Studio Telefono 415 519-8877
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Images available for collectors or for corporate & residential installations.
Limited custom design of matting and framing is available. All orders should be referenced by the image name & 3 digit # number. Prints in various sizes from small 5" x 7" to Large 36" x 44". Prices depend on where the image is in it's editions availability which is always changing. Please contact us for information and ordering.
Editions:
Chrome pigment prints larger than 8"X 10" are printed as part of a signed limited edition in either a series of 25 prints or 50 prints depending on the image. Alternative prints are in a series no more than 15 prints. Ambrotypes, Daguerreotypes and Tintypes are in a series of 5 or less.
Whats the best print?
The best print is the one you like to look at. There is often a debate as to which is the best type of print, platinum, dye transfers, ziatypes or a tweedle dee xyz. Poppycock. Never buy a print just because it is a certain type or because it shows full tonal range. Who cares? If the image pleases you, moves you, intrigues you or makes you think, that is what is important. As long as it's archival and not going to disappear on you years from now, buy it.
Archival Chrome Pigment:
At one time it was apparent digital pigment prints, were not up to the alternative and conventional prints in photography for the art collector of fine images. Tonal range and archivability could not match up to silver and other fine metal prints. Since 2001 this has not been the case. In "skilled hands", archival chrome pigment and other high end digital pigment prints equal or exceed all silver gelatin prints and most every alternative print such as (salt, platinum, and others) in archivability and beauty. Archivability issues have always been problematic for color photographs on color photo paper lasting only a few years before fading, silver gelatin being next showing problems as early as 15 - 25 years, even when precations are taken. Currently, pigment and alternative prints have less problems with the image fading than with the deterioration of the paper they are on, lasting easily over a hundred years and if UV protected, lasting several life times. The conservation savings with high end digital prints in water and chemical pollution in the production of those old alternative processes and that of silver gelatin and color prints is enormous along with the fact that all of the fantastic beautiful silver gelatin papers from the 20's - 60's are long gone. Several good papers survived into the 1980's but eventually were changed to a sub par version or discontinued all together, due to the toxic chemical pollution from the production of them. A few papers came from Hungary where the restrictions were not as strict but those too have disappeared when they banned the production for the same polluting reasons.
The misconception that it is easier to produce pigment prints is just false. Just as much time is involved in making a high end digital print as in the best platinum, color or silver print, only without the toxic environmental issues. About the only print that still exceeds the beauty of a pigment print is that of a 3 or 4 color carbon. Unfortunately they take days to make, color tissues are no longer manufactured as of today and the price we would have to charge would be at least 5 times that of the ACP. Maybe down the road....: )
Some galleries put less value on pigment prints but that is just nonsense. One look at history will show that EVERY single new process from albumen, platinum, silver gelatin to digital has been pooh poohed by some only to become the standard until the next new better process or print type evolves. Does it matter if an image comes from a negative or a digital file? No. Embrace them all. The main consideration should be that the artist made his own prints no matter what type they are. Handing that important part of the process to some print maker or printing house should decrease the value considerably. I make every print myself that has my name on it!
Lith prints:
A lith print is like a silver gelatin print that you severely over expose intentionally. It can be by contact printing or enlarging. The print is then placed in a lith developer. The developer is very diluted & developing takes a much longer time than conventional silver gelatin prints. Developer times range 3 - 20 minutes or longer. Not all silver gelatin photographic papers are suitable for the process and results are inconsistent due to many variables. Trying to duplicate prints is almost impossible so expect variations in a series. Any black and white plate, negative or color negative is usable. The visual appearance of a lith print is grainy with dark shadows and soft delicate highlights. Different colors and hues can be achieved as the developer ages adding to the unpredictable effect and part of the appeal of doing lith prints. One last thing, lith development is confusing, frustrating, virtually impossible to repeat and time consuming, but beautiful results are the reward making it worth all the effort.
