Analogue film, alternative, hybrid and darkroom
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Editorial
Contents
Welcome to the fifth Analogue which arrives just in time to mark the anniversary of the last issue. My thanks go to all those who responded to the call at the beginning of summer for articles. In this issue, Christopher Osborne rediscovers analogue photography and this starts him on not only on a journey through study but also gives him a project to show his skills. In a similar way, Donald Richards shows us how one aspect of image-making can lead to another. Then practitioner Martyn Lacey finds a convenient way to develop 5x4 in. sheet film in small batches, arguably the holy grail of many large-format users. Finally, Amy-Fern Nuttall looks at another professional aspect of photography - making money at auction - and finds analogue imaging is very much in fashion. As usual, I will close by asking anyone who has text or images they would like to see in a future edition of Analogue to get in touch. I am always pleased to hear your ideas and to help add substance so that others can enjoy them, too. Please contact me directly at analoguenews@rps.org (note the new contact for e-mail). Ideally, I should like to bring out another issue in spring 2018 to mark the third anniversary Group’s founding. Receiving your work early in the New Year would make this possible.
2 Christopher Osborne
Analogue Group
My return to analogue photography
Chair: David Healey ARPS E: analogue@rps.org
4 Martyn Lacey
The SP-445 5x4 Film developing tank
Treasurer: Peter Young LRPS
5 Dr Donald E. Richards
Events: Steven Godfrey E: analogueevents@RPS.org
‘Views’ – A book of photographs of Robinson College, Cambridge
8 Amy-Fern Nuttall arps Valuing the photograph: Analogue photography at auction
Secretary: Andy Moore E: analoguesecretary@RPS. org Editor: Richard Bradford ARPS E: analoguenews@RPS.org Designer: Simon W Miles Web Content Manager: Amy-Fernn Nuttall ARPS E: analogueweb@RPS.org
Richard Bradford ARPS, Editor
The Royal Photographic Society Fenton House, 122 Wells Rd, Bath BA2 3AH T: +44 (0)1225 325733 E: reception@rps.org W: www.rps.org Website & Social Media E: web@rps.org
www.facebook.com/groups/rpsanalogue cover: Reflections on the windows of the College Library by Dr. Donald E. Richards. right: Elevated walkway over the Bin Brook stream, in the gardens of the Robinson College by Dr. Donald E. Richards.
➤ Analogue Magazine
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My return to analogue photography Christopher Osborne
My return to analogue photography is part of a bigger story. I used to be mad keen on photography when I was a student. My first ‘proper’ camera was a second-hand Olympus OM2 which I bought on the day of my last school certificate exam with money that I’d earnt as a builder’s labourer in the school holidays.
was pretty sure that it had been in the container that we shipped to the UK. Then I had one of those 2am Eureka! moments, and went downstairs to the room we use as an office. While rummaging, I found a folder containing negatives from the late 1980’s and 90’s, some of which had never been printed. Then I found whatever it was that I had been searching for and went back to bed.
The next morning the folder of negatives was lying on the floor and I set about scanning them. That evening, I showed them to my wife, and her overwhelming reaction was that they were definitely my photographs. And she was absolutely right. Some 38 years later, and I was taking the same kinds of images.
Roll on a few years, and marriage and children saw the camera gear locked away in a cupboard. My interest in photography rekindled itself with a digital SLR six years ago. I started using the first one as a complicated point and shoot, and after a couple of years I was prompted to read the manual. All of a sudden it dawned on me that if I used it like my OM2, then perhaps I could perhaps get more out of it! But the big change came about by accident. I’d been trying to find something for a couple of weeks – I can’t even remember what it was – and
Dhows moored on the Dubai wharf ➤ Analogue Magazine
Morning light casts a hash shadow from a shop step
A cat appears from an alley in the historic area
An Abra (water taxi) moored
A seaman clambers ashore from a dhow
The next day I set about looking for a course to stretch me artistically, and change my image making. I looked for courses in Dubai, in the UK, and in fact right around the world. As I searched, I realised one option was to enrol on a degree course. I have a degree in engineering, so maths and physics really, and the thought of venturing into the arts was compellingly appealing. I made a small portfolio, and sent this to universities across the UK. I had a very positive response from many of them, but most of them couldn’t handle me being in Dubai much of the time. After weeks of chasing, the University of Gloucestershire contacted me. My application had been put into the too hard pile, as my residence status wasn’t obvious. Thankfully the course leader had chased up the admin folk, and with that resolved, I found myself having a Skype interview just 5 minutes later.
