I’ve participated in the postcard exchange on Photrio recently, and I thought I might share some of the cards I’ve sent out. The month prior to the exchange, we spent a few days on Sicily, so I decided to use some frames from that trip for the cards.
I sent out fifteen cards and distributed six different images across those. Just now as I scanned the prints, I realized that I no longer have copies of all six cards I sent out. Recently when I visited our local FUJIFILM plant, I brought some cards along and I guess I gave away the last remaining copies of two of those images. Ah well. They’re probably in a desk drawer in an office now.
A few notes about the (remaining…) images. They were all shot in late May, and they are typical (for me) holiday snapshots of things that caught my eye. If I were to say something lofty about them, I’d refer to Stieglitz’s and White’s concept of ‘equivalence’. But I really don’t think anything lofty can be said about these images. I just perceived, framed, exposed. And finally selected, printed, and shared. I made these images because I derived pleasure from doing so. There’s not much more to it.
Technically, these were all shot with a Canon 30v, which is a camera I really enjoy for its light weight, ease of use and (so far) dependability. Optics were either a 35/2.0IS or a 100/2.0. Film used was Kodak Vision3 250D, developed in home-made ECN2 developer, and further processed in FUJIFILM C41 bleach and fixer. And yes, these were from the rolls that were plagued with many issues due to my own foolishness. Not all frames were lost!
Prints were made on FUJIFILM Crystal Archive Supreme glossy paper using my DIY LED light source and processed in Fuji Hunt MP90 RA4 developer and Fuji Hunt bleach-fix, using an old and modified Durst RCP20 processor. Print size of the postcards was slightly less than A5 (< 21.0 x 14.8 cm); image size ca. 17.0 x 11.4cm.
I’ve attempted to scan these as ‘true to life’ as I could – but it’s always an approximation at best. The color balance is pretty close on my monitor to the real thing. I used my Epson 4990 for which I constructed an ICC profile using an IT8 target from Wolfgang Faust. After scanning and converting into sRGB color space, I made very minor adjustments to color balance and contrast to match the prints as they look in daylight to me. The impression of contrast is different, and this is mostly due to the inherent differences of a monitor vs. a print. The digital images are a little harsher, contrastier and heavier than the actual prints. It is what it is. What you see here, is fairly close to the real thing.
That’s it, for now. I’m now working on some prints for an alt. process print exchange. Great fun, but I should really kick into gear on that, as I’ve been moving far too slowly!
I like the second photo! The last one…a little punch in contrast and saturation, for me, wil be good too.
Thank you, Arturo! In fact for the last one, I prefer how it looks in real life, which actually is a bit more muted (less saturated and contrasty) than this digital rendition. But I can really see how you’d prefer the exact opposite – that would work, too!