The Online Photographer

INFRARED SALE!

Ctein, Twisted Sierra Juniper at Emerald Bay

Like drama? Enjoy vivid clarity and a sensational impression of sharpness? Is plain old black-and-white not otherworldly enough for you—not enough magic? Or do you just want to impress the heck out of your visitors, friends, and family?

Have I got a print for you.

These are stunning digital infrared prints that exemplify the absolute best that this medium can achieve. I chose the pictures—Ctein* has been very prolific in infrared over the past few years—and I took more time doing it than I ever have before, to try to pick the optimum mix of different subjects so there would be something for everyone's taste. [UPDATE: sale has ended.] 

These signed prints are made on an Epson SureColor P800 printer using Ultrachrome HD inks on premium 17x22" Epson Exhibition Fiber with a generous white border. The cost is only $195 per print, with discounts for those who buy more than one, and shipping is FREE no matter where you live (with one exception, see footnote**).

In keeping with our longstanding tradition, the purpose of this sale is to provide outstandingly well-crafted examples of photographic technique at significant discounts. We want more people to collect and enjoy good photography.

The sale starts now and ends on Wednesday at 11 a.m. US Pacific Time. We take orders ONLY within that time! Once the orders are closed, latecomers are out of luck. Pandemic irruptions permitting, all prints will be shipped within 30 days.

Another big reason for our print sales is so you can compare the effects and impression of a real print in contrast to a mere online JPEG—previous collectors of TOP prints can attest to what we mean. But in accordance with that goal, if you're not completely happy with your print after you see it for yourself, simply return it for a full refund. All you'll be out is the return shipping. (Prints damaged or lost in shipment will also be replaced at no cost to you.)

Ctein will write at length about his infrared techniques here on TOP on Monday.

Whether you are a connoisseur of fine photography or longtime practitioner of infrared techniques, or just want to see one great example of what they look like for yourself, this is for you.

Here's the link again, where you can see all five prints. [UPDATE: link removed; sale has ended.] 

Mike
Inset: Ctein, Anthers, Como Park Conservatory

*Pronounced kuh-TINE, rhymes with spine and line and dine, and it's legally his only name.

**Because of COVID restrictions on shipments, we are going to have to pay a whopping $88 to ship a package to Australia. So unfortunately we have to charge an extra $50 for those of you in Oz who order just one print. If you order more than one, we'll cover the shipping cost.

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Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

John Krumm: "Wow, usually I see infrared photos and think, ok, bright leaves, but these look great. I might have to get the tree."

robert e: "Holy smokes! I'm not a fan of IR, but these may change my mind. They are certainly among the finest IR photographs I've ever seen, even through a browser. Congratulations to Ctein, and to any owners of the prints!"

darlene: "I have owned a print of Buddha, Japanese Tea Garden, SF CA for a few years now. It was beautifully framed and resides on a wall in my digitizing work station and library. Absolutely beautiful! Good luck with the sale."

Moose: "I have a Ctein IR print in this size. Stunning print quality. A prized possession."

Jeff1000: "Ctein really does some nice work. Best of luck with the print sale."

Print Sale Starts Later Today

Our print sale of digital infrared black-and-white prints by Ctein starts later today, at 2 p.m. EST. I hope you'll please come back later this afternoon to see the choices.

The sale will last for five days. What we do with our print sales is to take orders for a short, defined amount of time, and then close the ordering window. The photographer then knows how many prints he or she needs to make and can produce them all at once. This means the prints are very reasonably priced, yet the photographers can still make a tidy amount of money.

This differs from the traditional gallery model of print sales. In classic gallery sales, a photographer first has to be accepted for representation. Ironically, these days, galleries often choose people who already have a proven track record for marketability. Then, the represented artist might be given a month-long show every two or three years. The photographer often pays all the costs of print production and presentation for the exhibits, and these days sometimes have to do some of the marketing as well. When a customer buys a print, the gallery passes the order along to the photographer, who makes another print on demand to fulfill the sale and delivers it to the gallery, which delivers it to their customer...very inefficient. A gallery charges much more per print, but also keeps much more of the proceeds—up to 70% these days. It's not unusual for photographers to realize a loss on a gallery show! Their proceeds from sales don't cover the time, effort and expense of mounting the exhibit.

To be blunt, I think our way is better.

Please come back later this afternoon and have a look. I think you will like.

More soon!

Mike

Infrared Print Sale Coming Up

[Comments have been added.]

Infrared, infrared, infrared!

As you know, light is not light. Infrared is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) having a wavelength just greater than that of the red end of the visible light spectrum but less than that of microwaves. And therefore normally invisible to the human eye. Infrared radiation has a wavelength from about 800 nanometers to one millimeter (there is no universally accepted range), and is emitted particularly by heated objects. And by living tissue; green foliage is rich in infrared light. Sunlight is more than half infrared. [UPDATE: A slight correction from MikeR: "Infrared sunlight is highly reflected off of green foliage. This is not the same as emissive infrared, a longer wavelength emitted by heat." Thanks, Mike.]

And as you also know, we can make film and sensors that are sensitive to both the visible spectrum and also to the near end of infrared. In fact, some of them do this naturally and ordinarily have to be filtered to not show infrared.

Infrared EMR was discovered by William Herschel, Court Astronomer to George III, celebrated for his sensational discovery of the planet Uranus. And William was the father of John, the great man-behind-the-scenes in photography's pioneer days who discovered fixer and coined the words "photography" and "snapshot," the latter by analogy to a hunting term for a quick, reactive shot made without taking careful aim.

Quite apart from the scientific definitions and historical background, infrared has aesthetic properties, both in color and in black-and-white. Some people love these properties, and certain artists choose to work in this medium.

And wouldn't you love to have one exceptional example in your print collection box? Well, coming up.

