[pure-silver] Re: Print size advice. - A Thank You
- From: "Stein" <rstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 15:24:48 +0800
Dear Friends,
Thank you all muchly for the advice on the size of Whole Plate. I am
going to settle for the 6.5" x 8.5". I can print this from the standard 8 x
10 paper that I stock and if I cut a mask accurately I may be able to get
the image centered in the white surround.
The reason for all this hoohah is my recent visit to Melbourne. I
reported on the Man Ray exhibition there and my reaction to the
smaller-than-expected prints being displayed. I have not yet figured out
whether I liked their contact sheet clarity or hated the fact that I had to
practically shove my nose onto the wall to see them. But they have alerted
me to the idea that I need not stick to filling the standard sheets of paper
in my darkroom.
The Victorian visit produced a lot more thought into print sizing and
presentation of material - Melbourne is quite an arty town in many respects
and if you do not get run over by a tram you can do a lot of looking and
thinking. ( First thought is someone should find whoever is responsible for
Federation Square and boil them. It is architecture reminiscent of WW1
trench camoflage, but without the charm and comfort of the bursting shells.)
You can also find a lot of oddities in the bookstores, some of them
wandering the aisles and some of them on the shelves. I unearthed a
cardboard slipcase packet of printed photographs done in the 1980's by
someone who liked watery architecture. The printing seems to have been done
on the sort of cardboard that they use to stiffen new shirts - definitely
not archival. Nothing about it says good quality except...
The concept itself. An 8 x 10-sized set of pictures in a slipcase is a
great cheap way to package and present a small set of prints. Done in a
slightly better case, done on proper paper, done with greater care, it
becomes a small portfolio that might just attract attention and desire where
more pretence and expense would not.
My spectators are:
1. You lot - as evinced by my 2004 calendar.
2. My relatives.
3. My friends in the various clubs I belong to.
4. The patients down at the surgery.
5. Paying customers.
You may immediately discount the opinions of Nos. 2 and 4. They get what
I give 'em and damn lucky they are too. The paying customers can have
whatever their dear little wallets desire. It is the rest I have to woo. My
club-mates are nearly all an impecunious lot and it is no good trying to
sell them lots of things - yet they are the best customers for pictures of
themselves and willingly go to incredible lengths to pose for me. I need a
product that will give them the images they can afford.
This is where the annual calendar has been popular - 12 or more images
that feature them in all their glory and the honour of being chosen for a
month. But a calendar is only a limited number of images and is really
relevant as an article of utility ( One of the excuses to buy it....) once a
year. I get far more opportunities to picture the costumes and the bodies
than could be used in one calendar.
So I think I might just investigate the idea of minifolios in slipcases
for 2005. I'm thinking either something printed inside 5 x 7 or inside 8 x
10 - the Whole Plate images I asked about. I already have a whole file of
new mermaids, pirates, and wenches as well as this year's crop of belly
dancers. As I also like to do still life pictures in the studio I can slip a
few of these in for art rather than vanity.
Those of you doing big-time commercial publication can laugh at this -
and those used to using the digital world
for art and such might dismiss it as just fiddling around the edges. But it
is the sort of idea that anyone reading this list might come up with and
adapt to their own satisfaction. I hope so - I have seen some really nice
images this last week and I'll bet there are thousands more ready to go in
the minds of our readers.
Uncle Dick
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