The Platinum Printing Process was developed in England during the nineteenth century.  A suitable 100% cotton rag paper is hand coated with a solution containing platinum and/or palladium salts and an iron oxalate sensitizer. After drying the coated paper in heated air, it is exposed with a photographic negative to intense ultraviolet light, which causes a reduction of the platinum or palladium salts to pure metal. The light required is approximately one million times that needed for traditional black and white or color photography. This intensity of light cannot be projected through an enlarger.  The negative must be placed directly on to the paper as a contact print.  Therefore, the size of the printed image is determined by the size or format of the negative.  After clearing to remove the remaining salts, the final print consists of pure platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) metallic fragments laid on to and imbedded within the paper.  The process used today is virtually unchanged from that first patented in 1873.

The Grand Tour, The British Isles, Platinum & Palladium Printing 1st ed and Platinum & Palladium Printing 2nd ed

Most platinum photographers use a view camera to produce the large negatives needed for contact printing.  For the images reproduced in The Grand Tour, The British Isles, Platinum & Palladium Printing 1st ed and Platinum & Palladium Printing 2nd ed I used two original banquet cameras. These long rectangular format cameras were employed in the early twentieth for group photos. The larger of my cameras is a 12 x 20 inch Folmer Schwing dating to the early 1920's or before.   The other is a 7 x 17 inch Korona camera of the same vintage.  The lenses are of modern design.

These platinum and palladium prints are sold in limited editions of fifty.
Prices range from 950.00 to 1,850 depending on edition number. Image editions 46-50/50 are priced from $1,000.00  

Italy Through Another Lens –  The images represented here are from direct digital capture, with either a Hasselblad or Leica cameras using prime lenses, either with a tripod or monopod. From these files, a digitally-generated negative is made. That, in turn, is used to make a hand-coated palladium in the traditional method.

Prices:

Approximate 12 x 18 inch print – $1,450.00

Selected approximate 16 x 24 inch print – $1,950.00

Please allow 3-4 weeks for delivery