While setting up my 4×5 Linhof I was musing about ILFORD MULTIGRADE RC enlarging paper. Why, you ask, would I be thinking about enlarging paper? Great question, because my Lisco 4×5 negative holders were loaded with this enlarging paper!!! This was a 4×5 paper negative shoot* organized by ‘The Silver Photo Collective’. These members strive for excellence shooting 4×5 B&W and had gathered for a shoot at the old Dominion Observatory in Ottawa.
We also had an ILFORD pop-up darkroom tent we’d set-up on the lawn so we could process our paper negs immediately after making our exposures, not exactly instant but darn close! More about this in a follow-up article*
ILFORD is a pioneer having been leader in the B&W photo industry for over a 100 years, so it’s no surprise their films and papers are the choice of professionals. ILFORD’s Multigrade RC Deluxe paper image quality is superb, it’s versatile, easy to work with, dries quickly and without curl, its archival properties are excellent, it’s readily available online and at your favourite camera retailer priced to suit your budget.
Kodak D-76 aka ILFORD ID-11 has been an industry standard of excellence of eons, it’s had to find these days and expensive. ILFORD’s ID-11 is exactly the same formula, and I mean exactly the same. The only difference is availability and price.
If you’re setting up only to process your film or an all-out pro darkroom, check out the offerings from PATERSON.
More and more photographers are becoming intrigued with B&W film and the whole tactile personal experience. There’s a touch of magic to be discovered
“Real photographers shoot B&W film” Ted Grant
*Look for a full article in an upcoming edition of PHOTONews FLASH.
About the Author – Crombie McNeill
PHOTONews Flash is honoured to see our contributing editor Crombie McNeill featured in CTV News Ottawa. Tune in to hear Crombie’s story and his mission to help those experiencing homelessness.
Crombie McNeill is a unique artist. He’s a world travelled photographer with numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the best editorial photographers in North America. His credits include Time, Newsweek, ELLE, Life, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Chatelaine, Paris Match, McLean’s, En Route to name but a few.
His Odyssey lead him from the Arctic to high fashion magazine shoots to Olympic Games, World Cup events, the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the altitude with the Snow Birds, interwoven with civil war in Africa, Royalty, presidents to paupers world wide. Not to mention frozen toes at the North Pole.
His photography has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and Europe and has three books to his credit.
Not one to leave behind the uniqueness of traditional film he’s evolved a blending of photography with both hand applied and computer processing to produce truly unique images.
“The art of photography for me” says Crombie “is to convey a timeless essence with a hint of mystery”.
The National Archives predicts he will be credited as one of Canada’s most significant photographers and is on the list for The Order of Canada. The National Art Gallery of Canada has some of his fine art B&W prints included in their permanent collection.
Crombie is now happily retired, in that he no longer accepts editorial or commercial assignments He now lives in Aylmer, with his wife Sue. “This retirement”, he’s delighted to says, “allows me the freedom to search for those magical B&W images, and to determine the ideal technique by which it should be captured and presented.
Crombie often returns to the peaceful amber glow of his wet darkroom as a respite from his extensive digital lab and art board.
Please enjoy!