Watch this space.

Mike

Book o' the Week

In Search of Elsewhere: Unseen Images by Steve McCurry. [On Special Limited Time Sale today, $25.60 marked down from $70.] The two Steve McCurry books I own—Looking East and The Unguarded Moment—are oversized (but not too oversized) and have some of the very best color photographic reproduction I've seen. I hope this will be the same, although it has a different publisher. Steve McCurry, although his career is not without blemishes, is a superb and accomplished photographer whose work is a joy to own and revisit. Note that he's a "visual storyteller," not a photojournalist.

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Featured Comments from:

David Elden: "Looking forward to seeing this print offer (I've used the old Kodak HIE film in the past and taught courses on how to use it). As an aside re 'green foliage is rich in infrared light'; it might be more accurate to say (healthy) green foliage reflects (not 'is rich in' as if it emits it) IR. This effect probably arises because the chlorophyll (green pigment in green foliage) does not absorb IR so the IR is reflected by the tiny cavities in the leaf structure (similar to the way styrofoam reflects light)."

William Cook: "Wow! Has your opinion of infrared photography changed? Many years ago you wrote that you weren’t a fan (I think your wording was much stronger if memory serves me but I don’t want to embellish!). The reason I remember is that infrared photography was and is most of what I do and, because I’d always valued your opinion and insight, I was even a bit hurt! That remains to this day the only thing you’ve written that I’ve disagreed with, so you might imagine my surprise at this notice!"

Mike replies: The answer would be complicated. Maybe I'll write about it while the sale is going on, or after it. Sorry to have made you feel hurt all those years ago....

Print Sale Update

I've just received the "Mike's Miniatures" prints from Ctein in California—they're little gems. I will sign all of them and return them to him, and then he will ship them to the buyers. By the way, the paper he's using is awesome (British translation: brilliant)—Epson Exhibition Fiber. Beautiful.

So we don't have an estimate of arrival to you quite yet, but I'll keep you apprised.

—Mike

Book o' the Week
American Geography by Matt Black, a great name for a photographer but a terrible internet name, impossible to search. Stan Banos calls American Geography a "handsome, well thought out and put together book." Matt's work is outstanding.

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Don't Forget!

Don't forget my "Mike's Miniatures" sale is only a three-day sale. It ends tomorrow at 11 a.m. Pacific Time, or 2:00 Eastern Time. [UPDATE: Sale has ended now.]

That's 7:00 p.m. Thursday in London, UK, and 6:00 a.m. Friday in Sydney.

Oed' und leer das Meer

Oed' und leer das Meer (it's a line from "Tristan und Isolde" used by T.S. Eliot in The Waste Land) is my favorite picture I've ever taken with a phone. An iPhone 4s. I had the most wonderful late-life fling a number of years ago which took me from Wisconsin to New York State—I moved here to be near her, which turned out to be a bad idea. The romance was all-in, too intense to last I suppose. It didn't end well, and my year of heartbreak was intense as well—too much so—although I'm over that now. The woman is Sara, who I used to refer to as "S." here on the website. The picture was taken on a remote beach of the Pacific Ocean north of the Marin Headlands near San Francisco. We had gone to California so I could meet her parents, and she showed me around all the places she loved when she was growing up. On that particular day it was cold, even though it was in June, and the clouds were low and dense. The beach was deserted.

Sara just loved lonely places. I remember sitting with her for an hour on a couch on the top floor of the Johnson Art Museum in Ithaca, where we could see for many miles up the magnificent Cayuga Lake, and once she took me to a grotto underneath a monastery where we sat in silence, meditating in the darkness. She had a secluded little hideaway spot in the Frick Gallery on the Upper East Side of New York City where she used to go and sit, and she took me there too.

Of course you know what a motif is. A lone figure looking out to sea is a motif; Google "woman looking out to sea" and hit "Images" and you'll see dozens of examples, or hundreds if you have the patience. Including both photographs and figurative artworks. I'd put my lowly phone snap up against any of them. Maybe that's because it's mine, I don't know. The print is lovely.

The picture to me seems to encapsulate our relationship; it's wild and romantic but somehow lonely too, and she has her back to me, which turns out to have been fitting. And of course you can't see her. She didn't like being seen. She was private, overly so. She didn't like having her picture taken, and I have very few pictures of her despite all the time we spent together. I was happy that whole year. She betrayed me badly in the end, but I'm over my anger now. I knew her for 22 years, more or less, although our romance lasted only a year. All too literally the woman of my dreams. Curiously, my feelings about her never really changed, and haven't even now.

She moved back to California six months after we broke up, and I haven't seen her since; I doubt I ever will again. The title means "Desolate and empty is the sea." I'm glad I had my phone with me, on that beach.

Mike

'Mike's Miniatures' Print Sale

[UPDATE: Sale ended 2 p.m. Eastern Time 12/23/2021.

Thanks to everyone!]

With appropriate humility I offer a few of my own prints for sale, which I do only very occasionally. There are four of them. Here's where you can see all four. The prices range between $100 and $155, and shipping is free to wherever in the world you are. They will all ship within 30 days. You can take another 30 days to return them for a full refund—you don't need a reason.

I wrote an article for another publication recently about masterpieces on peoples' smartphones, so I obligingly sifted through all my iPhone pictures and came up with some favorites.

They are small, seven inches to nine inches in the long dimension, printed with a white border on an 8x10 sheet. You know how big prints are said to "command" a room? And "project" into the room? These miniatures are the opposite: unassuming, reticent, unimposing. A viewer must make a conscious decision to go toward them to see them properly, and the experience is intimate, one viewer at a time.

