[Leica] Evercolor

["Gib Robinson" <robinson@sfsu.edu>]

Gary,

Last Saturday at the Rowell/Atkinson exhibit I talked at some length to one
of the people who prepare Rowell's slides for printing. From what I can
gather there are two steps before the printing process, each of which costs
$ and needs to be carefully done. The first step is to scan in the slide/neg
using a high-end scanner. The one Rowell and Atkinson use is owned by Bill
Atkinson and made by Linotype. It has certain characteristics, including
good compatability with Mac Colorsync software, which, apparently allows for
the best color manipulations. Once the slide/neg has been scanned in,
someone who knows what he/she is doing needs to prepare the slide/neg for
printing using photoshop. Again, there needs to be good coordination between
photoshop user and the printer because the printer has a certain
reproduction "profile". It is my understanding that the scanning, prep, and
printing steps cost from $300 on up, depending on how much manipulation is
needed or wanted before a print is made.

By the way, while I was impressed by the Evercolor printing process, I was
struck by a number of what, to my eyes, are the limitations in Rowell's
photographs.  First, he uses Velvia exclusively which means he accepts
heavily saturated landscapes. Not my cup of tea. I just don't think that
color palette works well in large landscapes with subtle textures and
colors. Second, he often takes photos that I think are best left to medium
or large format photographers (or at the very least Leica users): that is,
photos that beg for rich detail and extraordinary sharpness to convey
texture and subtlety. And, of course, he's not using Leitz lenses. To my
eyes Rowell seems to be working toward the drama and entertainment side of
photography rather than toward showing us a way of seeing in and through
what's there in the landscape so that I am learning to see better through
his photography.  Atkinson seemed technically proficient but without a clear
or compelling vision.

- --Gib



>Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 07:27:24 -0500
>From: "Gary D. Whalen" <whalen@whalentennis.com>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] EverColor Luminage/Red Dots in Emeryville

> Can anyone tell me exactly what an Evercolor print costs?   By the way I
don't
> believe that this is an exclusive production method.  I believe that it is
all
> in the equipment which is available to anyone that has the $$$$.