Summer is over and it was a tough one for us this yeah. I am looking forward to winter.
End of Season Sale
Alternative Process
Daily Pics September 19th, 2014 /
Olympic Diner closed down in June due to the hyper-gentrification going on throughout the city. I went there specifically because I read on Jeremiah's Vanishing New York and shot this on 8x10 color Polaroid film made by The Impossible Project. It was a test release that needs some more work. Hopefully they will be offering it again soon. The film is perfect for what I am trying to show.
Olympic Diner
Tosa Washi and Platinum Printing /
Everything Collapesed on Tosa Washi Paper
I wrote before about the Tosahakinshi or Tosa Washi platinum paper I ordered from Japan from PGI. I was finally able to test it and I have to say, it is the best mulberry type paper I have used. I have tried the Lightweight "Goyu" Kozo paper from Bostwick & Sullivan and it is good, but it can be easily over-brushed and I had to use a lot more sensitizer to coat it. With the Tosa Washi paper I used 25 drops of Ferric Oxilate, 23 drops of Palladium and 2 drop of 5% Sodium Platinum Solution Na2 for an 8x10 inch photo using the brush from Japan. I got the drop count from Masayuki Nishimaru. You can watch a below of Masayuki coating the paper.
The other two main points are to use felt underneath and to weigh it down on the ends. For the sticks he uses in the video to pick the paper up with, I use bamboo skewers.
With coating, it is very different than regular paper. When I take the brush out of distilled water, and shake the excess water off just a little bit. The brush is still very wet when I dip it into the sensitizer. I just stick the very tip in and wipe the excess off the side of the bowl I use. You will make a lot of strokes so you don't need to use a lot of sensitizer. The paper is very thin and it doesn't take much to absorb. I start my stroke very fast and then slow down once I reach the other side. I then let it hang dry for 30 minutes.
Gutted Like A Fish on Tosa Washi Paper
I originally learned about the paper from Francis Schanberger who teaches how to do the process with using Van Dyke Brown and the Tosa Washi paper. Check out his work, it is wonderful. He was kind enough to respond to my question through email and sent me the contact information on buying the paper.
Abandoned Like an Old Car on Tosa Washi Paper
Digital Platinum with Carl Weese /
This past weekend I took my second class with Carl Weese at the Center for Alternative Photography. The first one I took was Platinum Printing where we learned how to take, develop and print traditional negative. I wrote about it before. I learned a lot in that class, but when I went back home to try it, I ran into all kinds of problems. Carl was kind enough to answer some of my questions through email, but sometimes it really helps to take a class, try the process and take it again to follow up. One of the problems with workshops is that their is usually not enough time to go into trouble shooting. Especially with a process like platinum, that has so many different variables as to what could go wrong. Then add the complexity of digital printing.
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