Platinum Printing.
An inspirational printing course run by David Chow has opened my eyes to the beauty of Platinum prints and the realisation that this is the printing technique I've been searching for. It's early days on my journey down the road of Platinum Printing and it looks like it's going to be a very long trip indeed. Over the coming months I hope to publish my experiences here, so please stay tuned for further developments
My Two Good Reasons.
First and foremost, I've been consistently disappointed with the results I've achieved using digital printing technologies. Now, I appreciate that there are some people that can produce wonderful prints from a digital printer, be it an inkjet or lightjet, but I've never been able to produce a print that truly meets my expectations.
Perhaps it's a romantic urge to get back to the darkroom, but for me chemical processes seem to introduce a magical element of soul (for want of a better word) into an image. With a multitude of variables, no two chemical prints will be the same.
My second reason is less aesthetic and more practical. Inkjet technology is not yet able to produce prints that are archival for more than 70 years. Ok, ok, I know that inks are getting better all of the time, but the reality is that we haven't got any 70 year old inkjet prints to assess. Platinum printing on the other hand has been tried and tested over many, many years and more than meets the level of permanency that I'm looking to achieve. Some practitioners suggest that a well produced print should last for several hundred years.
Finally, oh, a third reason. There's part of me that relishes the prospect of giving up a little control. I spend a great deal of time digitally capturing and then retouching my images. I pay utmost attention to the smallest of pixel details. The opportunity to cast that obsessive compulsive tendency to the wind in allowing the final printing out process take on a life of its own sounds too good to miss.
