Although the birth of digital photography has lessened the frequency and need for enlarger prints from negative, we have found that there is a climbing demand for making digital inkjet negatives made from every possible digital file type - iPhone, Phase One, scan etc.
This service is a multi-step process, where we take your files, apply a black and white conversion, create inverted digital files and create Inkjet digital negatives to size of print needed. Once we have done this, the digital negative is contacted to the silver gelatin paper of your choice to create a print. This embedded printed image then goes through stages of chemistry, washing, and fixing, to render a hybrid, silver gelatin print, rooted in photography's history that will last for years to come.
We are currently using either Ilford warm tone semi matte and Ilford art 300 (highly textured). We do this work on a rotating ganged-up basis.
* for specific papers, or sepia/selenium toning, please contact us via email for a quote. ** see below pricing for digital negatives and file preparation.
Since the digital revolution, few people are printing from negatives. Therefore, when we do print from negatives, we require a minimum print order and/or a day rate plus materials to ensure this 8-step archival printing process is followed, rendering the best possible quality. We still make silver gelatin prints from original negatives using two enlargers - Devere 11x14 and 5x7. Before digital, this was the way to make silver gelatin prints, and we honour that tradition here by continuing to offer this service to our clients. If this historical process interests you, and you have negatives (including glass plates, and/or negatives up to 11x14), please email us for a quote. * for specific papers, or sepia/selenium toning, please contact us via email for a quote. ** see below pricing for digital negatives and file preparation.
Bob signing the Vivian Maier prints
Since 1991 – Bob has been processing and printing for the photographer who prefers, appreciates and collects silver gelatin prints.
Over this 25 year span there has been a digital revolution that has completely changed the way we make images. Film, and consequently silver paper, has taken a back seat to its cousin’s, digital capture and inkjet prints.
Bob has stubbornly kept a very active darkroom going during this whole period. It seemed that all competition either embraced digital and threw out their enlargers, or were too old to continue. Bob uses two enlargers for the bulk of his work. Thanks to a previous employer he has at his disposal an 11" x 14" and a "5x7" Devere enlarger that is a beautiful example of last century’s mechanical design and usage.
Today, collectors still demand and cherish silver prints. These silver gelatin prints for the last 60 years were the go-to product for all photographers and gallery’s world-wide. The advent of inkjet has diminished its presence, but not its collect-ability.
A silver gelatin print exhibits a full range of tones from the deepest black to the brightest of whites, or it can be manipulated to just offer a small range of tones. With toning, different colours can be introduced and in some cases, greater archival stability.
To date Bob has placed silver prints in private and public collections, museums and gallery’s world-wide. Most recently Bob was commissioned by Stephen Bulger Gallery to produce a series of silver prints of Vivian Maier’s work. This was a very important milestone for Bob on a personal level as this type of photo documentary work that includes portraits is close to his heart.
Silver Gelatin Prints From Digital Inkjet or Lambda Silver Gelatin Negatives
Although the birth of digital photography has lessened the frequency and need for enlarger prints from negative, we have found that there is a climbing demand for making digital inkjet negatives made from every possible digital file type - iPhone, Phase One, scan etc.
There is little to no difference in terms of quality outcome for your print whether we generate a digital negative on inkjet transparency film, or a silver gelatin negative made with our lambda. The difference lives in the longevity of life for the negative. Our inkjet digital negatives have a short, job-specific lifespan, but render beautiful prints, where as our Lambda silver gelatin negatives render the same quality print, but have a lifespan that surpasses most of our own. The silver gelatin negative can then be passed down to family members, or become important staples in personal or artist archives, and used over and over again to produce prints down the line.
This negative making service is a multi-step process, where we take your files, apply a black and white conversion, create inverted digital files and create Inkjet digital negatives to size of print needed. Once we have done this, the digital negative is contacted to the silver gelatin paper of your choice to create a print. This embedded printed image then goes through stages of chemistry, washing, and fixing, to render a hybrid, silver gelatin print, rooted in photography's history that will last for years to come.
We are currently using all photographic papers that are available with vendors world-wide. We do this work on a rotating ganged-up basis.
* for specific papers, or sepia/selenium toning, please contact us via email for a quote. ** see below pricing for digital negatives and file preparation.
Lambda Services
Silver Prints from Digital Files
New to our lab is custom-made film for contact process via Silver, Pt. Pd, Gum Bichromate or other processes where a large negative is required.
The film we make is not intended for putting in an enlarger but rather directly on the material being exposed. All film is based on two 16" x 20" films at a time being imaged and processed to facilitate exact custom processing. Or a single sheet 20" x 36" with room to handle film from edges. We use very large mural trays with film developer, stop and fix and follow normal film process procedures by hand. Our film does not go through a roller transport processor. Each package is done separately and we will only process when there is enough film to maximize the volumes of chemistry required to do the job correctly.
The fusion of modern digital technology and true silver gelatin fibre printing involves using a Durst Lambda 76 photographic laser printer. The current paper we are using is Ilford Galerie FB digital, a Baryta/Fibre based silver gelatin paper introduced in 2006.
Lambda Fibre prints bring together the added creative benefits offered by digital manipulation, with the long-established aesthetic and archival properties of true baryta base black and white silver gelatin prints. The fact that silver gives better control of image tone and is predictable, reliable and stable makes it the perfect platform for creative image making.
Durst Lambda is a laser printer company that developed innovative digital replacements for traditional darkroom printing. Rather than using a bulb to expose light on photographic paper, this printer uses three lasers (red, green and blue) to expose light onto rolled photographic paper as it advances though the Lambda inside a large drum. The exposed paper is then tray processed through photographic chemicals using the Ilford archival double fix, hypo clear and final wash sequence.
Black and white images made from silver have been around for over 150 years. The process is perfect for Museums, Archivists, or photographers wishing to take their work to silver gelatin print media or silver enlarged negatives for alternative prints which could include silver, gum, pt pd and many other contact processes.