Hustle and bustle, places to be…
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Two years on and I’m now beginning my final project. Full time, this would be a year long course. It will have taken me 2½ years when I finish next January. I can honestly say that it has been a fantastic journey, and I can’t speak highly enough of the academic staff, who have recorded lectures and consistently been available by Skype or e-mail. In two years, I have had one conversation about something technical (making Van Dyke alternative prints), and the rest of the course has been about art. If I had to sum up what I’ve learnt, would say two things. I’ve learnt that groups of images are stronger than a single image, and that thinking of the collection as visual storytelling really helps. And I’ve come to realise that what I used to regard as the ‘perfect’ photograph is actually really dull. Would it be unfair to suggest that the images from the Canon/Nikon/Adobe workflow all look the same regardless of genre? My return to analogue really began in the second module of the course. It was designed to make the students use formats, equipment and processes that one hadn’t used before. Partly as an exercise in research and problem solving, and partly as part of the process of widening one’s artistic approach. Had I been on campus I would have borrowed equipment from the library, but because that wasn’t an option, I purchased a Pentax 645 from Japan. While it waited to arrive, I set to work with my freshly serviced Olympus OM2 kit.
A merchant walks past cardboard boxes awaiting recycling ➤ Analogue Magazine
I can still see myself staring blankly at the leatherette on the back after the first shot! But it has re-kindled my love affair with analogue photography. I’m still using a Paterson tank that I bought in 1993, and I can still load a roll of film. There is something about that clickity-clack sound. I love the anticipation of waiting to see what I’ve captured. I love the smell of the chemicals, not because they smell overly nice, but because it’s the smell of nostalgia. But what I really, really like is the final product. I’m printing in the darkroom – actually a bathroom which is in fact the world’s least ergonomic darkroom. I have no real control of temperatures when printing black and white – I don’t bother measuring because I have no way of cooling them. Each tray is probably about 26 degrees, but on the positive side I can hold colour chemicals at the right temperature. One just can’t beat the way that photographic paper holds blacks. It’s hot work, dust is a nightmare, but I really value the end result. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’m sweating over my images. And, I have no doubt that my return to analogue has helped in my visualisation of what I’m taking far more than the screen on the back of my digital camera.
I started this work as a collaboration with other analogue photographers here in Dubai – we have a very active group with 450 members from every continent and profession imagineable. We’re working with the Majlis Gallery, Dubai’s oldest fine art gallery (off the beaten track but well worth a visit if you’re ever here). Our objective is to capture the essence of this area of Dubai. It’s a complex project, in part because it presents a visual cacophony which is very difficult to simplify, and because the United Arab Emirates has very strict laws around the publication of images of people designed to protect the more conservative groups in its society. The images for this article are my contribution to the group effort. They are all scans from the negatives, for the simple reason that I have only just started the printing process. Contact: christopher.osborne@flydubai.com
My final project is titled Texture of the Creek. It’s shot in Dubai, although The Creek is really an estuary, and runs through Dubai’s original location. The newly built skyscrapers and glitz are to the south. This area is a true melting pot of east and west.
Mooring rope on the dhow wharf
A woman picks her way through construction work on The Creek
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The SP-445 5x4 Film developing tank Martyn Lacey
Being an occasional large format user, I had been looking for a developing tank for 5x4 for some time before discovering the Stearman Press 445 which is made in the USA. Although I have been using the MOD54 for a while I never felt completely at ease with it due to the possible misalignment with the slots and had occasion when the film was not held correctly, leading to scratches.
The films can then be developed using your favourite developer, stop and fix with a final wash of around 11 minutes. My film was FP4+, developed in Ilfosol3 (1+9) with 1 minute of continuous inversions and a slap, to dislodge any air bubbles, followed by 4 inversions every 30 seconds for a total of 5 minutes.
