Printing

Battery 129

I was finally able to get into the darkroom to do some printing yesterday. In general, I am very pleased with the results. The work from California is really neat. I was very happy with the fortification images from Marin Headlands. Now the challenge is to figure out how to make enlarged (digital) negatives using the software I have so that I can then try VDB or Pt/Pd printing. I got into the work from Peters Valley also, and some of it is very nice. There is a lot more to work with there, so I need to schedule some more printing sessions. The work from China is OK but not exciting.

One interesting observation - I like to process prints by floating them face down in the developer for a few seconds (until the emulsion is saturated), before turning them over to process face up. I also have a habit of placing them in the stop bath face down. With Arista (Ilford) paper, the prints float - it's possible to get them to sink to the bottom, but it takes an effort. I noticed that Kentmere paper doesn't float - it goes straight to the bottom. Strange! I also noticed that Kentmere is much cooler than Ilford paper, and has an appearance that looks very much like a traditional chloride paper (like Azo). I wonder if that was intentional?

Saturday, Linda and I drove over to Bennington to shop for lamps. Didn't find anything, but had a nice day anyway. Had lunch at Bennington Station.

The image this time is of Battery 129 in Marin Headlands. This is a neat image - I really like the range of grays and also the reflections in the water.