Contact Printers Guild Newsletter
February 2006
“While it may be theoretically possible to make an enlargement from a small negative that is effectively as sharp as an contact print, still the eye tells us there is a difference, if not optically, at least in perception and feeling.” This statement by Ansel Adams echoes the philosophy of the Contact Printers Guild in making only contact prints.
This month we are pleased to announce the addition of John Wimberley to the Guild. John will be showing contact prints of his work for the first time. We are excited to offer our forum for his exquisite contact prints. You can read more about John in the New Member section of the newsletter and look for his prints in our online store later this month.
Our members schedule shows, workshops, and discussion groups during the year, so be sure to check the newsletter for events in your area. We are committed to having our work available to everyone wishing to see the prints in person. If there is something in the store that interests you, please contact the artist and make arrangements for a viewing.
Susan Huber and Patrick Kolb are featured photographers in this quarter's The Large Format Journal. The British online publication also ran an article on the Contact Printers Guild in their Fall 2005 issue. Be sure to check it out.
For the last 40 years John Wimberley has been involved with photography, first in the Navy taking photographs on aircraft carriers during the Viet Nam war, then doing color street and landscape photography in the late 1960's. Since 1969, he has applied his considerable talents to capturing the landscape in black and white.
His focus on what he perceives as the mystical aspects of the world and his study of different spiritual disciplines guided John to create luminous underwater photographs of a woman in the early 1980's. Since then he has made a living on his income from print sales, workshops, and lectures.
His critically acclaimed images have appeared in more than 50 exhibitions and have been published around the world. His work is represented in more that 400 public and private collections, including many major museums. For the last five years, John's interest in shamanism and has led to his photographing Native American rock art sites. To see one of his prints first-hand is a very special privilege. The Guild is pleased to welcome John and to offer his much-anticipated contact prints through our store.
We’d appreciate your participation in a very short survey (only 10 questions) we are conducting. If you haven’t responded to this already, we'd like to get your input. Thanks!
Click here to be part of our survey.
The Contact Printers Guild would like to invite you to browse our online store, where you will find more than 350 fine prints using five different processes for sale. The store is a secure site that allows you to purchase using your credit card or PayPal account. This makes it easy to start or add to your collection via the Internet.
Be sure to bookmark our store, as we are adding new work each week and there will always be something new to see.
Matthew Magruder
Matt Magruder’s 7x17 images are being featured until February 26 in the entryway of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden/Museum, 605 Robert E. Lee Road, Austin, TX. At left is a view of the exhibit of Matt's platinum/palladium photographs entitled “Metal & Stone”.
Susan Huber
Susan Huber's printing-out paper (POP) contact prints of the Rockies and dry lands are part of the two-person “Exposure 2006: Alternative Photographic Processes” exhibition at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta (running through April 16). Allan King's platinum prints are also featured. A related exhibition showcases the photogravures of Steven Dixon, Jon Goodman, Marlene MacCallum and David Morrish.
George Provost
Galerie Johannes Faber in Vienna, Austria will exhibit photographs of Alaska by George Provost from February 18 to April 15.
John Wimberley
John Wimberley’s work is being featured in the Internet gallery of Soulcatcher Studio during the months of March and April. You can see also his prints in their print ad in B&W Magazine.
Gerhard Bock
Gerhard Bock’s collage Desert Road Fantasy will tour with the Texas Photographic Society's 21st Annual Members Only Show. The show will run at San Francisco’s Calumet Photography Gallery until February 15 and travel to Houston in time for FotoFest 2006. In Houston, the Beautique Day Spa & Salon will display the image from March 10 to April 23.
Another of Gerhard’s images has been selected for the 2006 Krappy Kamera exhibition at Soho Photo Gallery in New York City, scheduled for March 7 through April 1. Entitled “Dune Walkers”, the image was taken with a Holga, a medium-format plastic camera, in the Mesquite Flat dunes of Death Valley National Park. To view a platinum/palladium print of this image, made from an enlarged negative, please go to our store.
Patrick Kolb
Christian Nze
Christian Nze is offering two workshops in March. The first is scheduled March 11-12 and covers platinum printing; the second is March 18-19 and is a Cyanotype - Vandyke workshop. Both take place at Vire, France, during the “Mois de la photo de Vire”. To sign up or get more information, contact Christian at cnze@club-internet.fr.
Ray Bidegain
Ray Bidegain is teaching two workshops in conjunction with the Portland Photographers Forum. The first is entitled “The Fine Art of Platinum Printing with Ray Bidegain” and will take place from May 19-21, 2006 in Portland, Oregon. There are only a couple of spots open, so don’t delay in contacting Ray if you want to participate. For information about this workshop, click here.
IN FOCUS with Ray Bidegain
This new photograph of mine, entitled “Driftwood, Oregon Coast 2005”, is an example of what I am trying to do with my landscape photography. I am looking to find beauty and order in the sometimes-chaotic way that nature and life are presented to me. I am not interested in doing this through abstraction; instead I am looking for peaceful images while maintaining the identity of the subject.
Technical Notes
To make this photograph, I used my 8x10 Zone VI camera and a 355mm Schneider G Claron lens. The camera is set very low to the ground, and I have used a small amount of lens tilt to help carry focus through the image. I wanted to have some detail in the areas of wet wood, so I placed that value on zone 4 and used a plus 1½ development time to bring the dry, weathered wood to a pleasing higher value. Because I wanted some movement in the water that is the foreground, without losing the quality of the water, I used a shutter speed of 1/8 second. The film is Kodak T-Max 400 developed in D-76 1:1, and I have printed it in platinum/palladium on Crane’s platinotype natural paper.
Special-Offer Prints by Guild Members
Please have a look at this issue's special-offer prints on our website.