Rarity

It's a beautiful day here on We Are One Farm, below freezing and windy but the sun is casting a warm glow across the lawn and the rows of lavender huddled under mounds of golden straw, patiently waiting for their chance to grow and bloom for the first time. Heavy rains and warm temperatures a couple of days ago took almost all of the snow away but this morning some flurries dusted the land again hiding the muddy ruts that were revealed and defining the textures on the farm across the road.

I spent a good part of today sitting at the dining table, enjoying the view through the windows while sifting through old infrared negatives of mine, pulling out some to reprint for hand-colouring, images which had sold last summer. This is my season to do any darkroom work I wish to stockpile before the gallery opens for the summer and the farm delightfully takes over my days. I just received my supply of new paper for colouring, I chose Kentmere in a fine-grained semi-matte surface so I am looking forward to seeing whether it will do as well as the Agfa I used to use. I tried some Forte Warmtone recently and while the surface seems good for colouring, I decided I would like more neutral whites. I knew that if I sepia toned it it would be much too yellow.

But just as I get excited to print on the new paper I am met with news of another death-knell for film-based photography. I received an email this afternoon from my friend at the local photo store advising that Polaroid has announced the discontinuance of instant films although it may be licensing production of some to other firms for "diehards" like myself. However I got the impression that that may be just the consumer-level 600 film as they mention stopping production of large-format film in the next quarter.

This comes just two months after I heard that one of my other staples, Kodak High Speed Infrared film, was being discontinued in December 2007. I have tried to order some to throw in the freezer but it was out of stock, although apparently there is still some available. So every few months my favourite media are becoming more rare...first Agfa papers and chemistry, then SX-70 Polaroid, then infrared, now all Polaroid instant film. And what is available is getting expensive. I guess my days are numbered until I am forced to go all digital or learn to paint!

The only thing I can hope for is a sudden increase in the value of the work I have in stock here at Third Eye Gallery.  Hmmmm......  

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