[Leica] Black & White film portraiture making a comeback? WAS: <sigh> Getting into printing.. need advice?

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

Thanks for the insight and report Mark!

Adam

On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Mark Rabiner <mark@rabinergroup.com> wrote:
> I'm sure some portrait people are marketing darkroom prints like its this
> rare thing you gotta have that your neighbors wont be getting.
> Just like you can have yourself shot with an 8x10 camera and be printed in
> platinum.
> I'd pay for that if I had the money.
> But sooner or later I'd rent an 8x10 camera for a weekend.
> I'd shoot c41.
> Then scan the negs with my flatbed.
>
> I'd be satisfied.
> I'd have a satisfied mind.
>
> Get portrized with some substantiality yea that's the ticket!!
>
> I saw the Koudelka show at the Aperture Gallery in Chelsea last Thursday.
> It was the biggest Gallery day of the year. First Thursday of September in
> Chelsea, the center of the gallery thing in Manhattan.
>
> Black and white 17x22 inkjet prints; from all I could tell;
> Didn't bring my loupe.
>
> They were gorgeous.
>
> They looked too good to be darkroom prints.
>
> About the tanks moving into Checkloslavakia.
>
> Was shot on Tri x with a brassy Leica.
>
> Printed with an Epson.
> No doubt.
>
> Was not called "tanks for the memories".
>
> I had to walk up four flights of stairs.
> It was worth it.
>
>
>
> mark@rabinergroup.com
> Mark William Rabiner
>
>
>
>> From: Adam Bridge <abridge@gmail.com>
>> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
>> Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 13:23:46 -0700
>> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
>> Subject: [Leica] Black & White film portraiture making a comeback? WAS: 
>> <sigh>
>> Getting into printing.. need advice?
>>
>> I'm sorry you chose to share your thoughts off-line Philip since they
>> are lost to the community at large now. Perhaps you would consider
>> posting them here so they go into the archives for others who wish to
>> learn from your own experience.
>>
>> And, I'm hoping, the original poster will write back and talk to us
>> about his experiences setting up his darkroom. I'm certain many of us
>> will be interested.
>>
>> I greatly appreciate the dark room as a fundamental to photography. I
>> have to think that real silver-gel prints made from real film in a
>> real darkroom will make a real resurgence in the upscale portraiture
>> market -- if they haven't already. Mark R. might be able to give us a
>> glimpse of the NYC market.
>>
>> Mark is black and white portraiture, on film, printed on
>> silver-gelatin fiber paper making it there?
>>
>> How about others in cities where the wealth is?
>>
>> To me the hands-on nature of the medium is so intense it would have to
>> make an impact. Perhaps as the economies pick up and the awareness
>> seeps into the upper-middle class.
>>
>> Anyway, sorry to change the subject
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 11:44 AM, Philip Forrest
>> <photo.forrest@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>> Ha ha ha ha ha!
>>> It's little nuggets like this and the thread thereafter that make me
>>> want to fall off this LUG wagon and just make photos. There's probably
>>> a lot of people who responded off list (as did I) giving advice on
>>> darkroom work.
>>> The funny thing about the LUG is that there is very little gray here.
>>> Black or white. I'm right you're wrong. The whole idea of a forum is
>>> just that, it's a forum where ideas can be shared and art can be
>>> cultivated. Much of what travels around here though is some air of
>>> superiority/seniority/highfalutin crap. There's a lot of talented
>>> photographers here on the LUG. I respect them and their work. There's a
>>> lot of tree bark and peeling paint too. Lots of "my Cooke-Amotal will
>>> beat my 1st gen Summicron." etc...
>>> There is a certain little bit of satisfaction of collecting anything,
>>> but every camera and lens I personally have owned, fixed or built, I
>>> have used to make images. Some I still have, some I cut up with an
>>> angle grinder and dremel tool, some I sold. Too often this is not a
>>> Leica Users' Group, it's a Snobbish Collectors' Group. I'm not a
>>> collector, I'm a user. I don't have any equipment in a vault still in