Then came the question, can you make an excellent print from a phone file? Ctein says, "absolutely yes." These should help convince you, but in any case you get to see for yourself. "Halloween 2021" might be the exception, but I love it too. It reproduces how my eyes see at dusk. For all of them, Ctein's printing expertise helped, greatly.

These make great souvenirs of TOP. The price is modest, but I get to keep 60%, and that will help me a lot. The prints are signed on the back.

As with all of our sales, we take orders first, then fulfill them. The plan is to take orders for three days, then that's it. The sale ends at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Thursday.

The technical details and all other details are at the link. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

I hope you will think about buying a print. If you do, thank you very much.

Mike
(Thanks to Ctein)

Book o' the Week:
Vivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny, by Ann Marks, is the most complete picture of the mysterious governess-photographer yet—and the picture is more surprising than we thought.

The link can be a portal to Amazon for your holiday shopping. Thank you kindly for helping support The Online Photographer!

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Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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A Small Print Sale

This is to announce the announcement...hopefully to raise revenue, I will be having a small three-day sale of my own prints next week. The announcement will be posted on Monday morning.

The pictures are "miniatures."

Please come by on Monday and take a look!

Mike

Book o' the Week:
Vivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny, by Ann Marks, is the most complete picture of the mysterious governess-photographer yet—and the picture is more surprising than we thought. NOTE: There is a similar book that appears to be an attempt to confuse buyers. Beware!

the link can be a portal to Amazon for your holiday shopping. Thank you kindly for helping support The Online Photographer!

The following logo is also a link if you click on it:

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Ctein's Unexpected Print Sale: $950 Dye Transfers

By Ctein

I was not expecting to be doing a holiday sale. But, while cleaning out a closet this weekend, I discovered five framed dye transfer prints that I didn't even remember I had! Which I decided to offer up for sale, through Christmas Eve, at the extreme discounted price of $950 (plus shipping).

Two [Four] have already sold. The remaining three [one] photographs are is:

Acacia and Streetlamp, Campbell CA ~ 1975 [SOLD]

Red Rainbow, OR ~ 1977

Overcast Cornfield, Lakeland MN ~ 1978 [SOLD]

[If Yr. Hmbl. Ed. may be excused for jumping in here, I can add a fourth—I have a 16 x 20" Ctein dye transfer of this 2003 picture of Niagara Falls for $500. Ctein is sold out of it as a dye. You can email me at [email protected] if you're interested. Note: that's "Johnston" with a T.] [SOLD]

The first is entirely out-of-print, as indicated on my website—there are no other copies in my inventory.

OK, you ask, why these and why so inexpensive? As you might expect, there is a backstory.

Almost 40 years ago, way back in 1983 (a.k.a. The Dark Ages) Kodak chose me to be their featured Photographer of the Year. They mounted a modest exhibit of my dye transfer work at trade shows. This was pretty cool. Even cooler—they paid me for the photographs to be included in the exhibit and then sent me back the dry-mounted-and-framed prints!

So, how come these didn't end up in my normal inventory? Because they hadn't been framed to what I considered archival standards (Kodak also trimmed the borders a little tight for my taste—about half an inch of white paper around the image area). I didn't feel comfortable selling them to anyone, not knowing how well they would hold up, so they got shoved in the back of the closet. I think over the first few years years, I gave a couple away as gifts. Then I forgot about them.

Here's what one of them looks like.

They're all framed in the same manner: A thin white-painted aluminum sectional frame with acrylic glazing, titled, signed and dated on the front margin. The prints themselves are dry-mounted (very professionally—it was Kodak, after all) to non-museum mat board and there is no spacer mat between the print and the acrylic. As I said, not what I would call archival framing.

Except...here we are 40 years later and the prints looked exactly as good as when they were made, no discoloration or fading, no glaze spots from contact with the acrylic. They are fine! Maybe, just maybe, the folks at Kodak knew what they were doing?

Anyway, so...wotdahell, I'm offering them up for sale, through Christmas Eve. No promises about how they'll hold up for the next 40 years, but...not dead yet! And—of course—if you're dissatisfied with what you get, my 100%-guaranteed return policy still applies.

A small caveat—on some of these you may want to replace the acrylic with fresh plastic. Some of the acrylics are scratched, enough to be annoying to me. They might not be annoying to you. In any case, acrylic sheets of the right size are inexpensive and replacing them is a cake-walk. All you need is a screwdriver: These are sectional frames, and the print is held in the spring clips. Pop the clips, unscrew the frame, lift out the mounted print, replace the acrylic, put the print back, put the frame back together, put the spring clips back in. Really, it's super-easy-peasy.

Other than the glazing, they look great.

This is obviously a first-come, first-served deal. If you're interested, get in your request fast.

To repeat, these are $950 apiece (plus shipping). I'll tell you what—if you want to create an instant Ctein collection for yourself for less than the price of one of my dye transfer prints, framed, today...

Buy all three and you can have them for $2,400 total. (That's assuming you get in before anyone grabs any one of these, so if that's your druthers jump fast.)

Email me: [email protected].

Ctein

Book o' the Week:
Vivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny, by Ann Marks, is the most complete picture of the mysterious governess-photographer yet—and the picture is more surprising than we thought.

the link can be a portal to Amazon for your holiday shopping. Thank you kindly for helping support The Online Photographer!

The following logo is also a link if you click on it:

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Talking to Ctein

Oh, here's the one thing I meant to include in "Bits and Pieces" on Friday and forgot. (A glitch of my brain is that I always remember lists with one thing missing. It's some kind of neurological misfire—when I was teaching, I learned never to go around the room saying all the kids' names, because invariably just one name would escape me when I needed it—even if I knew that kid and her name perfectly well in any other situation. And I almost always forget one thing at the supermarket, no matter how many items I'm trying to remember. But I digress.)