When first using the SP445, I noticed the film holders have been changed from solid (as on their website) to hollow. Apparently, the solid holders had ribs to prevent the film adhering to the holders but in some cases, although strangely not all, the ribs produced lines on the negatives. This is no longer a problem now that the centres have been removed, and with the use of wash aid in the final rinse no adhesion either.
Agitation is via inversions - we all have our own ideas on that score and I found no problem with leakage providing you burp the tank. Wash was by removing both caps and washing through via the tap on constant flow, in at fill end and out at vent end.
The tank comes with removable baffles and a piece with two rails which the film holders slot into. With these in place and the cap with the two lids fitted the film holders were loaded with film.
During use I noted that to empty the tank thoroughly it was best to invert the tank a couple of times whilst emptying.
To load, I first laid out the film dark slides and holders on the bench then in darkness removed the dark slide then the film maintaining the notches bottom right. With the tank film holder to the left I then fed in the film from the right whilst at the same time feeling for the holder guides with the left hand to ensure the film was fed in under the tabs, especially the centre one on the bottom edge. The dark slide and holder were both flipped and the procedure repeated for the second piece of film and again for the second holder.
The resulting negatives were fully developed with no problems.
Fill with chemicals with both lids removed then fit the fill/drain cap, squeeze the tank body until you see a slight rise in the chemical level at the vent end, then fit the vent cap. ➤ Analogue Magazine
In conclusion I found this tank to be comparable to others as far as development. For: • Ease of use. • Less chemical needed. The tank uses 475ml of developer for 4 films. Against: • Cost $87 (around £65), plus shipping from USA (about
•
£18) plus £24 import duty and Royal mail handling fee the latter despite having to collect the package from the depot. Film holders I felt could be a little more robust but having said that I had no issues in use.
Contact: martyn@mylaceyphoto.co.uk Stearman Press https://shop.stearmanpress.com/products/sp445-compact-4x5-film-processing-system
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‘Views’ – A book of photographs of Robinson College, Cambridge Dr Donald E. Richards In October of 2015 I had an exhibition of my photographs (silver gelatine and platinum/ palladium prints) in the Chapel of Robinson College, Cambridge. Robinson is one of the newest Cambridge colleges: building started in 1977, the architects responsible for the design being the firm of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia. The first undergraduates arrived in October of 1978. In November 2008 the College was named in the ‘50 most inspiring buildings in Britain’ by The Daily Telegraph. Whatever one thinks about the significance or otherwise of such necessarily subjective judgements, it is clear that the building has merited some national attention. The occasion of my exhibition gave me ample time to visit most of the areas of the College, and I was attracted by the many interesting views of buildings and gardens. So over a period of a few months, I took photographs of the scenes that caught my eye. Once I had accumulated a good number, I had the idea of putting some of these images in a book, which is a good way to show them in an easy-to-carry form. I produced one, using Blurb, the publishing company (http://www.blurb.co.uk) to print it1. This was not commissioned work, I was only creating the book for my pleasure. ➤ Analogue Magazine
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the Introduction: “The reader will notice that the images in this book contain no people, and as such the book can in no way be considered a book about the College. How could it be, when the soul of a College is made up of people, of Fellows, students, and staff, and these are not present here? This book is no more than a selection of the views (angles, shapes, lights and shadows) that attracted me photographically at the College, and that I thought worthwhile sharing with you, the reader.” If you don’t know the College, the book will provide a glimpse of details present in its buildings and gardens, filtered through the subjective selectivity of my eye and camera. But if you know it, I hope that a reflection here, a shade there, a curve in wood, may bring back memories of pleasant moments enjoyed at the College.