>>> a box. I don't collect boxes, I throw them away, helping you box
>>> collectors by boosting the value of whatever cellulose you've
>>> squirreled away for some foolish reason. All my lenses are used.
>>> Heavily. I've never written a book on my lenses or anybody elses'. I
>>> share some of the imagery I make with the group and get a little
>>> feedback to grow from.
>>> I'm so sick of some of these threads such as this, that I could
>>> projectile vomit.
>>> I don't care what music you're listening to while drinking whatever it
>>> is you're drinking sitting under your OC light.
>>> I listen to Nirvana, Pearl Jam and a few other "grunge" groups when I'm
>>> printing, but I don't talk about it here. Sometimes a little bit of
>>> Jazz, sometimes NPR. I drink water from beer glasses I collected while
>>> in the Navy but don't talk about it here.
>>> Why?
>>> Because nobody cares. Or more importantly, nobody SHOULD care.
>>> It's about making art. That's narcissistic enough; we don't need to
>>> hear what cigar goes best with the nose of Dektol. Making photos. If
>>> that's done with a pinhole, great; if that's done with a Leica, great;
>>> if that's done with the Hubble Space Telescope, great.
>>> Besides the few people in dirty, muddy shoes (like Tina,
>>> showing us beauty in the harshest adversity) the
>>> rest of us who point fingers should be ashamed. I'm pointing
>>> everywhere, so I'll start with myself. I'm just so sick of the stigma
>>> that I feel because I choose to shoot a Leica, the very pinnacle of
>>> snobbish image making devices. That stigma comes from here.
>>> Go make some photos, people.
>>> Phil Forrest
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A fellow asks us to share our thoughts on how to
>>> set up a chemical darkroom.  So far, most of the
>>> responses have been from digital people who are
>>> stating how much they hate darkroom work.  That
>>> is so much sour grapes and is not responsive to the question asked.
>>>
>>> First, can you digital folks stand aside or, if
>>> you insist, set up your OWN thread of "Why I Hate
>>> Analog Work" or the like.  Otherwise, keep your
>>> bitter, vicious, and nasty thoughts to
>>> yourself.  It is a BIG universe and one easily
>>> capable of including those of us who LIKE analog
>>> work, those of us who are incapable of adapting
>>> to digital, and those who like digital
>>> work.  Heck, the universe is big enough to
>>> include the 95% of folks who use and like PC's
>>> and the 5% who like and use Mac's.  As they say,
>>> your mileage may vary, but, in the end, it IS a
>>> large and inclusive universe.  I suspect that
>>> most LUG subscribers do not own or wear or have
>>> ever seen a Tilley Hat, but we do spend a LOT of
>>> time talking about these as if they were the
>>> end-all and be-all of existence, not to mention
>>> those specialty shoes Tina wears.  (Me?  I do
>>> analog, cannot figure out digital, use a PC,
>>> walked around yesterday in Hannah without a hat
>>> on at all, and spend ten months of the year barefoot -- retirement is 
>>> great.)
>>>
>>> Second, let us not pour urine on an enquiring
>>> mind who wants to get into a chemical
>>> darkroom.  Encouragement is in order, not tales
>>> of how much some of you HATED the experience.  I
>>> would never discourage someone from going
>>> digital:  if they are happy to accept the
>>> constraints, that is their choice and more power
>>> to them.  Others are happy to accept the
>>> constraints of analog and more power to them, as well.
>>>
>>> Third, I fill my time in the dark room listening
>>> to classical music or old radio shows.  I
>>> happened to be in the dark room when they
>>> announced that Stephane Grappelli had died.-- I
>>> am not wild about Jazz Violin but I did get a
>>> grand two-hour remembrance of his work on my
>>> local NPR station while whomping up several dozen
>>> prints and a couple of rolls of film to
>>> boot.  Duffy's Tavern is a great listen as is the
>>> radio Dragnet or Tales of the Texas
>>> Rangers.   Mozart, Hayden, Bach, Handel ...
>>> anything but the gagging nastiness of piano
>>> sonatas.  Those put me to sleep when they do not make me physically 
>>> nauseous.
>>>
>>> Marc
>>>
>>>
>>> msmall@aya.yale.edu
>>> Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>