I’ve participated in the postcard exchange on Photrio a couple of times now. Great fun; you get to receive prints from people across the globe, and it’s a good stimulus to focus on some printing yourself, too. Here are the cards I sent round this time.
The concept of the postcard exchange is simple: you indicate the maximum number of cards you want to send, and the organizer provides you with a list of addresses to send your cards to. The other participants receive a similar list, and the matching is done in such a way that everyone receives the same number of cards that they send out. The exchange has its own forum section where the signup takes place and where people report receiving their cards. It’s a great way to add a real-world, tangible dimension to the virtual world of a forum.
Initially, I sent round my ‘cards’ as small prints in envelopes, but this time I wanted to stay true to the postcard as we all know it – a semi-rigid, small print without an envelope. I generally enjoy printing color, so that’s what I did for the exchange, too. Color enlargements also lend themselves well to this kind of serialized printing.
I prefer to send round recent images, so that’s what I did this time, too. I picked a few frames from a roll of Vision3 250D I shot in October-November. I printed most of the roll and then selected a few frames that appealed to me.
In terms of finishing, I opted to spray-glue the cards onto some rigid matte board and then trim to size. I printed the address and image information on self-adhesive labels and pasted those to the back. This process seems to have worked OK, save for a single image that apparently delaminated while in transit (only the matte board backing arrived, sadly) and one that apparently got mangled a bit in the process. Next time I may go back to simply pasting a label to the back of the print.
All prints were optical enlargements of ECN2-developed Vision3 250D, exposed at E.I.250, development time 4m00s (to get the required gamma for optical printing), on glossy Fuji DPII paper. Photos were made with a Canon EOS30v. The images below are scans from the actual prints.
This conk grows in a cracked and fallen down pine log. It has managed to grow itself stuck in there. I’ve photographed it a couple of times, also on 4×5″, and in this color version, it appeals to me because of the subtle hues of the fungus and the texture of the surrounding pine. 35mm f/2 IS probably at f/4 or a little less, hand-held.
This monstera deliciosa grows in our living room, where it’s been ambitiously expanding across the wall. I quite like the ton-sur-ton greens in this nearly monochromatic image and the leathery texture of the leaves. 100 f/2 at f/22 or thereabouts, on a tripod.
We were on our way to my parents as a storm cleared and the sky started to make some interesting patterns, with several layers of clouds overlaying each other, each lit in different ways by the sun that started to break through. I parked the car by the roadside and snapped a few shots of the sky, in different compositions. I ended up selecting this one, as I think its simplicity fits the small size of a postcard, and I liked the horizontal layering of the image. 100mm f/2, probably at f/11.
A decorative squash that’s sitting on our dining table. The late autumn afternoon sunlight was exceptionally warm, emphasizing the warm hues of the squash and the table. Again, a simple composition that I feel works well on a small format. 100mm f/2 at about f/5.6 to obtain the desired depth of field, on a tripod.
I like the green plant photo as well. That Canon 100mm f/2 lens is perhaps my favorite lens in EF mount, and it doesn’t get nearly as much love as it should. Just a phenomenal piece of glass.
Andrew, great to hear from you! Yes, the 100/2 is a really nice lens. I think it’s surpassed in popularity by its near-twin, the 85/1.8. As I understand, it’s nearly the same lens, and for me, the difference in focal length is virtually irrelevant. I’m not sure why the 85 gets all the love and the 100 gets almost no mention!
Beautiful website BTW, congrats!