*REVISED End of Year Newsletter 2013
Published 16 Dec 21:50
NOTE: THIS IS A REVISED EDITION OF THE RECENT END OF YEAR NEWSLETTER
You may have a sense of deja vu upon seeing this newsletter in your inbox!
The reason is that I recently noticed that parts of the report about the new Ilford papers were missing - presumably not properly saved after the last edit - so I have re-instated them below.
See edits to paper speeds, minor edits elsewhere and example scans.
See also late footnote*
I have also taken the opportunity to update some other areas of the newsletter, e.g. personal > exhibitions.
If you have passed the newsletter on to friends or forums, as I know some have, perhaps you would also send the full version.
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Welcome to my occasional newsletter
Links are active. Click for further information.
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- Preamble
- Personal
- Exhibitions
- Workshops
- Award
- Acquisition
- Eye-catching
- Arena weekend
- London Salon & RPS International Open Print competitions
- Silvershotz launches into digital production
- Product news
- TWO new B&W papers from Ilford Photo
- Lith products - coming (?)
- Rumours - Adox Variotone, Slavich, Naccolith
- Film news
- End of Year very Special Print Offer !
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Preamble
These newsletters are a mixture of personal news, product news mainly of interest to film users, silver printers and lith printers, book and coIlaborative project news and an occasional unmissable limited print offer at a seriously discounted price - strictly limited in number of prints or days.
I can hardly believe that, because the darkroom product market has been fairly uneventful (until now!), it has been over six months since my previous newsletter.
I am starting work on this newsletter in the departure lounge at Heathrow airport with only a few weeks left until Christmas, which always seems to creep up and catch me by surprise.
When I return I am looking forward to putting time aside to prepare for a family Christmas and to my job of barbequing/smoking the Christmas turkey in what the tabloid newspapers are are already forecasting will be "A Killer Arctic Winter!" - which probably means a light dusting of snow. Then directly after New Year I return to Iceland for what is becoming an habitual winter photo trip.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas or seasonal holiday wherever you are. Some of you will be in the warm and others in the cold, but keep warmth and goodwill in your hearts.
Personal News
Exhibitions
It has been a busy half year in the darkroom with a lot of new work, some very interesting new product evaluations, two new solo exhibitions and a number of group exhibitions.
My new winter 'Faux Lith' work 'A Walk on the White Side' opened in Gold Street Gallery just outside Melbourne, Australia in August to October and concurrently in Bangwallop, in Devon, UK in September, and now extended into January 2014.
I enjoyed two joint exhibitions with friends and colleagues in the Arena group of photographers. We had a large and splendid exhibition over two floors in central London at The Menier Gallery in June, where over two hundred prints were displayed. Most of this exhibition was then divided into two smaller exhibitions in Bath and in Frome.
The London Salon of Photography held its International print exhibition in London in the summer, following which it travelled to Birmingham and to Edinburgh. The exhibition was much enjoyed and was definitely worth all the hard work involved.
Coming up
- Opening later this week at Silverprint in London I shall be part of an exhibition of "'Leading UK Printers exhibiting work on the new Ilford silver gelatine papers" (details of which are included below). The exhibition runs until February 14th 2014.
The opening night is on December 19th until late. Many of the UKs printers will be there. All are welcome.
- I will also be exhibiting a selection of toned silver gelatine B&W prints and Lith prints from 'Treeworks' at Silverprint's Gallery in London opening on Thursday 3rd April until Thursday 1st May 2014.
Workshops
Although I have been reducing workshop activity this year I thoroughly enjoyed the B&W Printing Masterclass for Ilford in June, which turned out to be quite an international gathering. It filled up in about one day, ran for two days with just ten people from six countries with delegates from three other countries on the reserve list! So don't believe anyone who tells you that analogue photography is dead. It was great fun and wonderful to reunite with friends from previous workshops who attended from the USA and from Spain.
