i am just beginning to try and sell my black and white photographs. i have several prints i've been carrying around with me for a good ten years--those i spent hours and hours and hours on in the dark room (when i was childless and otherwise free of major responsibilites and had lots of free time on my hands). now i have several shows coming up next month and am feeling a time crunch. i don't have time or equipment to develop them myself. today i took them into a photo develop shop and they ran one of my negatives through their machine. it turned out okay but had a different feel to me, as a die-hard old school dark room junkie. Here's my question: What are the main differences of hand processing black and whites over having them run through a machine and what difference is there as far as pricing and selling and identifying prints done by machine rahter than by hand?

Also have another question about mounting. The framer i am working with uses a double-sided tape to mount my photos to the mat or foam-core (i have several images that "float" above the mat, in a shadow-box display style). Is this damaging to the photograph in any way? i have seen several images mounted with a hinge system. can anyone explain this to me? and can this be used on floating pieces?

Thanks!

the beginner,

Amy

-- Amy C. Smith-Mees (scatterjoycreations1@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002

Answers

Amy, how would you compare a Hostess Twinkie to a cake you made from scratch, using the finest ingredients and the greatest care to ensure its quality. No comparison, right?

Well, that's what you're asking when you ask us to compare a plastic print stamped out by a machine to a print enlarged onto the finest fiber based paper, painstakingly dodged and burned to exact every possible tone from the negative, carefully developed, toned, archivally washed, spotted and air dried individually on chemical- free screens. Then dry mounted on acid-free board and matted with a handcut acid-free mat. That's what every fine art b&w photographer goes through to prepare a print for sale or presentation.

So, I ask you, are you selling a Twinkie or a Masterpiece?

If you're selling Twinkies, no matter how you package it, it will still taste like a Twinkie.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

amy

everything you are suggesting would be rejected by a reputable art/photo gallery. b&w prints offered for sale in a gallery are archivally processed (opposed to a machine print) and archivally mounted and matted. (Would you spend hundreds of dollars for a print some technician ran through a processer and taped to a piece of foam core???) Go to a good gallery and have a look at what they have and how the work is prepared and presented. Also helpful would be Ansel Adams' book "THE PRINT". Follow his advice. You and your customers will be happier.

good luck. r.

-- r (ricardospanks1@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

Generally, fine art photographers prefer to dry mount their work, primarily because the work is then presented perfectly flat. We find wrinkles and buckles distracting. Some people prefer hinge mounting because the hinges are easily removed but, depending upon storage conditions, hinge mounted prints are more subject to degradation due to atmospheric pollutants, whereas dry mounted prints are actually protected by the layer of adhesive material. Hinge mounted prints seldom remain flat--they expand and contract as the relative humidity varies. Double-sided tape is the worst of the lot--the cheapest, easiest route, and the least archival--I would never use it for a fine print.

Older dry mount material (Kodak Type I) was actually based on shellac, and may cease to adhere with age and improper storage, but I am told it is less difficult to remove than the more modern synthetic material (Kodak Type II). A conservator has also told me that most problems with the modern synthetic material derive from incorrect mounting procedures--too much heat, insufficient pressure, etc.

As for machine processed prints--any gallery owner worth his salt would laugh you out of his gallery if you offered him machine processed prints to hang. You might legitimately ask $5 for them. In my opinion, if you don't have time to print your own negatives, your best option is to hire a qualified fine art printer to make archival, expressive prints, though it eliminates an important avenue of creative expression for you. People like Richard Avedon do not make their own prints, but he straddles the line between commercial and fine art photographer.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), April 25, 2002.