March 2012
0 posts
nonetodate asked: On your 1 Nov 2011 post concerning preparing "The Image for Multichannel" you mentioned you adjust the image for color balance (-35 Cyan and ? for Yellow). You also mention that you boost the saturation by 30%. On your 25 Jan 2012post regarding your "Gum Bichromate Workflow 2012" it states the Cyan layer is changed by -25 and saturation is boosted by 30%. Do you still...
February 2012
14 posts
nonetodate asked: I know you said that you use Glyoxal as your paper hardener. Do you use this straight or is it diluted? Also, how many coats do you put onto the paper and is it reapplied after a few coats of the pigment colors have been applied?
nonetodate asked: I have enjoyed the gum work and discussion.
I do have a few questions regarding your process:
What amount of pigment do you put into the gum and how much gum is used?
Do you vary this ratio depending on the pigment color?
Do you use the same exposure time for each color pigment or do you vary it when you’re doing...
I do have a few questions regarding your process:
What amount of pigment do you put into the gum and how much gum is used?
Do you vary this ratio depending on the pigment color?
Do you use the same exposure time for each color pigment or do you vary it when you’re doing...
fotodude asked: BTW-There is a great article on The Manhattan drink in the Off Duty Sec WSJ, Sat Feb18-19. Lots of detailed tips, variations and mention of NYCs Fatty Cue, LeBernardin, & Saxon+Parole.
Rives BFK
fotodude asked: The saturation is beyond what I thought possible with Gum as most works I’ve seen were “only” 3 or 4 layers. With your process of coating, UV exposure, 30 min water bath development, drying, etc, that is 12 layers! Not to mention your prelim sizing steps. The BFK Rives must hold up well for these many cycles.
Thanks. The 250 gram Rives is a good weight, takes...
fotodude asked: Hi Tony and thanks for sharing many of your Gum techniques. I do have two questions.1) It seems you use six layers for a gum print? Two cyanotypes plus yellow plus red plus blue pigment plus lamp black. If true why the "three" blue type layers and two passes with cyanotype? Your results are incredible.2) Do you develop the print in the "conventional" gum way by placing face...
allkimik asked: Hello Sir, you cannot imagine the energy and the momentum that this blog fed me last weeks. I wasn't so pleased with my experimentations with gum, but after reading your material it was like a fresh start for me. I still do some stuff that I found out on my own, and I print my negatives on plain paper. Here in Romania the acces to materials is very difficult. And here come the question: what...
Kodak phases out digital businesses, keeps film... →
“Photography is the art of observation. It is about finding something interesting...”
TEXAS PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: Competitions →
Photography regional, national and international competitions.
The Gum Bichromate Journal: Sizing the Paper ©
For multiple coat gum prints, it’s necessary to preshrink the paper in order to maintain registration throughout the printing process. Unfortunately, preshrinking removes any sizing when the paper was manufactured. Resizing the paper involves soaking it in a gelatin bath and then hardening the gelatin onto the paper.
Since it’s such a time consuming and laborious project, I often will size...
INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ENTRIES: Alternative... →
All alternative photographic processes are eligible. This includes, but is not limited to: Albumen, Cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, Platinum/Palladium, Gum Bichromate, Bromoil, Salt Print, Ambrotype, Tintype, Image Transfer, Ziatype, Wet Plate Collodian, Callotype, and Daguerreotype (etc.).
JUROR: Christopher James
Sizing
Hello - Thank you for all of your generosity. I have learned a great deal from your website. I was wondering if you could tell me what you size with. I have always found the gelatin method to be the best but I really hate dealing with formaldehyde. Have you found anything better? Thank you for your time. Jean Sanders
Thank you Jean. I’ve been using Glyoxal as a hardener for over 10 years...