Picture No. 1
Once finished, I showed the book to some of the Fellows of the College, and it was then that more practical venues opened. The book was very well received and, to make a short story even shorter, the College will now publish it, and any proceeds will be used by the College for charitable ends, for example scholarships, and student projects. There are many possibilities, from offering the book for sale to undergraduates and interested parties, to producing special editions, either for selling, or to present to benefactors of the College; these special editions may also include an original platinum/ palladium print. If a prestigious institution dedicated to creating and imparting knowledge can benefit from work I did wholly for my enjoyment, I don’t think I can ask for more. The images shown here are a small selection of the 64 images that are contained in the book. Regarding them, I wrote in ➤ Analogue Magazine
1, The process of making a book with Blurb is very straightforward, and the details of how to do it are very well explained in its website. I use it mostly for initial approaches to galleries and so on, without having to carry boxes of individual prints. To date I have made four books with this company, and I have been very pleased with the results. The prints I send are .jpg RGBs, and these are either sepia colour (platinum/ palladium prints), or the colour of slight selenium toning, that I use for archival purposes (gelatine silver prints). I have not made a book of full-palette colour images. Techniques. The originals of the photographs in the book start as RGB digital files, and from them I produce platinum/ palladium prints (I described the method in the Spring 2016 issue of Analogue).
Captions for the photographs. Main image, previous page: A view of one of the outside corridors. The architects responsible for the building used Swanage multi-coloured brick, and this gives the building its characteristic warm hue. Inset, previous page: The cover of the book. It shows the elevated walkway over the Bin Brook stream, in the gardens of the College. 1. A detail of steps in the Chapel. 2. Wood fence in the garden. 3. Reflections on the Steinway piano, in the Chapel.
Picture No. 2
The stained-glass window reflected on the piano is one of the two in the Chapel, both made by John Piper. The nondenominational Chapel is used for religious ceremonies, but also for exhibitions and concerts. 4. In the Chapel, details of the organ pipes. The College organ is one of the best modern organs in the country, built by the Danish organ builder Erik Frobenius. 5. A partial view of the gardens of the College. 6. Door of the chapel. The decorative bronze-work is by J Metzstein. 7. In the Front Court of the College, the bronze patina sculpture “Finback”, by Ben Barrell. 8. The Bin Brook stream, and one of the posts of the walkway; these are lead capped. Contact: ernesto18@gmail.com
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Picture No. 3
Picture No. 6 ➤ Analogue Magazine
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Picture No. 7
Picture No. 5
Picture No. 8
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Valuing the photograph: Analogue photography at auction Amy-Fern Nuttall ARPS
According to Sotheby’s ‘Analogue photography is back in vogue’ and they should know: 22 of the most expensive photographs sold at auction were sold at Sotheby’s, and all were analogue photographs. The interest in photography as a valuable commodity is rapidly growing and appealing to more and more investors, with Phillips auction house seeing 40% of new buyers each year (Muhlfeld, 2015), and the number of auctions specialising in photography increasing with each consecutive year at all the major auction houses. Over 30 photographs have gone under the hammer for over a million dollars since 2005, and world records are broken year on year for some of the biggest names in photography. As photography is increasingly recognised as a smart investment in the art world, what is it about analogue photography in particular that interests buyers? The first and most obvious reason is that the most expensive photographs are those that are taken by famous photographers, such as Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz (Sotheby’s, 2006) and Man Ray (Christie’s, 2017), whose photographs have fetched $2.9m, $1.4m and $2.1m, respectively. These are photographers who have been in the cultural consciousness for decades, long before the introduction of the digital camera. ➤ Analogue Magazine
In the same vein, photographs sell for a higher price if they are considered culturally important, iconic or well known, and are much more likely to have been a part of the zeitgeist for a longer period of time. This is reflected in the auction records of the ‘most expensive’ list (Photography at Auction, 2017): the most recently photographed image on the list was taken in 2009 (Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev’s Tobolsk Kremlin) which is, incidentally, the only digital photograph to make the list (Kommersant, 2010). However, age alone does not account for several photographs that were taken this side of the millennium, such as Andreas Gursky’s 99 Cent II Diptychon (Sotheby’s, 2007), which sold for $3.3 million, just 6 years after being taken, and is the 6th most expensive photograph ever sold at auction, as of publication. One of the most important factors when valuing an item for auction, however, is its unique quality, and that is where analogue photography flourishes. One of the most expensive photographs sold at auction was Edward Steichen’s The Pond - Moonlight, sold at auction for $2.9 million (Sotheby’s, 2006). Steichen used the unique Gum Bichromate method in the creation of his print, whereby the photograph is developed by handlayering the gum onto the paper, because
