The prints on this website are what is now considered “traditional” photographic prints. I work with essentially two types. Silver Gelatin prints and Platinum/ Palladium prints. Interestingly, both mediums were developed and came into use in the late 19th century and I am very happy to continue using this technology in the 21st century.
The majority of my work is printed on the medium known as the silver gelatin print. This has been the standard medium until recent times with onset of the digital era. As its name alludes to, the image is formed from silver metal which is in the emulsion of the paper. This paper is coated by the manufacturer and comes in a variety of – “flavours.” The image is realized by the exposure to light through a film negative and is developed in a number of chemical baths. The digital print by comparison, is an inkjet print even it has an uptown name such as “giclee”. Each manufacturer produces a number of different types of paper with different characteristics. The papers can be described as warm tone, neutral tone, and cold tone and the base can be anything from bright white to an ivory hue. Image tone can also altered by a variety of toners and developers. I choose a paper depending what kind of mood or feel I am trying to project. I tend to see each paper type as a different palette.
One further note on photographic papers, there are two other categories to consider. Papers are described as either resin coated or fiber based. Resin coated was developed for the newspaper industry and was intended for automated processing. Basically, it has a plastic component and although there has been debate both ways, it is generally recognized that the fiber base papers have the greatest archival qualities and accepted by museums around the world. For my final work, I always use fiber base papers archivally processed.
The other medium that I work in is known as “Platinum/Palladium”. This process was again developed in the late l9th century, first patented in 1873. The image in this case is formed by the metals platinum, palladium, or usually a combination of the two. The papers were in commercial production until the 1920’s when the cost and availability of the metals became too prohibitive. The process was revived in the 1970s by a number of photographers who were moved by the beauty of the prints of the earlier time. Materials are now available from a couple of small companies who specialize in this process but it is a hand coating process. This means the light sensitive chemicals are brushed on to the paper by hand. Another characteristic of this process is that it is contact only. The chemicals are more sensitive to ultraviolet light as opposed to visible light so one needs to use a negative the size of the print being made. The light source is either the sun, or an artificial UV source. Enlarging is not practical.
The big question you may ask is – why? The simplest answer is that the tonal scale of the negative is reproduced quite differently. The best way to describe it is to say that the silver print is more graphic and platinum is more subtle. Another analogy I use, is imagine stairs. Silver has big steps and platinum more and smaller steps. In a silver print, a dark area may just look black whereas in platinum, you see more gradations of tone. At the end of the day it is another palette. Two of the series, Sandstones and Remnants were produced using this process as it gave the look I was seeking in the images. One further benefit of this process is that it is very archival.
Ray Van Nes
Questions, comments and pricing inquiries always welcome.
Contact Information
E-mail: rvannes@telus.net
Phone: 403.274.4258