January 2012
12 posts
Gum Bichromate Workflow 2012 ©
MAKING THE NEGATIVE:
Image↵Mode↵8 Bits/Channel
Image↵Auto Color
Image↵Adjustments↵Color Balance↵-35 Cyan
Image↵Adjustments↵Hue/Saturation↵+30 Saturation
Image↵Mode↵Multichannel
Split Channel
Image↵Adjustments↵Invert
Image↵Adjustments↵Levels↵Auto
Image↵Adjustments↵Curves
Apply Curve:
MAKING THE PRINT:
Using the Cyan negative, I start with two layers of Cyanotype (old Cyanotype formula...
Gum Bichromate Journal: Tweaking the Shadow Curve...
Although I liked the shadow density in my last print, I felt it may have been getting too dark and losing some detail. So, I changed the curve slightly to bring the numbers up in the first four steps. The new output numbers below appear in red below with the new curve to the left.
Here is the result:
I like the depth of shadows, quality of description and overall contrast of the print.
...
Spotlight: Beginning credits for Stanley Kubrick’s...
I recently watched Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1962) (now available on Blu-ray). Although I’ve seen the film before, it’s probably been over ten years since the last viewing of one of my favorite movies. A professional photographer for “Look” magazine during the late 40’s, Kubrick’s love for the still image is apparent in the opening sequence of credits...
INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ENTRIES: Alternative... →
Alternative Processes
All alternative photographic processes are eligible. This includes, but is not limited to: Albumen, Cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, Platinum/Palladium, Gum Bichromate, Bromoil, Salt Print, Ambrotype, Tintype, Image Transfer, Ziatype, Wet Plate Collodian, Callotype, and Daguerreotype (etc.).
JUROR:
Christopher James
Current Calls for Entries: Black and White Juried... →
Juror: Susan Spiritus Deadline to Submit: January 25, 2012
Gum Bichromate Journal: Tweaking the Shadow Curve...
In an ongoing effort to improve the quality of my gum prints I’ve spent the better part of last year adjusting the curve that I use to make the negatives. Below is the curve used for my last show “Naiads” in 2010 next to the new “2011 curve” I’ve been working on (shown in red).
Keeping the lower end of the curve (representing the shadows) the same, I “pulled” up on the upper portion...
WALL STREET TO MAIN STREET: Call for... →
Wall Street to Main Street is a collaborative art project linking Occupy Wall Street and the rest of America, via the small town of Catskill, NY.
Photo‐Documentary Exhibit Call for Entries: Curated by Geno Rodriguez, this exhibit serves as a descriptive introduction of the events of the global Occupy Movement as seen through the kaleidoscopic lens of contemporary photographers, as well as the...
Amber Drink
I found a Word Document among some old files on my iMac and realized that I started writing this post more than ten years ago, long before blogs were commonplace.
Someone once asked me why I drink Manhattans. The short answer, I said, is that growing up I always associated amber as the color of adult drinks. The long answer is that my father always drank amber drinks”.
Growing up my father drank...
INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ENTRIES: Alternative... →
JUROR: Christopher James
All alternative photographic processes are eligible. This includes, but is not limited to: Albumen, Cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, Platinum/Palladium, Gum Bichromate, Bromoil, Salt Print, Ambrotype, Tintype, Image Transfer, Ziatype, Wet Plate Collodian, Callotype, and Daguerreotype (etc.).
Entries due: February 15, 2012
INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR ENTRIES: BLACK & WHITE →
All black and white photography is welcome. This includes alternative,traditional, digital, and toned black and white images. All subjects are eligible.
Entries due: January 25, 2012
Naiads Exhibition Catalog now available! →
December 2011
8 posts
Spotlight: Diane Arbus
Long before SantaCon was a global phenomenon, people have been donning the red suit and white beard in honor of St. Nick. There is a village in the Hudson Valley (about a 2 ½ hour drive north from Manhattan and 10 minutes from my studio) called Valatie; which boasts the nation’s very first Santa Claus Club. Members of this club have been dispensing Christmas cheer to tots of all ages since...
