Multigrade Art 300-Ilford launches new silver-based Fine Art paper

I love reading about developments in our industry, both digital and analog.  I have maintained a good relationship with my former employer, HARMAN technology, which is the parent company of Ilford Photo based in the UK.  I knew they were working on developing a new silver based fine art paper that would have the look and feel of Hahnemuhle fine art inkjet papers, but have a true silver gelatin coating.

I have been speaking with Mike Bain, Rod Parsons and others at HARMAN about the launch of the Multigrade Art 300.  Now that HARMAN has a relationship with Hahnemuhle, this has become a reality.  Initially, this paper will be available as an analog (that's "darkroom" for all you digital newbies!) product.  We will be part of a test phase shortly to evaluate this in rolls for digital exposure in our Durst Theta 51 photographic laser enlarger.

This will initially launch in the UK in early April in sheet sizes from 8x10 up to 20x24.  There is no official launch date for North America, but we're their largest market, so I'm sure we'll see it soon!  I know representatives from HARMAN will be at the SPE (Society for Photographic Education) conference in Atlanta and will have samples on display.

Stay tuned for more details.

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Portfolio Review at SPE Mid Atlantic @ Carnegie Mellon

I was invited to review graduate and under graduate portfolio’s at the Society for Photographic Education Mid Atlantic conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Carnegie Mellon was the host university and Collette Copeland organized an excellent event for the weekend. I was impressed with the speakers and the general support of the photographic community.

The students’ images were strong and they each demonstrated a solid body of work. They all were working on various subjects and themes. One young woman was using photography to explore uncomfortable topics, ranging from teen sexuality and suicide. Her images provided an opportunity to open a dialogue about these issues. Another young woman was using a variety of cameras, from pinhole and Holgas up to 4x5 to explore her environment. A young man named Andrew, recently back from duty in Afghanistan, was producing some beautiful black & white landscape images.

I was very impressed by the work of a young woman, Paulina Waksmundzki, from Penn State University. She has an excellent command of lighting and structure in her images. I encourage you to visit her website at www.pwphotography.moonfruit.com and enjoy her work.

My thanks to Collette Copeland for inviting me to the conference. You can view her work at http://colettecopeland.com/about.htm

- Eric