Alive and well

Writer / Nancy Breslin

Nancy Breslin reports from the annual Society for Photographic Education conference in Philadelphia.

I just returned from the annual Society for Photographic Education conference in Philadelphia. In addition to a series of lectures, panels and free portfolio reviews, there was an exhibit fair: a room full of booths by the big players such as Kodak, Tiffen and Freestyle, and smaller tables of book publishers and art colleges. The biggest crowd, though, always seemed to gather around Dana Sullivan, at the Bostick and Sullivan booth. For two days he and a colleague functioned as a platinum/palladium printing machine! Attendees who had brought along a digital image file (alas I did not) could have it adjusted in Photoshop (resize, sharpen, apply the appropriate curve) and printed as a digital negative. Then Dana would coat paper, expose the print in a UV box, develop, clear, wash, and dry. Voila. And image after image looked beautiful.

I’m guessing that more than a few new platinum artists were born this weekend.