[Leica] Eugene Smith and the darkroom

[s.dimitrov at charter.net (slobodan Dimitrov)]

Thank you for bringing that up. My favorite surface used to be Agfa 119. 
When I came back to the States, it wasn't imported. Damn, that was a let 
down. Paper had changed, and it changed repeatedly. 
The late 70's was when papers really changed for the very worst.  Things 
were so bad that even discontinued Dupont Varigam began to look good next to 
the reformulations by Kodak, Agfa, and Ilford. 
One disaster in particular was Kodak's Elite, with its thicker paper. What 
wasn't anticipated was the issue of the shrinkage differential between the 
emulsion coat and the fiber base. It made the prints prone to cracking, even 
after a long soak in print flattener prior to drying. I even dried them face 
down, with a tray of water underneath the racks, with little success on 
making the prints supple and free from curling.
The latter prints done from Smith's negs don't have his deft touch with 
ferricyanide. They look brittle, and face it, uninspired.
S.d.


On Feb 22, 2010, at 3:58 AM, Tarek Charara wrote:

> Whether the paper has changed or I cant print as well, I don't know, but 
> there was an openness I just can't get with the present papers. I'm not 
> happy with any that I'm printing on. I have to work harder to get the 
> openness I want, or I should say I have to work harder with ferricyanide. 
> [...]"