At 06:38 AM 5/10/2004 -0700, you wrote:
> > I'm wondering if Perfecta will become available in Australia,
>
>Well, the sole supplier here is www.fineartphotosupply.com
>
>I suspect that it's possible they can ship some items down
>under. My only gripe with the Perfecta paper is that the boxes
>it comes in are too small. You can get the paper out, but you
>can't get it back in. I ended up recycling some Ilford paper
>boxes.
I'd have to order a bulk amount to make it worthwhile, shipping costs from
US to Australia are crazy. And considering the weight of paper even then
it'd have to be the last resort!
After Ilford my favourite source of FB paper is Agfa but I'm not up with
the news about Agfa and whether they are going to continue paper production
(and for how long).
My other choice of FB paper is Fotospeed
http://www.fotospeed.com/pages/bwpaperindex.html - they have a nice
selection, not sure who makes it for them but it's quality stuff.
> > Overall I find the shrinking B&W market very depressing. Here
> > I am getting back into photography after a 10 year break and all my
> > favourite products no longer exist.
>
>I would suggest several things to try. Tmax 100 (my preference
>is Tmax developer for it) is really good stuff. <snip>
Yeah, Tmax100 has now become my 'slow' film of choice. Not much
alternative down here really, you guys talk about other brands that we
never see down this way. I used to use Panatomic X then it was
dropped. Then I went to using Agfa 25. Then it was Pan F. I also used
Tech Pan for a while. All now gone... So it looks like I'll be settling
on Tmax100 and Tri-X.
Even then I'm not that confident. I recently was in Melbourne stocking up
on supplies (my two local photo shops in Albury don't carry much b&w film
and no darkroom supplies at all anymore). I was in one of the larger Melb
photo stores and asked the salesman for a bulk tin of Tmax100. He looked
at me blankly for a moment until I pointed to the film sitting on the shelf
behind him, it seemed like he didn't know it was there. As he put it into
a bag he made the comment "there's not many of you guys left anymore". I
wasn't sure whether he was talking about b&w users or bulk film users but
either way it unsettled me.
> > I'm not interested in digital, the magic for me is in
> > creating B&W prints in the darkroom, seeing a print emerge from my printer
> > seems so clinical and sterile in comparison.
>
>Subtle changes on-the-fly. I feel much more like an artist when
>I'm in the darkroom. Digital seems like cheating and I struggle
>to give it it's own merit. There's something else about
>repeatability. It's nearly impossible to create two or more
>identical prints in the darkroom. It's like Waterord Crystal, no
>two goblets are exactly the same. Each is it's own unique work
>of art.
>
>AG
Right on. Pressing keys on my computer does not feel like artistry to
me. But in saying that I'm not trying to denigrate anyone who wants to
make their prints that way, each to his own is what I'm trying to
say. It's just not my style, that's all.
I may be overly pessimistic here, but I feel that the way things are going
my choice of method is being threatened by outside forces. I can feel the
big hand of 'market forces' on my back pushing me into digital. I'm
resisting, but for how long will I have a choice? I can forsee the day in
the future when making a silver print will be considered an 'alternative'
process.
Andrew McPhee
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