The Drought

Morning folks, I hope you are well - well despite my moanin' and a groanin' a wee while back, times have been extraordinarily productive recently. 

Spring into Summer saw me going out most weeks to take pictures of something (anything) and it has been fun. 

To that end I've had a ton of images to print and so I started having a massive thunk about printing, why I do it and what best to do with my favourite images and how to make a proper show of things.
So I started to ask myself the question of what to print stuff on. 

Now there's a question with as many questions as answers.

I was a fibre man for many years - college set me on that path - none of this RC, non-archival nonsense - NO! - selenium toning and dry mounting for yer best efforts was the way . . get 'em out on display, let people swoon at your genius . . . but what about the others? . . well, cough, perhaps that old print box to store all those grotty attempts on 8x10. 

Oh yes, easy peasy . . . 

But in reality it became not so.

No dry mounting press - try and find a good one . . . . 

Nobody to look at these things save me, my family and you lot . . . .

So consequently as time moved on, I began to acquire a MOUNTAIN of prints that are sitting about, smoking tabs, taking up loads of room and generally causing loads of trouble.

Foma Variant 112

I don't know about you, but as you go on in life, you begin to wonder what on earth is going to happen to all this creative time and effort that you've put in over the years, and truth be told, it will end up in a bin somewhere.

Who's going to take care of it? It's a theme I have explored before, but having been surrounded by death in recent times, it has given the thought a certain piquance to say the least.

It's a huge responsibility - and I don't mean that in artistic terms, but more in the:

"Oh JEEEEZ, it's Dad's prints . . .What are we going to do with them? 

Have you got any space? 

Me neither. 

But we can't just throw them out can we? 

Well, actually, I thought he'd probably prefer it if we kept a few and burned the rest . . sort of like a Viking Burial, but fibre-based . . . "

Tough eh. Facing one's own mortality in the terms of:

"Have I ever actually produced anything of worth . . .?"

So, to that end, I started thinking why not build something that has enough gravitas behind it to make someone think twice. 

Why not go out in a blaze of glory and PRINT UP A STORM! 

Dammit, do not go quietly into the good night, rage rage against the dying of the light . . .

So thinking serious; archival and gravitas (with a capital G, natch) I went through all my options.

Oh boy, believe me, there aren't that many any more. 

But what about the stuff on Ebay? I hear you cry . . well, unless you want to take a risk on ancient and usually badly stored paper, fine . . but trust me it is usually a waste of time, being the result of dead people's darkroom clearouts. 

Battered, beyond ancient and usually ghastly and muddy, not to mention the sellers who show you the paper just to prove you're getting the real deal! 

Trust me on this - don't bother.

So NEW paper - please remember I am writing this in the UK - things might well be different in your territory, but looking at stock levels at the likes of Fotoimpex, I don't think I am far wrong:

Ilford - MGFB, MGRC, MGFB Warm, MGRC Warm, MGRC Cool, Portfolio. And I think that's it.

Kentmere - RC - all sorts of sizes and a nice paper though thinner than a sheet of Izal.

Fotospeed - as RC papers go it is definitely one of the nicer ones - a good weight last time I used it and a very nice emulsion too.

Bergger - Neutral (if you can find it buy it - too expensive to produce now [and that is straight from Bergger]); Bergger - Warm - it still seems to be around.

Adox - nothing over here and indeed getting to be nothing over there.

Rollei - ditto.

Foma - pretty much only the three FB papers in the UK - Warmtone 131 and 132; Variant 111 and 112; Retrobrom 151 and 152. There's no RC over here, and some really strange production line choices like "Pastel" over there.

So you're basically down to two manufacturers and that is it, and although Foma papers seem to be very well regarded and they're very nice papers actually, it's almost like we're at:

Universal Image Carrier Time.

So, if you're a serious darkroom worker, or even just a plain ol' hobbyist like me . . the winner is:

Ilford Multigrade.

Wow - who would have guessed it, for though it is a very fine product indeed with the highest standards of quality control and image quality . . don't you just hanker for a bit of choice?

For myself, after umming and awing about this that and the other . . very nearly jumping at Portfolio (simply because it is a very beautiful paper to use and the fact it dries dead flat lends it some gravitas [compared to most fibre prints which have more cockles than an East End seafood stall]) I've decided to standardise everything and print my 6x6 negatives at 6.75" in all directions on 10x8" MGFB and then sleeve them in Secol sleeves. 

You'll maybe notice I've only said 6x6 . . well I have kind of given up on 35mm, and LF is (these days) both a pain in the arse and extremely difficult for me to use, being as I am getting to be as blind as a bat in lowlight conditions.

To be honest, I've also got really fed up recently with prints of all different shapes and sizes from formats of all different shapes and sizes (from 35mm to 6x12 by way of the curious 25x106mm Russian pano format) and varying surfaces from dead matt through to full gloss.

I've also worked my way through hundreds of sheets of gifted, but well outdated, MGRC and generally, though learning, in image terms I think I've been completely wasting my time. 

As you get older time becomes both precious and vital - it's like spawning salmon (!) so it is about time I stopped wasting that time and did something solid. Something that can punch back and might, just might,  slip through THE INEVITABLE SKIP .

Ilford Portfolio (Pearl)

OK - so I wrote that over a month ago.

In that time, I've thought a lot more.

And to that end, I have kind of thought, feck longevity - print it properly on Portfolio. 

Enjoy life whilst you can. 

It dries nicely and looks professional, plus the whole archival wash sequence isn't quite as vital. 

I know the more serious amongst you will be wringing your hands (though hopefully I won't get "Die, Die, Die" which Bruce at the Online Darkroom received as a comment when he wrote about iphone photography . . . )

Honest, I did persevere with fibre, and have tried drying to get stuff cockle-free, but such is the coldness and humidity of Scotland that it is nearly impossible without dry-mounting. 

I even dragged a HUGE ancient Photax flatbed drier home on the bus to try it out, and you know what - it was useless. 

I simply cannot dry a fibre print without the edge being wavy and to be honest, whilst Portfolio is RC it's got some weight to it and like I said dries really nicely. 

There's a rich glow of greys when it is printed in Pearl.

The final thing I will say about it, is, for some reason, it is SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EXPENSIVE than MGFB . . who would have thought it - I'd better get my kidneys up on Ebay . . . . 

It is also hard to find - very few places stock it.

If you've never used it, get a box of 6x4 and give it a shot - you might be pleasantly surprised.

So that's as it stands for the moment.

I am going to have a huge chuck out of 'work' prints and start working on exhibition prints. 

I might not exhibit them, but hopefully, the craft skills I put into them will add some weight to matters, so that when the inevitable occurs, someone isn't just going to roll their eyes and toss them.

And that's it - if you can add anything to this in terms of paper availability, feel free - same with drying fibre paper. I have literally tried most things, so you'd better come up with something good 😆

Take care, and remember:

"Pick your swoagles whilst you can, they don't stay fresh for long."

H xx