John
Richardson was in Barga during the summer of 2001 with his huge11
x 14 inch camera photographing some of the narrow streets of
Barga Vecchia. These images and others will be put on line once
he finishes his European tour and returns to his studio in the
States.
The turn of the century saw platinum printing at its height
of popularity.
P.H. Emerson, who worked exclusively in platinum and gravure,
had begun the battle for photography as an art form at the end
of the 19th century. Those who were to follow at the beginning
of the new century, in particular the members of the Photo Secession,
would win that battle. Photographers such as Steighlitz, Steichen,
Stand, Alvin Langdon Coburn and Annie Brigman were at the forefront.
At this time Pasadena photographer Adam Clark Vroman was making
his mark with platinum photographs of the American Southwest.
The early work of Edward Weston (then living in Tropico, now
Glendale) was also done in platinum.
World War I brought a decline in platinum printing because
the metal was needed for the war effort. Kodak halted manufacture
of the paper in 1916. By 1941 there were no papers being manufactured
at all. Photographers had to coat their own. The process virtually
disappeared.
Today platinum printing is enjoying a revival. Its superior
permanence, long tonal scale, approachability, and the fact that
one needs no darkroom to print make it popular. The one drawback
is that it is a contact printing process, meaning that the photographer
must have a negative the size of the final print to be made.
Thus these photographers often use very large cameras.