Anyway, Ctein and I have been talking about this year's print sale. We have four possibilities, and need to settle on one. (A consideration about the print sales: before we can decide, we need to see the prints. The idea can be great, but we're not selling ideas, we're selling prints.) But, whatever it will end up being, a print sale is coming up. Just thought you might like to know.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Photo No-Nos: Meditations on What Not to Photograph by Jason Fulford. Although I would never actually let anyone tell me not to photograph, this is a fun book for getting "the lay of the land" as what subjects and treatments are common. There are some nice insights, and it's a pleasant read, although I think it will be more fun if you already know a lot about photography and can relate to the subjects he discusses.

The above is a link to Amazon from TOP. Once you're at Amazon, anything you search and buy will be credited to TOP. The following logo is also a link:

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Featured Comments from:

MikeR: "Re forgetting an item on lists: Always? No exceptions? Never, ever?

"I often do that, but I just say that I forgot, and shrug. No neurological drama."

Mike replies: If it's not a brain glitch, then why only just one thing the great majority of the time? And why are they so often things that I know well and should be able to remember easily? There are a great many mysteries about the brain, which I know from being a big fan of—name will come to me—I'll get it—give me a moment—starts with S—Sacks—Oliver Sacks.  :-)

ASW: "Hi Mike. I have my own glitch which sometimes frustrates but is always funny (to observe). If I put on a T-shirt without checking for the tag, I always put it on backwards. This has happened for as long as I can remember, so we're talking about multiple decades of t-shirts at this point. Sometimes I even fake myself out. I'll pick up a T-shirt, remember that I'm sure to put it on backwards and therefore swap it around (without checking), and then put it on backwards. I can only assume that it is some kind of voodoo curse."

Mike replies: That's a great one! You and I don't quite rise to the level of Oliver's great book on the subject—a favorite of mine—but I think we're in that neighborhood.

Book Sale Upcoming

I'm going to be working on Featured Comments this morning on the last several posts, going back to Sunday. But I wanted to give you a heads up that I've just entered into discussions to have another of our fantastic book sales, just like in days of old—pristine new copies of two beautifully printed books that complement each other and are hard to get now. With one, the price of used copies on the secondary market has risen above the price when it was new, whereas our price will be less than it cost when it was new. I don't know yet how many copies there are, so no word on that yet. Could be a lot, could be just a few. It'll be first come first served in any event.

Keep an eye out, and clear a couple of inches of space on your shelf. I love these sales, so I'm fired up!

—Mike

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Book of interest this week:

Picture This: How Pictures Work, By Molly Bang
(clicking on the link above takes you to Amazon from TOP)

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Dye Transfer Sale Update

Ctein reports that all fully-paid orders from the incredibly successful Black Friday Dye Transfer Sale have been delivered, according to the United States Postal Service. If you haven't gotten your prints yet, please contact him directly at [email protected].

He will review his new Tesla soon!

Mike

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Turnley Twins Prints

Our friends Peter and David Turnley are also having holiday print sales this season. Peter's offer ends very soon (9 a.m. ET tomorrow morning) and David's ends December 14th.

Peter Turnley, Paris 1983

David Turnley, Nelson Mandela, Robben Island

(Note that Peter's are traditional silver gelatin prints. David's are high quality inkjet prints.)

Please tell them TOP sent you! 

Mike

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LAST DAY!!

Final UPDATE: SALE ENDED and links removed 12 noon Pacific Time today, 12/6/19. If you need to, you can contact Ctein at [email protected]. Be patient for an answer—he experienced a large volume of last-minute orders and will be underwater for a while.

UPDATE 12 minutes to noon: These are selling very quickly and Ctein is swamped. PLEASE REFRESH YOUR BROWSER WINDOW FREQUENTLY before picking your order, to see which prints are still available. Ctein is pulling sold-out images as quickly as he can. 

 

The Dye Transfer Print Sale ends today at 12 noon Pacific Time.

You really should watch the printmaking documentary if you haven't. I know you probably haven't, because it's kinda long and there's a kinda boring bit (when they're in the dark and the green stills are on the screen and the timer's running) before the good bits start. But you really should. If you don't find it fascinating then I miss my guess.

The thumbnails and ordering instructions are here [SALE ENDED and link removed 12 noon Pacific Time 12/6/19]. We do not take orders after the deadline.

The prints are $650, shipping is $39 to anywhere in the world, your satisfaction is fully guaranteed, and this old process pretty much isn't being done any more—as you will richly appreciate if you watch the video. (Did I mention you should watch the video?)

Noon in San Francisco is 3 p.m. here in New York, 8 p.m. in London, and 7 a.m. Australian EDT in Sydney. After that we'll get back to regular programming. It's been one of the three best sales in TOP's history, and I'm so happy to make so many of you so happy.

UPDATE: After the sale ends you'll continue to be able to buy these archive prints from Ctein at any time. It's just that they'll have gone back to the regular price of $2,000 and up instead of $650. If you do want one in the future, feel free to contact Ctein at any time.

Mike
(Big thanks to Ctein)

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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The Luminous Landscape Videos

Michael Reichmann of The Luminous Landscape interviewing Ctein in 2004

Well this is a nice surprise. Josh Reichmann, son of our late friend Michael of The Luminous Landscape, has given us permission to make available the two videos of MR's visit to Ctein's San Francisco area darkroom fifteen years ago. This is especially generous of him as L-L is now behind a paywall.

Here's the interview. The part about dye transfer begins about 23:50 of the 32-minute video if you want to skip right to it.

The second one is really the priceless one—it's the only video we know of that shows a dye transfer print actually being made. The first fifteen minutes are somewhat simulated (you can't film in total darkness), but the later part is real-time documentary, showing Ctein making an actual matrix and a print, from start to finish. You really should watch this—it's quite fascinating even if you never set foot in a darkroom or never will again. And it's now a valuable historical record, at least in photo-tech history. Finally, it certainly shows you how involved a process it was to make the rare print or prints you've bought in our sale!

