Real world life of FB prints

[Louis Nargi]

BTW: What paper did Ansel print on?

Over the years Adems used the papers that were avalable to him at that time, some are still avalable,Ilford,Oriental. He liked Oriental Seagull a lot. The Kodak papers he used were Kodabromide, Azo, and proably many more.He use the papers everbody was using at that time nothing different.

[Deckled Edge]

Over the years Adems used the papers that were avalable to him at that time, some are still avalable,Ilford,Oriental. He liked Oriental Seagull a lot. The Kodak papers he used were Kodabromide, Azo, and proably many more.He use the papers everbody was using at that time nothing different.

Remember that Oriental has been sold twice since Ansel's time, and the Seagull name went with it. Today's Oriental Seagull is nothing like what he printed on. InThe Print and The Making of 40 Photographs he frequently refers to the various papers he has used, most of which are long gone. In fact, I doubt if any of the papers available to Ansel are available today as he knew them. "New and Improved!"=cheaper to manufacture.

[Maine-iac]

In fact, I doubt if any of the papers available to Ansel are available today as he knew them. "New and Improved!"=cheaper to manufacture.

This is half of the truth; the other half is that some (though by no means, all) of the newer papers are as good or better than the older ones, even if they are cheaper to manufacture. I'd stack up Agfa's MCC 111 or Ilford's Multigrade Warmtone FB against most any of the older papers I've known or seen. There have been significant improvements in coatings, brighteners, etc., even while there has also been cheapening of silver content in some cases.

Bergger is aother new paper that incorporates many of the best features of old papers (high silver content) and includes many features of the best new papers.

Larry

[pgomena]

I work digitizing historic images for a research library, and in the past 14 months I've seen images running the gamut from wonderfully intact to horribly degraded. The worst of these are newspaper photographs from the 1970s-80s produced with the (un) stabilization process. They degrade in every storage situation and probably will be useless in another decade or so.

Storage conditions make a huge difference depending upon the original and its immediate environment. It doesn't matter if an image is fixed, toned and washed well if it's stored in, for example, a cheap, acidic album that will eventually discolor the prints.

I've seen well-processed commercial images from the 1930s that look almost as good as the day they were made, and I've seen images from the 1960s that are discolored due to poor processing. We have original Carleton Watkins albumin prints that were gold-toned and show signs of atmospheric contaminant damage. Some of his images are in remarkably good condition for being 140+ years old, others, stored in different conditions over time, maybe not processed as consistenty, are fading. (But that's albumin paper, not gelatin-silver, and the original mount boards probably are not archival.)

In short, yes, archival methods will ensure a gelatin-silver print will last for decades or generations, especially if stored in a dry, acid-free environment.

Pete Gomena
Portland, Oregon USA

[dancqu]

Over the years Adems used the
papers that were avalable to him at that time ...

Over the years; what? about 50 to 60? He may have played
with VC. I've doubt he ever took it seriously. I did read
though that current runs of his negatives are being
done on Ilford Multigrade. Dan

[dancqu]

Stabilization process: I think that goes with developer
incorrporated which, IIRC, I've mentioned this thread. Dan

[Flotsam]

Stabilization? C'mon, those things start to fade by the time you get to the darkroom door.