{"id":1524,"date":"2014-07-17T00:28:02","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T00:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafal.net\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2014-07-17T00:28:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T00:28:02","slug":"fine-tuning-the-expressive-print-workshop-by-john-sexton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/2014\/07\/fine-tuning-the-expressive-print-workshop-by-john-sexton\/","title":{"rendered":"Fine Tuning the Expressive Print Workshop by John Sexton"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

\"John<\/a>

John Sexton intro\u00adduces advanced neg\u00adat\u00adive alter\u00ada\u00adtion techniques<\/p><\/div>\n

I have already atten\u00added John Sexton\u2019s world-renowned The Expressive Black and White Print Workshop<\/em> in 2011<\/span> (read about it here<\/a>). That single work\u00adshop has changed\u2009\u2014\u2009for bet\u00adter!\u2009\u2014\u2009my pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy more than the thirty years of pri\u00ador exper\u00adi\u00adence put togeth\u00ader. Most of the improve\u00adment took place in the months that fol\u00adlowed that work\u00adshop, as I was chan\u00adging my habits, sim\u00adpli\u00adfy\u00ading the way I print, remov\u00ading unne\u00adces\u00adsary equip\u00adment, and put\u00adting in place a few new tech\u00adniques. Eventually, I felt ready to have my skills re-assessed again, and to take them to the next level. I have signed up for Fine Tuning the Expressive Print Workshop<\/a>,<\/em> which I took in April 2013<\/span>.
\n<\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/a>

Edward Weston used an egg timer, sim\u00adil\u00adar to this one, when printing<\/p><\/div>\n

John Sexton has been teach\u00ading pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy for over 30<\/span> years, and it is clear that he not only knows how to edu\u00adcate, but also how to attend to each of his stu\u00addents needs in a very effect\u00adive way. In a mat\u00adter of five long days, each start\u00ading at 8<\/span>:20<\/span> AM<\/span>, and often end\u00ading close to 10<\/span>:30<\/span> PM<\/span>, every one of the nine attendees, Denise, Gail, Jackie, Ken, Mike, Rex, Stephanie, Steve, and I, have received so much in terms of per\u00adson\u00adal pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00adic edu\u00adca\u00adtion that it almost felt like attend\u00ading intense one-on-one train\u00adings with two<\/em> instruct\u00adors at the same time. Two, because John was being assisted by his wife, Anne Larsen,<\/em> a per\u00adfec\u00adtion\u00adist in fin\u00adish and print present\u00ada\u00adtion, and accom\u00adplished pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00ader<\/a> whose work oozes sub\u00adtlety, peace, and del\u00adic\u00adate human warmth.<\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/a>

These shelves used to hold Edward Weston\u2019s mas\u00adter\u00adpieces\u2009\u2014\u2009see the let\u00adter coding!<\/p><\/div>\n

The work\u00adshop opens with a review of prints made by each of the attendees from one of John\u2019s neg\u00adat\u00adives. Those prints are eval\u00adu\u00adated anonym\u00adously, and a couple of addi\u00adtion\u00adal ones, from pri\u00ador work\u00adshops, are thrown into the set to add spice to this exer\u00adcise. It was won\u00adder\u00adful to see how dif\u00adfer\u00adent the inter\u00adpret\u00ada\u00adtions were, but it was also inter\u00adest\u00ading to see how every\u00adone has chosen a sim\u00adil\u00adar, con\u00adsist\u00adent set of struc\u00adtures to breathe life into the ori\u00adgin\u00adal, rather flat and, in my opin\u00adion, some\u00adwhat dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to print neg\u00adat\u00adive. As you need to have atten\u00added his pri\u00ador work\u00adshop before sign\u00ading up for Fine Tuning,<\/em> this felt a bit like an exam. When John poin\u00adted to, and gently sug\u00adges\u00adted, that one of the prints expressed a more suc\u00adcess\u00adful inter\u00adpret\u00ada\u00adtion, before ask\u00ading whose it was, I was on top of the world! It was my work, and I have had the immense pleas\u00adure of admit\u00adting to being its author in front of the oth\u00ader stu\u00addents, whose work was clearly excellent.<\/p>\n

\"Rafal's<\/a>

Rafal\u2019s port\u00adfo\u00adlio review<\/p><\/div>\n

The cent\u00adral piece of the work\u00adshop is a detailed port\u00adfo\u00adlio review. John and Anne pore over each of our own ten prints. It takes well over an hour to dis\u00adcuss each attendee, and the entire group par\u00adti\u00adcip\u00adates\u2009\u2014\u2009two port\u00adfo\u00adli\u00ados per day, or so. The feed\u00adback you get, not just from the teach\u00aders, but also from oth\u00ader, advanced print\u00aders, is very use\u00adful. I made plenty of notes, and I am still incor\u00adpor\u00adat\u00ading the advice. For example, I have recently installed a rail for view\u00ading fin\u00adished prints, tem\u00adpor\u00adar\u00adily corner-moun\u00adted, and illu\u00admin\u00adated with adjustable spots, to have a bet\u00adter abil\u00adity to judge how my prints could be seen in dif\u00adfer\u00adent envir\u00adon\u00adments. I am try\u00ading to open up those dark\u00ader middle values\u2026erhm, I think<\/em> I like dark\u00ader middle val\u00adues! I now also look at my prints at odd angles. I inspect them in strong point-light to check for sur\u00adface issues. I flip them in a smooth\u00ader way when pro\u00adcessing in trays. I use a good few new print\u00ading tech\u00adniques to deal with inev\u00adit\u00adable issues.<\/p>\n