Speaking of which, there are now less than two days left. The basic information is here and you can browse the available images here.

Many and most sincere thanks to Josh. I found it emotional to see and hear his father again—I knew MR for many years. It's the first time I've rewatched one of his videos since his passing. He was a pioneer of photography online and is greatly missed in our little corner of the universe.

Enjoy!

Mike
(Thanks to JR)

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Sid: "Fascinating, even spellbinding, videos!"

Rob de Loe: "Best quotation from the second video: 'now we know why not that many people do this anymore.' Yeesh. What an incredible amount of work to make one print. I had no idea. Thanks for posting this Mike."

Mike replies: Incredible, isn't it? Now you can see why I think dye transfer is one of the most amazing processes in photography's history. But unlike some things that are purely difficult, there was a reason for going through all that work: the results were inimitable, especially as regards maximum black and color purity.

However, my second most favorite color process is pigment inkjet. A well-made pigment inkjet print can be really beautiful. It is a wonderful medium too.

...And not quite as difficult, either.  :-)  But one of the salient comments Ctein made in the video is when he talked about the prejudice people have that inkjet printing is just "pressing a button and letting the computer do it." He's right that that's the same prejudice that people leveled against photography itself in the beginning. Inkjet printing is a skill too, and takes knowledge as well as judgement.

As an aside, note also in the videos that Ctein doesn't use junk words and fillers when he speaks. You won't hear him say "um" and "ahh" very often, if at all. And he doesn't use filler phrases like "you know" (unless he really means it) or "know what I'm saying" or "like" or "stuff like that"...or stuff like that. Sometimes he will pause and actually sigh, but he's silent—he doesn't fill his silences with junk. Very unusual manner of speaking these days. No wonder he dictates instead of typing.

Kenneth G James: "Wow! Watched the videos, they are great! Thanks Mike, Thanks Josh."

Kenneth Tanaka: "I actually have a DVD of that second video (from a former LuLa subscription purchase) that I keep near my desk as a greatest-hits reference. I’ve not only watched several times myself but I’ve played it for others. Several years ago I even played it for a lunchtime group of photo curators and conservation interns at a major museum. It’s a wonderfully educational video, a genuine classic."

Mike replies: Genuine classic...I thought the very same thing, Ken, rewatching it last night.

[A different] Mike: "As amazing as the process is to watch—and it really is—it's even wilder to think about how the idea came to be in the first place. Wow."

MHMG: "Some fifteen years later, I listen with interest to Ctein's comments and concerns about print permanence in the first video. Ctein is entirely spot on with some of his concerns about accelerated aging test methods as it was practiced at the time. We have now learned something about modern inkjet prints that weren't predicted by those accelerated aging methods practiced at that time. A new understanding of inkjet print longevity has indeed been determined both by refinements in accelerated test methods and actual observations in real world anecdotal reports at this point in time now that inkjet printing is a much more mature print process. I take comfort that both 'real world' anecdotal evidence of aging issues with modern media and more recent accelerated testing protocols with improved methodologies for these media are now leading to a better understanding of print permanence. The role of optical brighteners and titanium dioxide whitening pigments in modern media, for example, play a more significant role than we knew at the time Michael Reichmann interviewed Ctein in the these videos. Progress is progress!"

David Lee: "Thanks for the videos Mike. I watched the printing process three times already and shared it twice."

Eamon Hickey: "An incredible treat to watch these videos, especially the printing demo. Thanks to all who thought to make it and now made it available for us to see. In addition to being a master printer, Ctein is a master explainer, a skill that is probably as rare and valuable (in the benefit-to-the-rest-of-us sense) as his darkroom skills. A real pleasure to hear and see him describe his work."

Master Print Archive Sale is Ongoing

Our Current Print sale, of master printmaker Ctein's dye transfer print archive, continues until Friday at noon Pacific Time. The sale has been remarkably popular so far [SALE ENDED and links removed 12 noon Pacific Time 12/6/19]. If you have been to the thumbnail page before, please refresh your browser page to see the latest totals concerning availability.

A comment from one customer:

To me this sale is a momentous occasion, so I thought I would share a few words on what it's like to own one of these prints. I have several Ctein prints, but my two favorites are—by far—"Fresh Pahoehoe, Mothers Day Flow HI—2002" and "Kahili Wild Ginger, Kilauea Iki Trail HI ~ 2002."

"Fresh Pahoehoe" hangs on the wall by our stairs, leading up to my bedroom. It's one of the last things I see at night, and the first things I see in the morning. The blacks are truly glorious—rich and deep and varied. Alive. I can't say for certain, but I've always assumed that Ctein used a flash to emphasize the contours and texture of the Pahoehoe. And I love the combination of the cool light from without contrasting with the warm light from within—the glow from the molten, cooling rock.

As much as I love "Fresh Pahoehoe," "Kahili Wild Ginger" is the picture I want to be buried with. It hangs in a spot in our house where I see it a half dozen times a day, and I am mesmerized each time. The light seems otherworldly. It is incredibly soft without being dull. And look at the individual (leaves? petals?) of the ferns...no really, go look at the full-size picture—you won't understand what I mean otherwise. See how each one is perfectly distinct, and perfectly, well, perfect? At first I thought this was a painting. An illustration of what an ideal fern would theoretically look like. No actual fern could ever be so well-formed. But it isn't a painting, and I have the original dye matrices to prove it. 😜 (Also framed and hanging by our stairs.) To me this picture is a wonder. A miracle of nature and photography and the craft of printing. Those deep, deep greens. I go swimming in them multiple times a day, whenever I see that picture....

