Arrived in Xi"an

Settling in at the Bodi School. It's lovely and quiet here.

Silk Route Blog -- More than Palladium Prints

For clarity's sake, I thought it would be best to have a separate Blog for the Xi'an and Silk Route portions of my trip to China this Fall. So I've created the Distant Past: Silk Route Blog for postings, photos, maps, Google kmz files and more. I'll be posting mostly color pictures, not just the ones that might be candidates for Palladium printing. In addition, I'll be posting videos, audio notes, GPS tracks and other travel-related information and interpretations on the new Blog. I would invite those who have followed this Blog, especially the "official" followers, to follow the Silk Route Blog as well. The first postings are of Silk Route maps and other materials that set out the scope of my destinations in western China. Later postings will show new possibilities about how the Blog might be used. Some of these are CPU-intensive, but are all worth at least a glance. I'll be posting in embedded windows not only photos but video and GPS routes as well. This is important because one can use many interactive features of applications like Google Earth and Everytrail, but all within the Blog itself!

Back to China; the Kind of Blog Postings to Come

I'll be bringing my Nikon D80 this time to Western China, including some of the sites along Marco Polo's route into China, such as Dunhuang, Urumqi, Turpan (the old Turfan) and Kashgar (though not in that order for either Marco or me). I'll be looking to make palladium prints from these exotic subjects, but I thought it would still be within the spirit of this blog to feature some of the soon-to-be palladium prints in color. This is especially appropriate, I think, because I am also planning a companion color publication to the Sense of the Distant Past Blurb book which is referenced earlier in this blog, though considerably longer. I'll also be attempting to post from China, the account of which should be interesting in its own right.

Blog Archive -- This Blog in a PDF package

Some have asked whether there could be a compact, easy-to-read, easy-to-print "package" of this Blog. In fact, there are several programs (Blog2Book/Sharebooks) which do this. You can find this blog (minus this posting) here.

(If you actually download the full PDF rather than "view" it, the Table of Contents entries actually link to later pages in the "book." And you can print it easily as with any other PDF file.

July 10th - New Second Saturday

The show opened the previous Second Saturday. It is now down, but 4 excellent pieces are now in the bookstore, including the "Camels" Quadtych. All of the other unsold prints are also available through the Bookstore. Just check the Catalog/Pricelist. A copy of the Sense of the Distant Past Blurb catalog is also available at the Bookstore at $45.

The Show Comes Down July 3rd BUT....

....it will still be possible to purchase a print from the SCA Bookstore after that date. (And you can do so for as little as $75.) Here is how you do it:

• Find the print that you want either from the Featured Prints or on the list here. (Some may already have been sold.) Make a note of ID # number.
• Then contact the bookstore at 909-865-0252 and let Kate or Cheryl know the specifics.
• They will take it from there and you will can pick up your print at the Bookstore or make arrangements (extra) to have your print shipped to you.

But there is still time to see these palladium prints before they come down. The Gallery hours are 1-4 this coming Friday and Saturday.

Featured Print #11: 4 16x20's in 32 x 40" Frame

When I got my equipment for palladium printing, I was thinking of the 16 x20" format. My medium-format printer (17" wide) could print that size negative for contact printing. My UV light source (and old NuArc plate-burner) could provide light on a tray a little larger than that. But the temptation to print larger images is inescapable. My solution is to create a "quad" image by dividing the original image into 4 sections. This is easy to do in Photoshop, if one starts with a clear image. The challenge is in making sure that the tonal range of the four separately developed positive images is the same. This is possible to do if the chemistry is under control and the step-wedge calibration is good. I'm pleased with with these aspects of this large print.

ID #36 32" x 40" $750 Pricelist