Platinum / Palladium:
The platinum/palladium printing process became workable in 1873. Salt and albumen prints were the norm at this point. Commercially produced platinum printing papers first became available in the 1880's and for the most part have not been commercially made since the 1940's. At the turn of the century platinum prints were very popular, valued for their beauty and their intrinsic permanence. With the onset of World War I, platinum family metals were hard to come by in the United States and today platinum is more expensive than gold. Print makers who desire the beautiful qualities of platinum create their own paper by mixing the light-sensitive chemicals and coating paper by hand. The process involves mixing very small quantities of a sensitizer solution, ferric oxalate with solutions containing the platinum and/or palladium metals. This mixture is then applied to fine rag paper using either a brush or a glass rod which spreads the solution across the paper. The platinum mixture is only sensitive to ultraviolet light and is, therefore, a contact printing process with the negative being the same size as the print. The ferric oxalate in the solution reacts with UV light to reduce the platinum metal out of the solution, thus making the image on the paper. Different mixtures of the chemicals are controls for contrast and color. Prints can also be toned for similar contrast and color controls.
Salted paper prints:
The salted paper print was the first type of paper print used in photography. It was used by Talbot to print his calotype negatives and earlier he used the same method in his photogenic drawing. It was used until the end of the 19th Century, although for most purposes it was replaced by the albumen print in the early 1850s. It is difficult, if not impossible, to tell a good salt print from a matt albumen print. Quality paper is soaked in a salt solution (this can be sodium chloride, but is often sodium citrate and ammonium chloride, usually around 4% by weight) and dried. In subdued light, it is brushed with a generous coating of silver nitrate solution (around 12% by weight - sometimes containing a little citric acid) and dried in darkness or very subdued light. The paper is then exposed under a negative using a UV light source - perhaps 10 minutes in bright sun, until the image is darker than required. The paper is then washed in several rinses of water to remove excess silver nitrate, toned if desired, usually in gold toner, fixed in 5% sodium thiosulphate or diluted print fixer and then washed for an hour. Negatives for this process need to be developed to a much higher contrast than for printing on modern materials. As a printing out process it has a self-masking effect that tends to reduce shadow detail. Beautiful purple to chocolate brown in color depending on the controlled variables.
Silver Gelatin prints:
Silver gelatin print is simply the gallery term for an ordinary black and white photograph. Whether bromide or chlorobromide, fiber base or resin coated paper, they all contain a silver image in a gelatin emulsion. Silver gelatin paper is manufactured and purchased by the photographer. No photographer ever made their own silver gelatin paper. A negative can be either contact printed or projected from an enlarger on to the paper. Exposures are short in comparison to hand made papers allowing for small negatives to be projected and enlarged to the desirable print size. The print is then processed in chemicals, either by hand or machine and then toned for color and permanence. The truly magnificent silver gelatin printing papers are all gone, they have been for a long time. What is left is inferior substitutes that, if in the right hands, can still produce a beautiful image, but nothing like the papers of the 1930's - 60's.
Ziatype:
The Ziatype process is one of the platinum/palladium family of processes. It is capable of producing images in a variety of warmer or colder tones depending on the platinum/palladium mix and other details of the chemistry. I use 100% rag cotton paper. The humidity is critical for the process to be consistent and you usually have to put the paper in front of a humidifier in order for it to be usable. The sensitizing fluid is made for each print by counting drops of various chemicals and mixing them together. You then use a glass rod or brush to evenly coat the paper as in all other alternative processes of this type. This needs to dry to a certain point and needs to be used immediately. The negative then needs to be contact printed in a contact printing frame, a vacuum frame with a UV printer or in the sun. With Ziatypes the printing is visual. When it looks complete it is complete except for the rinsing stage. No development is necessary in the Ziatype process.
Toning:
If I listed everything that I have used in toning, I would be here all day. I will say I have used almost every photgraphic toner available and just about everything in the kitchen, work shed and garage.
