Focal Press Platinotype: Making Photographs in Platinum/Palladium with the Contemporary Printing-out Process

Key Points

• List of supplies and equipment
• Detailed chemical glossary
• Quick-start section in the Preface
• Summary sheets and workflows for each step of the process
• Instructions for to make traditional negatives with Pyro PMK and digital negatives
• Explanation of the chemistry and dynamics of paper, and how to use buffered papersInstructions for controlling hydration processes and humidity
• Instructions for preparing each chemical solution needed for the process
• Discussion about the aesthetics of the platinum/palladium print
• Explanation of the relationships between light, image, and expression
• Detailed troubleshooting list
• Recommendations from conservators about processing, handling, and conservation
• Contemporary artists using the printing-out platinum/palladium process.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Mike Ware

Preface

Acknowledgements

PART 1

1. Contexts and Expectations

2. Chemistry of the Platinum/Palladium Print

3. Safety, Workspaces, and Procedures

4. Equipment, Materials, and Chemicals

5. Preparation of Sensitizer and Processing Solutions

6. Paper¿Its Properties and Choice

7. Negatives

8. Making the Print

9. Archival Processing, Presentation, and Documentation

10. Looking and Seeing

PART 2

11. Contemporary Practices

Appendix I Troubleshooting

Appendix II Workflow Summaries

Appendix III Glossary

Appendix IV Equipment, Materials and Resources

Appendix V Bibliography and References

Index

About the Authors

Pradip Malde graduated from the Glasgow School of Art (MA, 1980). He is a professor of Art at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, teaching photography and documentary studies. A Scottish Arts Council Bursary recipient (1990) and a Guggenheim Fellow (2018), he has worked extensively within small rural communities using photography as a citizen-based development tool. His works are held in numerous public collections, including the Scottish National Galleries, Princeton University Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Dr. Mike Ware graduated in chemistry at the University of Oxford (1962). He is an Honorary Fellow in Chemistry, University of Manchester, UK, and a recipient of the Hood Medal of the Royal Photographic Society. His research on improving historic photographic processes have had a profound impact on creative and historical aspects of photography, and are described in 70 publications. He has consulted for national museums and galleries, exhibited his personal photographic work and conducted workshops worldwide. In 2016, he was awarded the Special Recognition of the American Institute for Conservation.