com/forums/ and Apug http://www.apug.org/forums/home.php.
The digital negative process actually seems pretty easy—if you follow the instructions in the Digital Negatives book step by step, your first negative should be usable, if not perfect. There are many ways to calibrate based on the templates they give you to further refine the process.
Getting set up with the proper chemicals, equipment, and paper, and then actually figuring out the printing process is my next hurdle. I will definitely be blogging along the way.
Cheers,
Dalton
20×200 uses a printer here in Minneapolis named Erick Recktenwald. He was my teacher and is a super printer (he’s done work for Alec Soth amongst others).
These are inkjets, but it’s not the same as running one through a regular printer. They use expensive machines with archival inks. These prints actually hold up better than c-prints which fade pretty quickly. I think archival technically means it’s rated for 50-100 non-fade years.
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Printing platinum with digital negatives seems to defeat the point a bit. the whole idea is you get this jewellike surface from the detail of the negative itself.
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the information on Erick Recktenwald’s process.
I’m not sure I agree with your opinion of digital negatives, though. Well, I guess the proof will be in the final prints, which I admit that I haven’t even started yet. I know that a lot of printers are working from digitally produced negatives with spectacular results. The original Beth Dow photo at the top of this post was printed from a digital negative. I have seen Beth’s prints in person and I could not imagine them being any better.
I have become very interested in the hybrid analog/digital process, where I think it is possible to get the very best of both worlds. Using film to capture the original image, and traditional printing process for the final print, with the flexibility of Photoshop in the middle, seems like an ideal workflow to me.