of this each image is unique - no two editions will be identical. It is this unique quality that sets analogue photography apart from other image making. Another example is a tintype portrait of Billy the Kid, which sold for $2.3 million (Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction, 2011). At the time this was the only authenticated portrait of Billy the Kid, and as a tintype, it is unique because the image is directly exposed onto the tin - essentially making it the image and the ‘negative’. Again, this is a one of a kind photograph. Sotheby’s suggests that buyers looking to invest in a photographic print should consider paper types and printing processes. ‘Are they high quality? Are they especially unusual or rare?’ (Sotheby’s, 2016) . The processing technique is a large part of appraising and estimating the value of a photograph, and those produced using unique techniques are that much more desirable for sale at auction. And therein lies analogue’s merit. The popularity of analogue photographs for sale at auction speaks for itself: In an age where 1.8 billion digital images are uploaded to social media every day through a quick press of a button, the time and skill required to produce an analogue image is not only unique in an increasingly digitised world but is also recognised by the auction world as, financially, a smart move.
References: Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction (2011) Rare Billy the Kid 1880s CDV for Sale at Old West Auction. [online]. Old West Events. Available: http://www.oldwestevents.com/press-releases/2014/11/23/rare-billythe-kid-1880s-cdv-for-sale-at-old-west-auction Christie’s (2017) Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale [online]. Christie’s. Available: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Photographs/ man-ray-portrait-of-a-tearful-woman-6076401-details.aspx?lid=1 Kommersant (2010) Top 10 most expensive photos of the world [online]. Kommepacht. Available: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1306184. Muhlfeld, L. (2015) Eye on the Market: Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips Plan Photography Sales [online]. Blouin Art Info. Available: http://www. blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1123412/eye-on-the-market-sothebyschristies-and-phillips-plan. Photography at Auction. (2017) The Most Expensive Photographs Sold At Auction: part 4 [online]. Photography at Auction. Available: https:// photographyatauction.wordpress.com/2017/09/12/the-most-expensivephotographs-sold-at-auction-part-4/. Sotheby’s (2016) Investing in Art Photography: What to Keep in Mind [online]. Sotheby’s. Available: http://www.sothebys.com/en/newsvideo/blogs/all-blogs/degrees-of-distinction/2016/10/investing-in-artphotography-guide-what-to-know.html. Sotheby’s (2006) Important Photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art [online]. Sotheby’s. Available: http://www.sothebys. com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2006/important-photographs-from-themetropolitan-museum-of-art-including-works-from-the-gilman-papercompany-collection-n08165/lot.1.html Sotheby’s (2007) Contemporary Art, Evening Sale [online]. Sotheby’s. Available: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2007/ contemporary-art-evening-sale-l07020/lot.62.html
Editor’s note: Amy-Fern kindly provided a bibliography listing further sources. This would too long to include in Analogue but is available from the Editor on request to analoguenews@rps.org. Contact amyfernn@hotmail.com
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The Royal Photographic Society was founded in 1853 to “promote the art and science of photography”. The Analogue Group was formed in 2015. Membership of the Group is open to all Society members at an additional subscription of £15.00 per annum. This inclues the “Analogue” which is published three times per annum. Back issues are available.
Copyright: The copyright of individual articles and images belongs to the contributor, unless otherwise stated. Copyright of the Analogue newsletter belongs to The Royal Photographic Society © 2017. Disclaimer: The views expressed in the Analogue newsletter are, unless otherwise noted, those of the individual contributors. They are not necessarily those of the Analogue Group or of The Royal Photographic Society. This includes articles from a contributor who is also a committee member or Society employee.
An historic watch tower in Bur Dubai by Christopher Osborne ➤ Analogue Magazine
Design: Simon W Miles © 2017. ➤ 5 ➤ NOVEMBER 2017 ➤ 9