Buy one. Or more. You won't regret it and you may never have the chance again.  —Adam

Ctein responds: Just so everyone knows...I didn't pay Adam for that lovely testimonial. He pays me (grin)!

He guessed wrong about me using a flash to make "Fresh Pahoehoe." [Pahoehoe is defined as 'basaltic lava forming smooth undulating or ropy masses.'  —Ed.] That was photographed midday under a clear-sky tropical sun. It's direct sunlight that's glinting off of the fresh, shiny black rock and making the nearly-black shadows. Yes, fresh molten lava is so hot that it glows a bright cherry red in full sunlight. I was stunned when I saw that. The print is in no way enhanced from reality.

I wish I had more prints of it. So far I've been unable to make a digital print that looks as good as the dye transfers—it's those fantastically rich dye transfer blacks that make it three-dimensional. I'll keep trying, though.

And, as is often the case, there's a story to go with it. Paula and I traveled to the Big Island so that I could complete the photography for my book project, Jewels of Kilauea. (the book never sold). When we planned that trip, there was no fresh lava flowing anywhere over accessible land. We didn't even know about the Mother's Day flow because it only started a few days before we arrived. The owner of the B&B we were renting told us about it, and of course we had to go see it, because who could pass up an opportunity to see an erupting volcano (even if Paula wasn't a former geologist)?

Not us. The next day we drove down, and I immediately saw the photographic opportunities. I got as close to that protruding tongue of lava as I could, only a few meters away. Everyone else was twice as far back. Not because it was especially dangerous—pahoehoe doesn't flow rapidly—but because it was hot! it was like standing in front of a roaring fire. But you know us photographers and what we will put up with to get a photograph.

The photograph that Adam is praising is the very first one on the very first roll of film I made on that trip. I was working with some new lenses that Pentax had lent me for review, and I wanted to be sure they were functioning properly, so the next day we drove halfway around the Island to Kona, where there was a pro lab that did same-day medium format color film processing. I dropped off the roll of film, we went off and had a fabulous leisurely lunch at a restaurant the lab recommended, and came back for the negatives.

When I laid the processed roll on the light table, that very first frame was so obviously wonderful that I knew it was going to make a fabulous print. I said to Paula, "This is it. If I don't get any other good photographs on this trip, this one will have made it worthwhile." (No, it wasn't the only good photograph I made on that trip...but I still think it was the best.)

There was an amusing follow-up. When I woke up in the morning in Hawaii, my arms hurt, and they were all red! I'd burnt myself. Very mildly, and not dangerously, but I was slightly roasted. Oh sure, I'd slathered myself with sunscreen before going out, but that's no help against infrared!

When we got back from the trip my arms had reached the pink and peeling stage. I saw friends at a party, and they said, "I see you got a sunburn in Hawaii." I grinned and said, "No...LAVA burn." And they all went, "Oooooh!"

Fantastic First Day: Print Sale Update, the Morning After

I have splendiferous and terrific news to report. Day One of our current sale [SALE ENDED and link removed 12 noon Pacific Time 12/6/19] could not have gone better—it got off to the best start of any sale we've ever done. I have to tell you, these print offers are truly fun when they take off like this. It's wonderful, and very exciting. I cannot thank everyone enough! (I had to go through this post and edit out a whole bunch of exclamation points.) One truly loyal reader ordered nine, and there have been many orders for more than one print. "Black Friday" lived up to its name here at TOP World Headquarters—it has made my year! (Sorry, there's another one. Never write when you're happy, it makes you sound like an idiot.) I can't wait to see how we've done at the 24-hour mark. 

As you can guess, Ctein got hammered—he worked for fifteen hours straight with only small breaks before exhaustion set in. Just before he turned in, however, he emailed me to report that everyone who ordered by his bedtime late last night has been sent an acknowledgement, and he processed all but the last two dozen orders that came in yesterday. Those will be processed first thing today, in order, before he begins on the orders that await him this morning from overnight. He follows a rock star schedule, staying up late and sleeping late, and he's on the West Coast, so he's not up yet. If you're expecting a response from him, don't worry.

This sale is already a great success and we haven't even hit the one-day mark yet. Remember, it continues until next Friday, and there are plenty of prints left. Thanks again, truly.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Master Dye Transfer Print Sale / One Week Only

We're having a most extraordinary Print Offer this week.

Our friend Ctein was for many decades a master custom printer in dye transfer, crafting prints to order for the rock 'n' roll photographer Jim Marshall among many others. He is also a photographer in his own right whose portfolio, prior to the closing of his darkroom in 2013, consisted of several hundred approximately 16x20-inch photographs superbly printed as dyes. After carefully archiving extra copies of his own full-sized dye transfer prints for years or decades, Ctein has decided that it's time to pass along his archive of his own prints.

For the next seven days, he's offering his entire archive for potential sale.

VERY IMPORTANT: We're offering 270 different images but there are only 1–5 copies of most of the prints (the number available is noted next to each thumbnail on the Selection Page). There will never be any more. It's not strictly "first come, first served," but it's heavily weighted that way. It's a good idea to provide Ctein with alternative choices, so he can make as many people happy as possible, but it's very important to get your order in early to stand the best chance of getting the prints you want.

Selection: You can easily appreciate that this is going to be a tough sale to administrate as an un-automated, one-time, one-Ctein-with-no-minions offer. The ordering instructions are a bit complexicated. Sorry about that! Please persevere.  :-)  We are standing by to answer questions should you happen to get confused.

Initially it's easy, though—just go to the

Selection Page

[SALE ENDED and link removed 12 noon Pacific Time 12/6/19]

and follow the two very simple steps—but please read the following before you do!