Award
It was a wonderful surprise when in April I received a letter inviting me to accept The Fenton Medal from the Royal Photographic Society at the Society's Awards ceremony in September, which I was very honoured to accept. The Awards ceremony was held at The Royal Society between London's Pall Mall and The Mall. It was a splendid evening shared with friends, acquaintances, strangers and the other award recipients all sharing a passion for photography. The Macallan sponsored the event and took excellent care of everybody's creature comforts.
Acquisition
I am also flattered to have been approached by The Tyng Foundation wishing after many years to acquire another work for the Tyng Collection. The print in question is an early Lith print of Horsetail Falls on the original cadmium version of Kentona and split toned with selenium into delicate yellow-orange, soft blues and deep brown. It was one of the very first to illustrate this technique and of course will be unrepeatable when existing private stocks of this now rare paper have been finally exhausted.
Horsetail Falls
Finally, it is always good to try to have something to look forward to and in January I am looking forward to revisiting Iceland. The latest of many visits in all seasons, this will be my third January visit in the last four years and presents a very different view of Iceland to that experienced at any other time of year. Not only is daylight limited to four or five hours, the light is different, whilst the cold and the predominance of darkness somehow create an altogether different mindset. And of course there is no early rising to catch the dawn, which doesn't come before 11a.m ! The weather though is invariably always the final arbiter.
Eye-catching
The following have caught my eye recently and will be of interest to many of you:
March brings Arena's annual weekend seminar - a firm regular fixture in many peoples' diaries. This is always a wonderful weekend of photography, inspiration, good company, good food and great fun. The programme and booking page has just been launched here, so if you are in the UK do consider joining us. You will be made very welcome - but bookings do go quickly, so don't procrastinate.
Most of us on this list are print makers, so here are two very different international open print competitions for you to consider entering in January:
The London Salon of Photography will be accepting entries later in January 2014 and aims "to exhibit only that class of photographic work in which there is distinct evidence of artistic feeling and execution". The Salon has been in existence for over a hundred years and hosts a uniquely different exhibition. For a start, it is judged by all the members who are able to attend the event - usually in excess of 20!
The Royal Photographic Society International Print Exhibition will also be accepting entries in January and unlike the Salon it accepts a broad range of genres and there are significant cash prizes too.
I have been invited to chair the judging panel for 2014. It is an outstanding exhibition, examples from which can be seen on the website.
The contemporary photographic magazine Silvershotz is evolving from its printed form into a digital one and has just today launched its new interactive online magazine and multiplatform Apple app here. Additionally, five of its past printed annual folios are now available as free downloads.
Darkroom Product news
BREAKING NEWS (UPDATED)
Ilford launch TWO new variable contrast FB papers in the 'MULTIGRADE' family
POSTCRIPT NOTE. See footnote*
The hot news this week has got to be the launch of not one but two new Ilford Multigrade FB papers: Multigrade Classic FB to replace Multigrade IV FB, and Multigrade Cooltone FB.
I should perhaps mention here first that I am completely independent and not associated with Ilford or with any other manufacturer and I give my opinon honestly for whatever it is worth, be it postive or negative.
I feel the need to say this here because I cannot help but wax lyrical about the new MG Classic in particular and I fear that otherwise this description would sound too much like an advertisement!
MG Classic
When I was approached to field test the 'proposed new Multigrade IV replacement' back in 2011, I read the rather general description of the changes to be expected and I just had a feeling that I wasn't going to like it. In fact I really love it and much prefer it to MG IV FB in almost every way.
The testing was 'blind' with no tech data, no speed or contrast figures and no curves. I was apprehensive about the alleged slight contrast increase that was mentioned to me, after all MG IV was launched with much talk of its improved and forgiving response in the highlight range. Was this now going to be compromised by increased contrast perhaps? In fact MG Classic FB prints superbly at the highlight end. Cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds really gleam in a way they just don't on MG IV. The improved sharpness and Dmax - slight but definite - together with the slight mid and upper value contrast boost gives a print than looks both richer and more luminous than the same negative on MG IV.
