The Second Ctein Dye Transfer Print Offer

Sealing Wax Palm, Hawaii, 2002

Fresh Pahoehoe, Mothers Day Flow, Hawaii, 2002 [SOLD OUT]

Tortoise Shell Pahoehoe and Ferns, Hawaii, 2002

This is it! Without further ado, I refer you to....

The Order Page

If you'd like to see larger JPEGs of the images, click on the images above or click here.

By the way, "Pahoehoe" (according to the USGS) "is a Hawaiian term for basaltic lava that has a smooth, hummocky, or ropy surface."

To recap,  the prints are all about 10" wide in the horizontal dimension, with a generous border. The price for one print is $150, the price for a second print is $130, and if you buy all three the price for the third print is $110.

And now, backtracking a bit, a few more details of the sale I didn't cover last week:

• You can pay either by PayPal or by personal check this time. Ctein actually slightly prefers the latter, because then he doesn't have to pay PayPal's fees. But be sure to read and follow the instructions on the order page if you want to pay by check.

• Shipping costs to the U.S. are included. To Canada, it's an additional $10, and to the rest of the world, it's $30. Those costs are per order, not per print.

Sorry the international shipping is so high, but Ctein has to fill out elaborate Customs forms and stand in line at the Post Office for each order; the time and the cost aren't inconsequential.

As I mentioned earlier, only 125 prints of each picture are available. The sale will last until 8 a.m. Central U.S. Time Thursday, February 4th, or until the prints sell out, whichever comes first. Note that these are not editions, and the prints are not limited edition prints; it's just the number of prints available in this sale for this price. (Ctein's regular price for prints of this size is $400). When a print sells out, the PayPal order buttons will disappear from the Order Page, and I'll try to announce it here in as timely a fashion as I can.

About that word "only": 375 prints is a lot of prints, but it's less than half the number that were sold last go-round, and, back then, both Ctein and I received many late requests from people who missed the deadline and still wanted to purchase prints. Last time, one of the two photographs sold more than 100 prints in the first 24 hours. The price this time is higher, so these may take longer to sell out, but please bear in mind that we don't know how long the supply will last. When one photograph sells out, you won't be able to get that third-print price; when two sell out, you won't be able to get the second-print price. We can't guarantee that any particular picture will be available for the whole two-week duration of the sale.

Please do not e-mail Ctein with questions or requests for details or questions until you've read all the information we've posted. He's going to be very busy for the next month, and it would be a kindness to contact him only if necessary. Please read over the order page, this page, and the pre-announcement to see if your question hasn't already been answered.

Originals at your leisure
As in 2008, I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to Ctein for doing this. Obviously, the best way to familiarize oneself with excellent prints in various photographic media is to look at originals. Lots of us see prints in museums, and that's great; but it's even better to own one for yourself, so you can hold it in your hands, view it at your leisure in different kinds of light, see it without a pane of glass in between it and you, or hang it on your wall and live with it if you want to.

Ctein will make a decent amount of money on this sale (and TOP gets a cut too), and that's a good enough reason to do it. But, as any of you who watched the L-L video know, it's still a tremendous commitment and an awful lot of work for him—and, I think, a generous gesture for him to make. He could just as easily sit on his remaining supplies for his big-time clients. These days, there just aren't very many photographers who have even seen a dye transfer print. That situation will only get worse in time, as the remaining printers stop printing and the remaining supplies of materials dry up. So I'm pleased to be able to facilitate this offer to you—'tis a fine thing in my opinion. So, my thanks to Ctein, and thanks also to those of you who bought prints in 2008 and those who will participate this time. I hope you like your print.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Richard Borst: "There is certainly nothing like a Dye Transfer print for superb tones and color and light fastness. In the early 1950s I worked with the process at Kodak's Research Lab for the two men who developed it. Prints I made then still don't show a bit of age."

Comments

[Thingo]

I just can't wait!
I'm so looking forward to receiving the print I've ordered.

Many thanks to Ctein and Mike for organising this sale of prints.

[Ken Tanaka]

Hey, I just learned Ctein's first name when I placed an order through PayPal. It's "none". (He should have chosen the last name of "Better".)