\"Preparing<\/a>

Preparing a mask for flashing<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Anne<\/a>

Anne Larsen cuts a masked flash\u00ading mask<\/p><\/div>\n

Indeed, I have learned many new tech\u00adniques, some are incred\u00adible and rather impossible to learn without hav\u00ading someone show them to you. One of those is Masked Flashing,<\/em> which John has developed over the years of his exper\u00adi\u00adence. One of the most dif\u00adfi\u00adcult image adjust\u00adments is the dark\u00aden\u00ading of small, light, and usu\u00adally very dis\u00adtract\u00ading spots or objects, such as, for instance, an unwanted spec\u00adu\u00adlar reflec\u00adtion, or per\u00adhaps an area that seems a bit out of bal\u00adance. The main\u00adstay of tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal print\u00ading, burn\u00ading<\/em>\u2014the oppos\u00adite of dodging<\/em>\u2014does not cope well with small detail, espe\u00adcially when sur\u00adroun\u00added by middle or high\u00ader val\u00adues. It is of almost no use when try\u00ading to darken a very over\u00adex\u00adposed spot, due to extens\u00adive addi\u00adtion\u00adal enlar\u00adger expos\u00adure needed. John\u2019s masked flash\u00ading is an ingeni\u00adous com\u00adbin\u00ada\u00adtion of a mask, cut from orange vinyl sheets<\/em> (John makes a help\u00adful recom\u00admend\u00ada\u00adtion of a very spe\u00adcif\u00adic one), and a simple dif\u00adfus\u00ading con\u00adtrap\u00adtion that sits over the paper on the easel, while clev\u00aderly keep\u00ading it all in register. As usu\u00adal, see\u00ading Anne and John demo it made it make sense\u2009\u2014\u2009read\u00ading about it does no justice. Together with John\u2019s oth\u00ader tech\u00adniques, and with Alan Ross\u2019s Selective Masking<\/a>,<\/em> those are now an essen\u00adtial part of my toolkit which I use sur\u00adpris\u00adingly often.<\/p>\n

\"Kim<\/a>

Kim Weston shows Edward Weston\u2019s mount\u00ading press<\/p><\/div>\n

If I were to describe every oth\u00ader advanced tech\u00adnique John showed us, like using dies for neg\u00adat\u00adive manip\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, or the more old-fash\u00adioned and involved\u2009\u2014\u2009even if he makes it look easy\u2014unsharp mask\u00ading,<\/em> I\u2019d have to copy-and-paste the entire handout he gave us! Needless to say, every\u00adone seemed to focus on some tech\u00adnique which was of more interest to them, mir\u00adror\u00ading our needs at the time and our per\u00adson\u00adal experiences.<\/p>\n

Outside the long hours spent at the Sextons\u2019 envi\u00adably amaz\u00ading stu\u00addio, we also went to pho\u00adto\u00adgraph, and to be guided about it, at Point Lobos<\/a>,<\/em> the mecca of west coast pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00aders. Later that day, we were treated to a vis\u00adit to Wildcat Hill<\/em><\/a>, home to the Weston clan, where Kim and Gina Weston live. Kim, a respec\u00adted pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00ader<\/a> him\u00adself, showed us his thought\u00adful obser\u00adva\u00adtions on human fig\u00adure, but he also spent time let\u00adting us see the entire Weston fam\u00adily treas\u00adure trove of extraordin\u00adary pho\u00adto\u00adgraphy, which has greatly influ\u00adenced our medi\u00adum and art. I have always had a soft spot for Kim\u2019s uncle, Brett Weston\u2019s cre\u00adativ\u00adity, espe\u00adcially his abstracts<\/a>, and I could not believe my luck when I was giv\u00aden one of his fam\u00adous neg\u00adat\u00adives to hold and to ponder.<\/p>\n

\"Star<\/a>

Star-struck Rafal hold\u00ading Brett Weston\u2019s negative<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are a tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal pho\u00adto\u00adgraph\u00ader, by which I mean one who exposes neg\u00adat\u00adives, you may know what I mean when I say that my entire mind and body felt a pro\u00adfound yet humble con\u00adnec\u00adtion to those great ones who came before us, when I held that neg\u00adat\u00adive in my hands\u2026 The exper\u00adi\u00adence was even more hum\u00adbling when we had a chance to see Edward Weston\u2019s tiny dark\u00adroom, simple, almost ascet\u00adic, where a little sand-filled egg-timer func\u00adtioned as one of the most com\u00adplex pieces of equip\u00adment\u2009\u2014\u2009he exposed his prints by simply pulling a cord on a light\u00adbulb sus\u00adpen\u00added over the table\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Lunch<\/a>

Group lunch at the Running Iron<\/p><\/div>\n

If you are look\u00ading for an immense boost to your craft, and you are ded\u00adic\u00adated to tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal sil\u00adver-gelat\u00adin print\u00ading, this work\u00adshop is a must, take it while we are lucky that it is being offered (see the sched\u00adule)<\/a>. I am already think\u00ading of attend\u00ading it once again. It is priceless.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zaawansowane warsztaty Johna Sextona ucz\u0105 tech\u00adnik kt\u00f3rych si\u0119 nie zna\u00adjdzie w \u017cad\u00adnej ksi\u0105\u017cce\u2009\u2014\u2009je trzeba pozn\u00ada\u0107 bez\u00adpo\u015bred\u00adnio od mistrza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[52,55,53],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafal.net\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}