November 2011
5 posts
Spotlight: Justine Gartner
“After the dream they set out in search of that city; they never found it, but they found one another; they decided to build a city like the one in the dream. In laying out the streets, each followed the course of his pursuit; at the spot where they had lost the fugitive’s trail, they arranged spaces and walls differently from the dream, so she would be unable to escape again.” The...
The Gum Bichromate Journal: YMC NEGATIVES WORKFLOW
1. Start with an image smaller than the media size
2. Open document with the Channels window open
3. Image‐Mode‐Multichannel
4. Automatically the RGB layers become CMY layers
5. Click on the icon to the right of CHANNELS
6. Split Channels
7. Automatically the three CMY layers become three distinct B&W images
...
TED talks →
David Griffin on how photography connects us
The Gum Bichromate Journal: Preparing the Image...
1. Open two windows of the same document. One is to work on and the other is to compare.
2. Image-Mode-8 Bits/Channel
3. Image-Adjustment-Color Balance
4. “Slide” arrows towards Cyan and Yellow
5. Image-Adjustment-Hue/Saturation
6. Increase Saturation
7. Image-Mode-Multichannel
8. Compare the color, tone and contrast with the original image
9. Redo Color Balance and...
October 2011
14 posts
Pumpkin Diaries (Final Chapter)
And finally…
One more thing: “Very Superstitious”
Stevie Wonder’s lyrics ring true for any photographer who spent time in the darkroom. Although I understand chemically how the process works, I’m still amazed when I see the image emerge in the tray—there is something almost supernatural about it (unfortunately, digital has taken away the magic). Since success can be fickle for Gum printers, superstition is often a requirement in the darkroom...
Playlist: Lullabies and Torch Song
“Every night she comes, to take me out to dreamland…” Those are the beginning lyrics from “Coney Island Baby” by Tom Waits. When my nephew was an infant (he’s now 8 years old), I would sing Sam Cooke’s “When a Boy Falls in Love”. Not exactly your traditional lullaby but it seemed to work. Since then I will often sing songs to my younger niece and nephew before putting them to sleep. I’ve...
One More Thing: Sounds of the Season
In Patricia Bosworth’s biography of Diane Arbus, she talks about how “the continual sound of running water soothed” Arbus when she was in the darkroom. In my own darkroom, I have a mid-century vacuum table that makes humming/purring sound when it’s on. I don’t know if it’s soothing, but I’ve grown accustomed to its low-grade tone and steady tempo. Perhaps there is some comfort in it’s...
Marilyn Monroe Photos →
The Lost LOOK Photos’ Reveals Never-Before-Seen Marilyn Monroe Photos
The Pumpkin Diaries (continued)
…and keeps growing.
Spotlight: Helen Levitt
In “Looking at Photographs,” John Szarkowski writes about Helen Levitt’s photographs: “What is remarkable about the photographs is that these immemorially routine acts of life, practiced everywhere and always, are revealed as being full of grace, drama, humor, pathos, and surprise, and also that they are filled with the qualities of art, as though the street were a stage, and its people were all...
The Pumpkin Diaries (continued)
It keeps growing…
What I see: My commute to work
I live a few blocks from Grand Central Station where I take the number 7 train to Main Street in Flushing (the end of the line) and a bus (either Q17, Q25, or Q34) to Kissena Blvd. Total time: aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes.
The New Citi Field (the Willets Point station still says “Shea Stadium”)
This guy was singing ”Hallelujah” by LEONARD COHEN.
Queens College.
Subway...
Spotlight: Queens College Students
In the past, I’ve spotlighted the photographs of former students who have gone on to do amazing work on their own. In conjunction with the student exhibit at Queens College last month, I thought this would be a good opportunity to celebrate the outstanding work of some current students.
Aisha Hassan’s social documentary approach focuses on the invisible population of workers in New...