I found that shadows can tend to block up slightly more easily at mid and upper contrast filtrations if exposure and contrast settings are not accurately matched, so a little extra printng care is all that is required here to acheive excellent detail in both.
The image tone is slightly warmer than MG IV and the response to direct toning with selenium and/or gold is beautiful. Selenium initially cools the tone but then at 1+9 or stronger prolonged toning gives a deep rich selenium colour with a wonderful boost to the Dmax to create a depth to drown in with low key prints. Gold toner cools the image as expected and duo-toning with these two can give a rich cold image of great depth.
In my report to Ilford at the time I wrote "The flashing threshold is almost the same as MG IV, but over-threshold fogging darkens progressivley more than MG IV, giving a clue as to the effect it will have on midtones. Highlight tone is pulled in beautifully at 'max flash' needing about 2/10th of a stop reduction in main exposure. The midtone contrast drops at least a grade. Exposing 1 grade harder gave good midtone separation whilst retaining the benefit at the toe. Shadow separation was well preserved this way too". Now that we have the characteristic curves available to inspect this is well explained by the marked difference between those of MG Classic and those of both MGs IV and WT, particularly with MG Classic's long gentle slopes at the lower grade filtrations - see the tech sheets on the Ilford site ( go to 'more info' then use the dropdown tabs).
Paper speed is the same as MG IV when unfiltered at P500. However, when printing with Ilford's contrast filters the difference is significant and quite important.
At Grades 00, 0, 1, 2 and 3 the ISO paper speed P is slightly faster at 230 than MG IV at 200. However, at Grades 4 to 5 the ISO P speed drops only slightly to 210, whereas MG IV speed is halved at 100. This will be a boon to printers.
MG IV with MG filters:
Filter | 00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Speed (P) | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 200 | 100 | 100 |
MG CLASSIC with MG filters:
Filter | 00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Speed (P) | 230 | 230 | 230 | 230 | 230 | 210 | 210 |
Air dried glossy gives a comparable finish to MG IV. I haven't seen the matt paper.
The lith printers out there will need to look elsewhere for a new lith holy grail I'm afraid. The Ilford coating process is excellent for producing reliable and consistently good quality control, but does not lend itself easily to products with the characteristics required for the convincing infectious development that is necessary for lith printing. However, MG Classic can produce very attractive 'second pass' lith prints. The lighter tones develop in a soft gentle warm sandy brown and may be allowed to go on to exhibit the MG WT signature split as the highlights can be gradually allowed to turn cold grey. The 'blacks' remain warm rather than cold in tone, giving a nostalgic look. If deep cold blacks are desired, spare the blacks during the bleach stage or fixate them with a short selenium stage before the pre-bleach wash.
Apart from the expected refusal to lith print, my only slight reservation in fact was the fact that the new paper was slightly warmer than MG IV, placing it a little nearer to MG WT in tone and that there was still no FB version of Multigrade Cooltone. However, as we now know, this has since been addressed.
MG Cooltone
This paper did not become available for testing until quite recently. Again a 'blind' assessment.
Cooltone FB is immediately seen to be a different paper to print with, not just cooler in tone.
Firstly, it is a faster emulsion, having an unfiltered paper speed of P590 against Classic's P500. Using MG contrast filters the speed of 250 is notably faster than MG IV's 200 and it only drops to 225 for grades 4 - 5
MG Cooltone with MG filters:
Filter | 00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Speed (P) | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 225 | 225 |
The second obvious difference is in its contrast characteristics, and again this is now clearly shown in the curves, with the long flatish 00 and 0 slopes of MG Classic replaced by much rounder curves.
I initially found this made it rather easy to let darker tones slide over into blocked up black unless contrast vs. exposure was accurately matched, which is not a problem providing care is taken. Split grade printing using just the 00 and 5 filters is a good way to pin this down accurately and although it may appear to be slightly long-winded involving 2 test strip stages, it can sometimes prove to be quicker in the long run.
