Black and White Photography
by
Paul Roark
Welcome to My Home Page
Viviers, France v. Los Angeles
For information on Gallery Los Olivos, click here.
Over the years, I have worked in several somewhat distinct media, including, traditional darkroom and silver printing, various internegative processes, and, in recent years, a variety of inkjet media. With the advent of modern inkjet printers and inks, it became clear that the silver print had become an "alternative" medium. The wet process has simply been eclipsed by the best modern digital approaches. One of my efforts has been to push the envelope in B&W inkjet printing, which has taken a back seat to color by the major printer companies. As a former darkroom worker who often mixed his own developers from the raw components (for example, POTA for Tech Pan film), the B&W inkset development work I did came rather naturally. (A brother who was a PhD chemist in the carbon field didn't hurt.)
At www.PaulRoark.com/BW-Info/ I cover or link to numerous current as well as older inksets and workflows that I have used in the past. For a number of years MIS Associates (inksupply.com) sold the older inksets that I developed. When their founder sold the company, it lost interest in B&W inks. I have continued to source the inputs for the former MIS inks through STS Inks in Florida. All of my B&W ink work and mixes are done on an open-source, royalty-free basis. I just make and continue to make what I want and have published my formulas and profiles.
Of particular interest to B&W printers who want the best for the least, the generic dilution base formulas for diluting matte black pigment inks is also linked to this page. These allow creative printers to make their own unique and very cost effective inksets, but for matte papers only.
My primary wide format printer (an Epson 9800) is loaded with a variant of what I call my "Glossy Carbon Variable Tone" inkset. This puts 100% carbon pigments, which are by far the most lightfast, in all but one of the ink positions. In one ink position I have a specially formulated "toner" that is light blue. This gives a print tone range from warm (natural carbon) to neutral, while at the same time keeping the job of making profiles rather simple.
The basic principle for making the most archival B&W prints is simply to keep the carbon content as high as possible for the tone you want, and use the best color (toner) pigments available. This maximizes longevity and virtually emiminates artifacts such as metamerism.
I generally print on Red River UltraPro Satin paper and coat the prints with Premier Art's Print Shield. I mount the prints on acid free foam core or, for very large prints, have a service bureau mount them on a substrate that is appropriate for the size of the print. I currently (2023) use a pressure sensitive adhesive and 25" wide pressure roller to get the best, bubble-free and acid-free display mounts for my 22 by 28 inch prints for wall display.
Digital technology, of course, knocked out film.
Until 2024, I used mostly Lieca M optics on a modified Sony. A 25 mp sensor is enough for the 22 x 28 - 36" wall display prints I generally make, and also enough for the large (about 5 feet wide), multi-frame, stitched panoramas I favor. With inkjet technology, such prints are very viable and not that expensive to make. Mounting the large ones is something I have a photo service bureau do.
With the advent of Topaz's AI Gigapixel, the smaller aps-c frame became a viable alternative. My latest purchase is the aps-c Fuji x100v. I have found that, with AI Gigapixel, the smaller frame works, and the additional depth of field of the 23 mm "normal" ("35 mm" perspecetive for 35mm shooters) lens is a significant benefit.
The bottom line is that a very good 1 lb. camera on the belt can now do gallery-quality, large wall display prints. (And my 25 lb. Rollei SL66 outfit will stay in the display case. Progress!)
In general, B&W prints are available in a number of sizes from 8x10 up to 44" wide (Epson 9800). All are printed with a dedicated B&W, carbon pigment inkset of my own design. I do not sell color prints.
All of my prints are made individually, as needed.
Arches prints - "Carbon on Cotton":
I consider my most archival print technology to be 100% carbon pigments on Arches Hot Press (uncoated) watercolor paper. While I like the nature of this medium, I've found the market is simply interested in the image. All of my prints use predominantly carbon pigments that will outlive all of us.
In June 2018 I was featured on the Red River webpage/blog. The article can be see here. (But note that the actual prints are not as dark as they appear on the Red River website.)
From mid-Februry to mid-April 2019 a broad cross-section of my work was featured at the Elverhoj Museum in
Solvang, California. Click
here for a copy of the postcard relating to the exhibit. For a copy of the review of the Elverhoj show by the SB Newspress,
click here.
And there is always an exhibit of my work at Gallery Los Olivos (see above).
Thank you for visiting my humble website.
Paul Roark
Solvang, CA, USA
www.PaulRoark.com
All Photographs -- Copyright 1980-2024 Paul Roark -- All Rights Reserved