[B.J.Scharp]

Tough choice. The image I like best is maybe not the best to see what dye-transfer is all about (only 2 main colours).

Still chose it though. :-)

[Chris Sheppard]

OK, I kicked myself for not taking advantage of the first dye transfer offer. Not this time; order placed.

[Carl Blesch]

I've been admiring the "Fresh Pahoehoe" image ever since I first saw it on Ctein's web site years ago, but haven't felt like parting with $1K for the full-sized print. I was thrilled when I saw this was one of the image choices in the current offer. But now I know what will happen. I'll get the 8x10 image and will want the full-sized one even more ...

[Mike Johnston]

Carl,
I definitely know what you mean. I've been coveting the full-sized version of "Moon, Mars, and Circumlunar Arcs" ever since I first saw it in about '97.

Mike

[Dave Reichert]

They're beautiful, Ctein.

[David Bostedo]

I have a feeling that when I receive my print from this sale, I'm going to kick myself even harder for skipping the first one. Thanks for the second chance.

[ctein]

Dear Ken,

Thanks for giving me my morning chuckle!

Dealing with computer systems that require a first and last name is an ongoing issue in my life, big surprise. I had signed up with PayPal before I figured out the convention that works for 99% of the registration sites out there: "Mr Ctein" . Notice the lack of a period on the Mr. Most computer software doesn't pick up on it as an honorific without the period, but human beings read it as "Mister Ctein." I even have credit cards that say "Mr Ctein" for those very few services, like Western Union, that demand a perfect match between your credit card identification and your billing/purchase information.

Occasionally amusement ensues. Untied Airlines insists upon attaching an honorific to the passenger's name, so my tickets read "MrMr Ctein". Perhaps I should start releasing hit singles.

Two interesting exceptions: to the US Treasury, I am "unknown Ctein"! Shades of the Mike Johnston quote at the bottom of my website homepage! The reason for this is that their computer software is set up to treat the word "unknown" as a flag that says "ignore this field." Hence, any government ID, tax forms, etc. just have "Ctein" on them. When I had my Social Security information updated to the singular name, the clerk told me that they called this the "Madonna" situation in her training classes. And we're back to pop music again.

(I have no idea how Social Security would deal with it if someone's first name really were "Unknown")

The other exception is FaceBook. Their software is smart enough to catch most of the usual tricks for avoiding a first name field entry, because they are very insistent upon having complete names. So I e-mailed tech support and explained my situation and asked if they had a flag they could set in the first name field that would work like "unknown" works for the government. They said, "Sure, no problem!" So, on FaceBook, I also only have one name.

~ pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
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-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com 
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com 
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[ctein]

Dear BJ,

I'm glad you picked the one you like, because I think you will also be happy to know that it is a pretty good example of what dye transfer is all about. The greens and yellows in that photograph are outside the gamut of any conventional darkroom process. They simply can't be reproduced with that purity or fidelity. The intense blue green shadows are both more saturated and denser than anything that can be achieved in inkjet print. So a prime hallmark of dye transfer, the ability to reproduce densities and colors beyond what other print processes can, is conveyed in the photograph you chose.

That doesn't mean I couldn't produce an entirely acceptable (meant in the artistic sense) interpretation of that photograph for other media, but I would have to interpret it very differently.

~ pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
======================================
-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com 
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com 
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[William Rea]

I ordered mine this morning. I missed out on that years offer, I wasn't going to let that happen again!

Thanks Ctein

[Christopher Lane]

Hi [N]C and MJ,

As one who got in on the first dye transfer print offer and actually owns one of these, I cannot say enough about these prints. Forget that new [fill in blank], just go for it. You won't regret it. Thanks for the second go-around.

Chris

[bobdales]

I'm very happy to have participated in round 1 and now in round 2. The prints are exquisite and in my opinion a bargain without compare.
I'm proud to be Ctein Collector! I have no more wall space but can't help myself.

TOPPERS if you can, get at least one of these.

bd

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Kinda makes me think of Little Bobby Tables.

[Tom]

I have the previous two prints. If I had the cash I'd buy all three of these. Lovely images. Lovely prints.