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ABOUT THE PROCESS

Film processing is currently a problem. This is the only part of the process I don't myself. This is because it isn't economical considering the relatively small volume of processing I need. Dealing with color film developing in small batches is also risky when trying to achieve consistent results. A bad print can be redone but a bad film can not.

In the darkroom I use a Bessler Universal 45 color head mounted on an Omega D-6 chassis with a Nikkor 150mm lens. A Jobo rotary drum processor processes glossy Ilfochrome print material. Kodak pan masking film is used to control contrast in the print by compressing the density range. This intricate process involves an exact but opposite copy of the film to be printed. This copy negative appears dark in those areas that are light on the original and this value can be controlled by selective exposure and development of the copy. When the original and the copy are placed in exact register at the enlarger the "mask" acts to reduce the amount of light passing through the brighter parts of the original. This control enables me to make highly saturated prints while retaining detail in all parts of the image.

Masking, combined with your normal burning and dodging and other controls in the color darkroom makes it possible to make a print that is better that the original transparency. Not only the densities can be controlled with a mask, color values can also be changed to improve the print. This is done in the same manner that a Black & White Photographer would use filters in the field.

Today's scanning technology insures that its not a problem to prepare images for the net. Transparences are scanned on an Epson 1680 scanner interfaced to Adobe PhotoShop CS using SilverFast and Monaco EZColor. MICROSOFT PUBLISHER 2002 was used to produce this web site. Domain name is registered with EasyDNS and hosted at Vianetworks.

Pigment prints are produced on an Epson Stylus Pro 7800 printer. Prints are available. E-mail for additional information.