Cost: The prints cost $650 each, which is high only in the context of our usual sales and quite low in the context of dye transfer. Between the 1930s and 1994, it most often would have cost you more than that—sometimes far more—to have a custom lab make a dye transfer print for you from your own original. (Just the other day one of our readers reported that his company used to have dyes made to order for $5,000 each. That would have been at the very high end, but not crazy.) It is also far below Ctein's normal everyday prices for these exact prints, which are now in the thousands of dollars.

Shipping: Shipping is $39 per order to anywhere in the world, no matter how many prints you order.

Payment: We prefer payment by check (US bank) but you can pay by PayPal if it's more convenient or if you're in another country.

Layaway: Being about 11 times more organized than I am, Ctein is, incredibly, offering a layaway option: you can pay for your print in 13 easy monthly installments. I would never stand a chance at this, but I know the guy. He will pull it off.

Bonuses: There are bonuses for those ordering multiple prints. If you buy three dye transfer prints, you can pick any of Ctein's digital prints as a free bonus; if you buy six dye transfer prints, you can pick a seventh dye transfer print for free.

Ctein

Guarantee: I know you can't see the prints before you buy, so we offer an unconditional 100% guarantee: live with your purchase for a month and if you're not happy, send it back in the original packing for a full refund. You're protected. However, this time we have no way of replacing pictures damaged in shipment. They will be packaged extremely well to minimize possible damage, but in case of shipping damage you'll have to decide either to keep it for full price or send it back for a full refund. In the latter case we'll cover shipping costs.

That's it! Ctein's "Dye Transfer and Me" series will resume tomorrow. In the meantime, have a look for yourself at the beautiful prints! It costs you nothing to browse. We very much hope you will like.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Be Ready

Word to the wise—in the Ctein Archive sale that starts in two hours, we're offering 270 different images (count 'em—I did!), but most images only exist in a 1–4 copies or so. Popular images will sell out—single images will sell out if just one person wants it. So if you want to actually be able to buy the image you want, it would be wise to stake your claim early. You can always change your mind later.

Most importantly, you'll need to know what your choice is, so go to the selection page and look through the pictures to see if there's something you particularly would like to have.

In my personal opinion, Ctein's portfolio is strong in...

Sunset under Columbia

...The Space Program...

Lava under Forest Fire Smoke

...atmospheric effects...

Total Eclipse Coronal Streamers

...and astronomy, and I think those prints will go fast. You might recall our sale in 2013 when Ctein stopped taking print orders. He had enough materials left to make 160 new full-sized dye transfer prints to order, and those 160 prints sold out in 6 hours and 2 minutes!

Whatever you want, don't wait till Day 7 of the sale to make your decision. In fact, don't wait till Day 2. We are going to be publicizing this sale at other websites and through other channels, so (jealously?) I want to make sure that as a loyal regular TOP reader you get first crack at what you want.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

Please help support The Online Photographer through Patreon

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Bruce Bodine: "Order link please?"

Mike replies: The sale hasn't started yet and the order link isn't live. It starts at noon San Francisco time today, Friday, which is 3 p.m. Eastern US Time, 8 p.m. in London, and 7:00 a.m. in Sydney.

It's Complicated! (Please Read)

Master printmaker Ctein with his life's work,
much of which will go on sale here on Friday

It's only four days until our fantabulous Black Friday Ctein Dye Transfer Master Print Sale. It'll start at noon Pacific Standard Time on Friday, November 29, and run for exactly one week. This is the only print sale we've ever had for multiple pictures—many of 'em—and there is a severely limited supply of prints of each picture, so it's going to be complicated to try to get you happily matched up with a picture you want.

ALL THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS FOR FRIDAY, when the sale starts. It doesn't start until then. This is just so you can familiarize yourself with what going to happen then.

Bonuses
First, all the prints—you can view them here—are $650 regardless of rarity and size, plus a $39 shipping and handling charge for each order regardless of the number of prints you buy (that's higher than usual, but Ctein will be packing these extremely well). There is no limit on the number of prints you can order. There are bonus incentives for multiple-print purchases: digital prints (here's the most complete list) or even an extra dye transfer print of your choice (subject to availability). We'll give you the details later.

Layaways are available!
You'll be able to pay for prints by personal check (which we'd prefer) or PayPal (necessary for buyers who don't have a US bank account or wish to use credit cards). You will also be able to purchase prints on layaway, paying $50/month for 13 months for each print you want to buy (plus a bump for shipping and handling in the last payment). Here are the layaway terms.

What you'll do
Here's how it's going to work (the final and official instructions will be in the live Sales posting here on the 29th):

1.) There will be a request link on TOP and on the print listings page on Ctein's website. Use either of those to send Ctein an email. If neither link works for you (they fail for about 1% of viewers for unknown reasons) email [email protected] and put "My print requests"—exactly those words—in the subject line.

2.) The email should contain ONLY the following information:

• How many prints you want to buy (e.g. "I would like to buy three prints.")
• The titles of the prints you want, including alternative selections, if any. You can rank them by preference as you like, or not. If the photograph is available in more than one print size (if they are, that's indicated on the inventory page), make sure you state which size you want. If there's only one size, just give the title.

That's it. Don't include your mailing address, payment information, any special shipping requests, bonus prints you'd like, anything else at this point. All that will be taken care of when Ctein confirms your selection and directs you to place your order.

3.) Ctein will send you an acknowledgment of your email within an hour of receipt (unless he's asleep—remember he's on Pacific Standard Time and won't be on the computer from roughly 1:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.). If you don't get an acknowledgment, send your request again.

4.) Within 24 hours of your request, Ctein will confirm which print(s) you can buy. In all likelihood it will be a lot less than 24 hours, and if none of your choices are available, Ctein will let you know that very quickly (unless he gets totally slammed with orders in the first hours, in which case there will be a notice posted on TOP letting you all know there will be delays). With your confirmation, Ctein will send a link to the order page. You will place your actual order there, following the instructions posted.

