pect ratio, I wish it were possible to have an aspect ratio in the Hasselblad
format of 1:1, in addition to 16:9, 2:3 and 3:4. As far as I am concerned,
the 2:3 aspect ratio could be dispensed with.
The high-quality print
High-grade photo paper has always been a prerequisite for creating a
photo as a work of art. In fact, the paper is often decisive for the purchase
of a photographic print. The producers of modern inkjet paper for photo-
graphic prints have taken this into account; especially Hahnemühle, but
also Canson, Ilford, Sihl and others manufacture paper which creates the
impression of the most beautiful, classical photo baryta paper imaginab-
le. The print is the substrate which gives the spirit of a photo its visual
existence. A fundamental factor for the success of an interesting photo-
graph is its flawless presentation. A good print makes an impression on
me even if I am not particularly interested in the subject. Until 2002, I
only used baryta paper in my chemical photo lab. In the 1950s I used the
Agfa paper 114e at first. It was a wonderful silver bromide paper with a
matte finish and a rough surface. When Agfa ceased its production at the
end of the 1960s I turned to the Tura baryta paper from Düren. At the be-
ginning of the 1990s, the production of this paper ceased as well, and I
ended up with the Ilford baryta paper, which is variable in contrast. To-
day many papers have ceased to exist and the quality of the pigment
printers by Canon, Epson and Hewlett Packard has become so good that
chemical processing like Lambda printing does not make much sense to
me anymore. In addition, the durability of the modern prints has been si-
gnificantly improved over the past few years; now a life-span of up to 300
years is being discussed for some of them. However, in order to generate
prints of the highest quality, only the very best printer is good enough.
Thus I have decided in favour of the Epson 9800 pigment printer, com-
bined with paper by some renowned manufacturers. Until now I have en-
joyed working with the Premium Glossy Photo Paper 250 by Epson,
which comes in a roll and the Foto Rag 310 paper by Hahnemühle. In the
future, I will also use Ilford's Gold Fibre Silk and test the paper produced
by Sihl. After the pigment printing on Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Pa-
per 250, I have large prints mounted on a Dibond panel by means of a
double-sided adhesive film. Furthermore, the image side of the large
prints is protected additionally by a Neschen PVC foil so that the pictures
can be easily cleaned with a moist wiper from time to time.
On picture formats
The dimensions of prints labelled as "large" have increased tremen-
dously over the past 50 years. Around 1960, I thought that 50 x 60 cm
would be the largest print I would ever produce. At that time, no larger
format paper was available, and most photographers were working with
prints measuring 24 x 30 or 30 x 40 cm. Agfa produced papers on rolls,
but they were very laborious to process and therefore most photogra-
phers abstained from using them. Today, when I work on large pigment
prints in the landscape, landscape architecture and megalith genres, it is
usually in the 111 x 130 cm format; sometimes I consider ordering a prin-
ter with which it is possible to produce pigment prints measuring 160 x
200 cm or even larger. Of course, the maximummeasurements to be
achieved for pigment prints are dependent on the given format of the ne-
gative, the number of pixels in the scan, or on the size of the chip in the
4
9 - The Lumix LX 2, digital compact
camera – model for the future
10 - The author in 1988 with his Asahi
Pentax 6 x 7 camera in Venice