Flashing is effective - again see the curves, but don't forget the increased paper speed and shorter 'toe', so do a proper flash strip. It maybe my style of printing, but I felt immediately at one with Classic and a little less so with Cooltone. The image tone with MG developer is a cool but not blue black (I did not have time to use it with cool tone developers) and a very pleasing range of colour options from blue-black in gold toner to a warm deep selenium brown is easily available on toning. Response to these toners is positive but, typically for a cooltone paper, slower. Strong selenium pays off handsomely as does plenty of patience in direct gold toner, which may need to be very long after the initial freshness has worn off the toning solution.
The air dried glossy surface is significantly more shiny than that of Classic , IV or WT.
To date, I have not experimented with Cooltone FB in lith or second pass lith.
Many darkroom users have wanted a fibre-based version of Cooltone for a long time and so this will be a welcome addition.
MG Classic selenium toned 1:9 MG Classic thiourea & gold toned MG Classic '2nd pass' Lith, untoned
Late Postscript Footnote*
I think there might be a production issue with the new batch of 20x16 MG Classic. Since writing the above review I have experienced difficulty matching the contrast and Dmax obtained with earlier samples and with a new 16x12" box.
Other product news
As you will know from my previous newsletters, there are also a few other darkroom products waiting 'in the wings'"
- The Polywarmtone project is still alive. I have a progress update but PWT will not be making headlines before my next newsletter, so because other news will be mostly overshadowed by the new Multigrade launch I'll bring more details next time.
- You will also be pleased to know that the rumours that Adox Variotone is discontiued are NOT true and that a new production run has been made.
- Although Freestyle in the US have discontinued Slavich papers from their product line, rumours that Slavich have ceased production of Unibrom and Bromoportrait are also not true. (see current lith materials guide and please pass the link - but not the guide - to anybody who might be interested. They must register, in order to secure their future free updates).
- Rumours that Naccolith has gone out of business and that its liquid lith developer is no longer available do unfortunately appear to be true.
- Work is still progressing on a possible new Lith paper and a new emulsion has just arrived at Labo Argentique for testing. No test reports yet but I will keep you updated, so watch this space.
- Film users will be pleased to know that Kodak Alaris is to continue Kodak professional film production in Rochester. This was announced in The British Journal of Photography article here.
You might also be interested to see the documentary 'Long Live Film' here.
- Film users will also be pleased to know that new Adox CHS 100 11 is now available in Super 8, 35mm, 120 and sheet film up to 20x24"! More information is available here.
The message is clear. Silver-based photography is far from dead!
And now ...
A VERY Special Christmas Discounted Print Offer LAST !0 DAYS
and I hope (with apologies to The Godfather) 'an offer you can't refuse'!
It isn't very often that a new silver gelatine paper comes to market, so to mark this occasion and my first discounted print offer in over six months I plan to offer you one of my favourite Iceland prints - one that you may have seen featured in press and posters, but perhaps more importantly one that has never before been released for sale in a larger size than 10x8".
It is a limited edition print and will be printed at 20x16" on the new Ilford MG Classic FB paper and duo-toned with selenium and thiourea.
My discounted print offers were primarily intended for those who are maybe new to collecting, or just who like a particular image for themselves or as a gift for a loved one. They are available first to my mailing list, and then a few days later to my Facebook friends. These offer prices are typically discounted by as much as 30%-40% and are limited by number, and or by time. All the offers are for a silver gelatine fibre based print, handmade by me to best archival standards and are accompanied by a cerificate of authenticity and advice on the care of your print.
This offer is strictly time-limited and will close on Boxing Day December 26th 2013.
"Kirkjufell"
NOTE: The image above was made on MG WT paper. This offer print will be made specially on the new MG Classic FB and so the colour will be a little different to the one shown above. At the time of writing, the new paper is still in transit to me. I will do my best to ship very early orders by courier before Christmas but cannot guarantee Christmas shipping times once they leave here. Later orders will not be shipped in time for the holiday.
Payments can be made securely by credit card through PayPal and you do NOT need a PayPal account to order.
Click here for full details and ordering facilities
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Finally ...
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Best wishes,