Platinum palladium printing is probably one of my favourite photographic processes as the results one can achieve from this process is beyond words. Producing one of the greatest tonal ranges out of all photographic printing techniques. The unique quality with Platinum printing is that the platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays which are unobtainable in silver prints, hence why many photographers use it to archive their work as well as being highly recognised among collectors.
It’s said that given the right paper and storage that these prints can live on for over a 1000 years!
Japanese photographer Nobuyuki Kobayashi has been practicing the art of Platinum printing for many years and through this 30 minute video it shows us an in-depth look into this technique and his true love and dedictation for the medium.
Kobayashi uses a beautiful 8×10 large format camera as well as printing on traditional Japanese paper, called washi. He choose this type of paper as, ‘Photographing techniques originated from Europe. I want to add a Japanese identity to my work…’
Listen to Kobayashi describe this project ‘Portraits of Nature – Myriads of Gods on Platinum Palladium Prints’ in the documentary below, it will give you a glimpse into his work flow and how he manages to produce such exquisite prints.