Ctein will make an effort to match up people's choices and alternatives with print availability to maximize happiness (and sales), but there will be—of necessity!—a very strong "first come, first served" component.

The earlier you get your request in, the more likely you are to get what you want.

(Did Mike emphasize that enough?  :-) 

Ctein will be updating the webpage showing which prints are still available as orders are confirmed, but as you can appreciate, there's going to be a substantial lag, because there will always be print requests that haven't been processed yet. That's why it's a good idea to provide alternates to your first choices, if you have any. By the time you place your order, the inventory will have changed. Especially overnight (his night, not yours).

We'll tell you all this again on Friday. This is just a heads up.

Meanwhile, between now and Friday, you can check out the prints and make up your wish list in advance. Please do not send it to Ctein before the start of the sale.

Questions
Any questions? Please post them in the comments and we will endeavor to answer them promptly.

—Mike and Ctein

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and Ctein. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Fall TOP Print Sale Coming Soon! (Press Release)

Don't forget that our only print sale for the Fall of this year and the last TOP print sale of 2019 will start ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW on November 29th!

There's an important catch, so read my comments down below the press release.

Here's the press release:

Download "Upcoming Dye Transfer Print Sale" press release

You can help us out (please?) by posting this at other sites and forums you visit and participate in. Feel free to use any or all of it.

Here's the text:

November 20, 2019—for immediate release—

Expert West Coast Photographic Printmaker to Liquidate His Entire Inventory of Rare and Prized Color Prints

San Francisco area photographer and master printmaker Ctein is offering his entire lifetime archive of rare traditional dye transfer prints for sale. The sale will take place on The Online Photographer website (https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/) starting at noon Pacific Standard Time on November 29th, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and continue for seven days only.

Ctein (his only name—pronounced "kuh-TINE") is selling full-sized 16x20-inch dye transfers for only $650 per print on a first-come, first-served basis. More than 250 images will be offered. Interested readers can view these in advance at http://ctein.com/2019TOPDyeSale.htm.

Ctein, among the best-known and most accomplished of the dye transfer printers, worked in the medium for 40 years until he closed his darkroom in 2013. Now, connoisseurs can own a beautiful, genuine dye transfer print for their own collections.

Dye transfer, widely acknowledged to be the Rolls-Royce of traditional color printing methods back in the era of film photography, was extremely difficult to master and expensive and time-consuming to practice. Dye transfer prints have a distinctive beauty and purity of color. They have a greater color gamut and deeper maximum black than even inkjet prints, and were among the most permanent of all color processes.

Such prints were always rare and always expensive, and master printers in the medium have always been few and far between. By 1994, when Kodak finally discontinued making the materials, most of the active dye transfer printers in the US could fit in a single living room. Now a scant handful are left.

For more information, please contact Ctein at [email protected] or Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer at [email protected].

As you already know if you've been following along, this year's print sale isn't for any one picture. Ctein will be offering for sale his entire remaining inventory of superbly made dye transfer prints. May of the pictures are sold out, and some exist in the inventory in only one remaining copy—what remains, and in what number, depends on how many were originally made and how many have been sold over the years. Rarity doesn't necessarily imply popularity, because Ctein made more prints of the more popular pictures over the years.

So here's the key: decide in advance what you might want, and order it promptly! That's the best way to insure you'll get the print of your choice.

The ordering process is necessarily more complicated than usual, but we'll explain all that. For now, the important thing is to determine what you want so you're prepared to move quickly when the time comes.

Even if you don't want a print, this is a perfect example of an exercise in delectation recommended by so many experts, from Thomas Hoving, the famous Director of the Metropolitan Museum, to, well, me. An exercise in delectation is just an exercising of your own taste. Hoving would walk into an unfamiliar room in a museum, scan the paintings on the wall, and decide immediately which pictures he wanted to spend time with. I've always felt that deciding "what I would buy if I could buy only one" is an effective form of the same exercise. Cumulatively, such exercises are an excellent way to refine and clarify our own taste (which is always changing and never static, too).

Here's the link again to see the pictures: http://ctein.com/2019TOPDyeSale.htm.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Al DaValle: "Hi Mike, I'm honestly not tying to be a smartass here but I thought Ctein's last sale (I purchased a print) was his last. I think I recall him using up the very last of his dye transfer chemicals etc. Did I dream that up? Miss something? Did he happen upon a new cache of material?

"P.S. I'm not expecting you to publish this on your site...just a question.  :-)  "

Mike replies: No problem Al, you can ask away. The last sale was his "closing the darkroom" sale, meaning that it was the last time anyone could buy specific images made to order. On that occasion he had enough raw materials left for approximately 160 full-size prints, if memory serves, and—again if memory serves—those sold out in six hours and two minutes. All those prints were made new, to order, and afterward he dismantled his darkroom.

The prints in the coming sale are from his archive of stock prints which he maintained for many years. When receiving an order for a print he would make several extras, and store the extras against possible future orders. A number of those still exist, and those are what are being offered in this upcoming sale.

There are two big problems with this sale: each of the images is available in very limited numbers, between one and five. It's quite possible that there could be more orders for a given image than there are prints, so not everyone will automatically get their first choice. Second—this is just from the production end—spotting dye prints is very labor-and time-intensive, and his normal practice was to archive the print unspotted, and spot each one prior to shipping when it was sold. But to offer all these at once, obviously they all need to be spotted. So he's been working for months to spot all the prints so they'll be ready to go out!

But none of the archive prints are being made to order—they can't be. There are no more materials and there is no more darkroom and many of the matrices have been sold. What you got last time was one of the last 160 prints he ever made. These are archived prints from stock, made over a period of many years prior to the closing of the darkroom.