Tag Archives: Upcoming Classes

Intro to Platinum/Palladium Printing Sold Out and Waitlisted! May 5 & 12, 10am-4pm

OK- well, the title is a tad misleading – my class WAS sold-out with a wait list. I added additional slots to accommodate the wait list, and there is ONE additional spot left. If you’re interested, now’s the time to grab it before it’s gone. I will NOT expand the wait list again for this session. The class is my perennially popular Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing class, this time with an expanded digital negative how-to session. Based on the response, I’m also planning a fall Platinum/Palladium Printing Extended Project course that will provide a six-to-eight week guided seminar in printing.

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Pyramids, Teotihuacan, Mexico

The pyramids at Teotihuacan in Mexico was originally shot on a 2 1/4 x 4 1/4 inch roll film negative from my Lomo Belair X/6-12, then scanned and printed on Pictorico Premium OHP to make a 4 x 8 inch print.

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Stairs, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Ditto the above with this shot of the National Gallery of Art staircase in Washington DC.

Making a print is fun and easy.

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Potassium Oxalate Developer – 15 years old and going strong!

A frequently asked question: what about your developer chemistry? You mix up your Potassium Oxalate, replenish it as needed, and filter it periodically. But you keep on using the same batch of developer forever, unlike silver gelatin paper developers which have a finite lifespan, regardless of usage.

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Digitally enlarged negative

Here’s a digital negative printed on the Pictorico OHP transparency medium. Other printers will work, but the industry standard seems to be Epson Stylus Photo printers with Ultrachrome K3 inks (or newer). I’m using an Epson 3880 at the moment.

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Exposed, undeveloped print

Here’s an exposed print from the negative shown above. An exposed but undeveloped print will show a “ghost image” of the finished print. The development process happens VERY fast, as you can see in the video below.

And the finished print, washing in the final wash.

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Developed print in the wash

To register, click here Intro to Pt/Pd May 5&12

Photoworks Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing- sponsored by Hahnemuhle!

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I have some very exciting news to announce – my upcoming Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing class is now sponsored by Hahnemuhle, makers of fine art printing papers since 1584. They recently introduced a new paper specially formulated for alternative process printing, specifically platinum/palladium, and are graciously supplying the class with a very generous stock of paper for the students to use. I hope this will be the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.

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Portrait with Lotus Seed Pod
Portrait with Lotus Seed Pod

Updates – Artomatic, Upcoming Classes

Well, everything is coming together, on time for once. I just picked up the new hard-copies of my Introduction to Platinum/Palladium Printing manual from FedEx/Kinko’s today. They look very nice. I hope the students will enjoy and appreciate them. It is 29 pages, spiral bound, profusely illustrated and with plenty of white space for note-taking. If anyone wants to buy a copy, email me and I can make the arrangements. They’re $30 each. Class is all set to run on Saturday, and I’ve even met a couple of my students already.

My picture frames for the Artomatic show arrived last night. It was a bit odd because the FedEx Ground guy not only left the packages themselves on the front steps, but he/she ALSO left a hang-tag on the door to tell me that the packages had been left on the front steps. Never you mind that you could barely open the front door to the house for the boxes; somehow I also needed to be reminded that the packages were there and needed to be taken in. Over the weekend I bought the paint for my wall – I got a gallon of flat black interior paint, that SHOULD be enough. My postcards are set to arrive on Friday – I’m getting antsy to see them!

I also had my first faculty meeting at Glen Echo Photoworks last night. It was very productive, and I’m looking forward to being a regular participant there. I’m especially psyched to find out that it is possible to arrange a human figure study workshop – given the general demographic at Glen Echo (there are lots of kids and kids activities there), I was concerned that they’d shoot it down, but if the studio sessions run at night, we should be fine!

I’m re-running the Intro to Platinum class in mid-October, and I’ll be doing the Advanced Platinum class in September. When I have dates finalized, I’ll post them along with a full course description here. Topics will include using digital negatives, printing in Platinum, advanced paper selection and handling, gum-over-platinum, fumed silica treatment and advanced contrast control techniques.