Facing south and driving through a few hours of torrential rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of this Maine Media Workshop class visiting Digital Silver Imaging yesterday. Professor Brenton Hamilton brought this international group of shooters to learn about the process of creating silver gelatin prints from digital files.

Their interests range from street photography to portraiture with the majority deep in exploration and hopeful to find a career path at the end of their intensive study. A few are dedicated to creating silver prints and one is using Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro and happy with the Dfine plug-in that reduces noise from digital files available in the Nik Complete Collection. One teacher and some students are multi-media focused with still imagery just one piece of their portfolio.

Owner Eric Luden gave a brief overview of his vantage point of the digital revolution and it’s impact on classic B&W; output solutions. They received a hands-on demonstration of DSI’s blend of traditional silver gelatin printing practices and new technology solutions.

Students took in our present show by Jonathan Spath.

My friends Gail & George Lucozzi are sponsoring a workshop at their studio in North Billerica, MA.

Details for the lighting workshop:

Sunday April 25th or Monday April 26th
Time: 8:30 on both days

Course Description:

Digital Silver Imaging is pleased to announce the launch of our new Competition Printing services.  We have added this service to meet the growing demand for black & white printing.  I have seen an increase in black & white prints at the regional PPA competitions and noticed that many of the prints are on color papers.  Many photographers had moved away from printing b&w; images due to the color cast they were getting from their professional color labs.

We recently did two true black & white competition prints for Dan Doke at the Professional Photographer’s of Massachusetts convention and this is his response to our printing:

 “Man they look awesome.  I used to be a pretty good black and white printer…Then digital set in 10 or so years ago and I did not touch my darkroom. I got used to the bluish grey color my lab put out.  I sent those same files to my color lab and they said that the contrast was off and would not look good.  So I called you right away and had Digital Silver Imaging do  them.  They look awesome!!  I forgot about the real blacks and mid-tones in a real print. I am blow away.”

Dan earned two blue ribbons, including an 82 & a 90 for his two images.

Digital Silver Imaging’s Competition Printing services are reasonably priced and provide a great solution for your print.  We use true Ilford B&W; silver gelatin papers and chemicals to produce neutral tone, archival prints.  These are mounted to the appropriate board for PPA competition requirements.

 

Anti-busing proponent and City Counselor, Louise Day Hicks, had hosted a group of students in the Chambers for a salute to the flag, served with cookies and milk. Pouring onto the Plaza steps after the reception, this group of demonstrators confronted a second group of students invited to tour the Hall. Tempers flared and some shoving began.

I had a 135mm lens and motor drive on one camera and a 35mm on the other. As the shuffling began I switched my 35 mm lens to a 20 mm. Over my shoulder I saw a Black man (later identified as Ted Landsmark) approach the Plaza from Washington and State and immediately thought he would be a target.

I felt like I was watching a Clint Eastwood movie, witnessing the slow-motion moment when the gauntlet is tossed before igniting the outbreak of violence. I started taking photos with the 20 mm lens. Detecting a sound I realized the motor wasn’t transporting  film. I stopped shooting continuous shots and pressed the button for one frame at a time. 

The victim, Ted Landsmark, was transported to the Mass General Hospital. The crowd worked it’s way to the Federal Court House in Post Office Square. Once there I was told to run my shots into the Herald by reporter, Joe Driscoll. I did not grasp the magnitude of what I captured until later that day.

AP and the Globe had tried to cover it from a bad angle and before the real action began. I had the best shots. The demonstration had come to me. I took my chances and developed my film in the unreliable Kodak Versamat at the office, known to shred film like a pasta-maker. It developed just the way it should have. 

The editors were very frightened by the series of images captured on my contact sheet. It was a volatile situation, it was busing, and this was Boston.  As fate would have it, Howard Hughes had died that day. Appeased by sharing front-page space with other big news, they no longer feared showing the racism that rang out that day on the top of page one.  

We were the first paper in Boston to get motor drives and the whole staff got one Nikon F with a motor drive and 4 lenses: 20, 35, 135 and 200.  We had community lens in the locker for longer telephotos.  I bought my own second Nikon F camera. I was always prepared and I got my shot.

Working with Digital Silver Imaging I have reprinted the original contact sheet. It allows me to show the full impact of the photo series. The full story did not run then but can be viewed in new light today. For prints contact www.digitalsilverimaging.com.

Gallery Talk

From The Wall Street Journal.
by William Meyers
January 16th, 2010

My older brother, Leonard, idolized Ted Williams. Growing up in Providence, R.I., in the 1940s, and a good schoolboy baseball player himself, Leonard regarded Williams with something like awe. He wasn’t the only one. Arthur Griffin, a longtime sports photographer for the Boston Globe, was asked by Kodak in 1939 to try its newly developed color film; he used that 4-by-5-inch film to shoot pictures of Williams. In 1939 Williams was Rookie of the Year—young, personable and eager to oblige the press. (Later his relations with the press and his fans would sour.) The color pictures Griffin took show the Splendid Splinter in various stages of his incredibly accurate swing.
Griffin also took black-and-white pictures with his 35mm camera of Williams in the outfield leaping for a ball—his feet high off the ground, his body twisted but relaxed, and a great smile on his face. There is a picture of the Fenway crowd, all the men wearing Panama hats or straw boaters; the women, too, wearing hats. A large-format color picture of Williams at rest is a quintessential portrait of a young man for whom things are going well. In 2002, when Williams died, Sports Illustrated used one of Griffin’s 1939 color photos for its cover.

Arthur Griffin: Ted Williams, The Splendid Splinter
The Cambridge Homes
360 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA
Through February 7th.