| December
2002
Making a print is a very
rewarding and satisfying process. Until July 2002 I printed
my 8x10 negatives exclusively as contacts. Then I got hold
of a REINHEL enlarger - solid french machine tooling (wherever
you install a REINHEL, the buildings rigidity will increase
a 100%!). I do like enlarging certain 8x10 negatives because
some of my subjects need more room to breathe than the 8x10
frame can provide. A large print can add substantially to
impact and expression while close ups like my fruits and vegetables
are now as then best shown as contact prints.
The paper I use is MACO
expo RF (CACHET in the U.S.) - a chlorobromide emulsion on
a 300 gr/m² baryta base. Originally I started to use
and like it because of its slow speed. This gave me some room
for manipulation during the contact print exposure. But I
still use it for my enlargements because I simply like its
tone and exceptional range of 'color'. Expo RF comes in three
grades (2,3,4) and it’s basic image tone is warm – not my
thing, but with the right chemistry I do get the cold blacks
that mean so much to me.
Wolfgang Moersch - a chemist/photographer/printer from Cologne/Germany
offers an excellent range of developers and his SE6 formula
is to me the ideal complement to the MACO paper.
After development the prints are archivally washed and air
dried. Air drying gives the covering gelatin a nice semi matte
surface that reflects still enough light to let all the values
shine through vividly.
I do not tone my prints. First because I do not like the
color shift that appears if you use selenium on chlorobromide
paper. Second because selenium is only efficient as a silver
protector if it works concentrated on dense areas until a
colorshift appears, that is the low exposure, low silver parts
of the print won’t be protected sufficiently. Watering down
the toner doesn’t lead to a color shift and is therefore of
not much use whatsoever (I didn’t find that out on my own
of course – AGFA did some research on this and this is how
I understood the rather complex story).
Moersch
Photochemie GbR
Am Heideberg 48
D-50354 Hürth
Germany
HANS
O. MAHN & CO.
Spaldingstr. 160 A
D-20097 Hamburg
Germany
Email:
INFO@mahn.net
|