print sales
reproduction & copyright
black & white portraiture
"I work exclusively with traditional black & white photography. All prints are selenium toned silver gelatine limited edition prints made from the original negatives"
mail2@jbaphoto.com.au
"John Austin's personal photographs are a means of showing places and events meaningful to him as clearly and deeply as possible. This holds for his work with land and people as well as his more obviously documentary images of environmental degradation and artists portraits. The apparent simplicity of John's images belie the depth and meditative awareness that illuminates his work, qualities that are best revealed by studied viewing of original prints
To achieve the sensuous physical depth of his prints John uses the largest format cameras practical in any situation. His use of large negatives is melded with his mastery of silver gelatine printing, still the only easily available fine archival photographic print medium"
Rae Starr
18th November 2009
Black & White Photographic Silver Gelatine Print Pales
Fine black & white prints are available for sale as archivally processed selenium toned silver gelatine prints from the original black & white negative
Print Edition Policy
Nudes, portraits and some documentary and landscape photographs are limited to a total of eight prints of any image in any print size - In addition I allow a total of four artist's proofsLandscape Black and White Images are limited to a total of thirty two prints of any image in any print size. In addition I allow a total of four artist's proofs
Documentary Images, Forest protest, most Artist Portraits etc are limited to a total of thirty two in any print size, excluding digital files for magazine, video or book reproduction. In addition I allow 4 artist's proofs
Limiting the size of a print edition traditionally came from the use of metal plates for etching, where the etched plate was compressed and the lines which held the ink crushed slightly with each impression. Now it has been adopted to give a guarantee to purchasers that prints will not suddenly appear everywhere. I personally don't like the idea of limiting an edition, but for professional reasons this is now a requiremnt. In any case I don't really like the idea of making too many prints from a negative, I would rather be printing new work
Work prints are sometimes produced as initial proofs to anything up to 10 x 8". These are the prints used for scans for this website. A few of these have been matted and given to my family as birthday or Christmas gifts
Prices
For landscape, documentary and other images with an edition limit of 32 black and white prints in
rag-mats in simple wooden frames or in portfolio cases, sizes given are image sizes in inches. These
prices do not include commercial art gallery or agents commission
6 x 7.5", 6 x 9" & 7" square matted to 11 x 14" edition i-vii A$480
10 x 12.5", 9 x 13.5" & 11" square matted to 16 x 20 edition i-vii A$540
14 x 18" & 15" square matted to 20 x 24" edition i-vii A$720
18 x 21" & 18" square matted to 24 x 30 edition i-vii A$840
For images with an edition limit of eight black and white prints in rag-mats framed or in hand
made portfolio cases, sizes are image sizes in inches
6 x 7.5", 6 x 9" & 7" square matted to 11 x 14" i-iv A$540
10 x 12.5", 9 x 13.5" & 11" square matted to 16 x 20 edition i-iv A$720
14 x 18" & 15" square matted to 20 x 24" i-iv A$840
18 x 21" & 18" square matted to 24 x 30 edition i-iv A$1200
Reproduction
Images for reproduction can be purchased at normal international or MEAA/AJA reproduction rates
Free reproduction is available following written agreemnent for legitimate research or educational projects and environmental publications.
I am mindfully brutal with cases of copyright breach
commercial photography
My commercial work is now exclusively black & white portraiture and black & white processing & printing. Prints are available to 20 x 24" on neutral or warm tone fibre based papers, archival processing including selenium toning for collections and for those who demand the utmost quality
My Black and White Photographs
My black & white photographs are in many collections, including the National Portrait Gallery; the Art Gallery of Western Australia; the Australian National Library; Curtin University, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery; Western Australian Department of Justice and private collections in Australia, Singapore, the USA, South America and England
Digital Photography
I do use digital photography, this website is one example. However I am not prepared to lower my standards to the currently available quality of digital prints. Digital prints are not archival.
I spent a lot of money on a big Epson K3 printing machine, but gave it to a friend. It was that or put the back of an axe through it. I now realise that was a mistake and regret not leaving it in pieces no larger than a walnut
Fine Black & White Photography and Photo-Documentation
This site contains both fine black & white photography and photo-documentation. This is because as a photographer living and working in the south west of Australia I consider it a lie to just make pretty pictures for tourists. This is an area under threat from global climate change and local climate and other changes brought about by the continued logging of the tiny remnants of forest and the suburbanisation of coastal wetlands
I shall continue to use this site, publications and exhibitions to show both the beauty and the environmental disaster we live in. At their heart photography, art and writing are political acts
Printing & Matting
Following is a description of my technique added as my processes are becoming an anachronism
Archivally-processed selenium-toned fibre-based silver-gelatine black & whtie prints. "Silver gelatine" is the traditional black & white photographic print medium. Silver is the metal used to form a permanent image in the gelatine coating on the paper. Fibre based means the print substrate is paper, not plastic, and is made acid free by the final print processes. Selenium toned, and for some prints gold-toned, refers to the layer of selenium or gold coated on each crystal of silver to protect the image from city or industrial (atmospheric sulphur) pollution. Archival processing means the print has been treated with care and all acid and sulphur compounds from fixing the image have been removed.
Rag board mats are the board backing and board frame supporting the print, which are Crescent Rag-Mat 100% cotton, acid-free and lignin-free. These are amongst the best acid free museum quality boards available. The print is held in the mat by two acid-free paper hinges, which allow the print to move when changes in humidity occur, such as when a print is taken from a gallery to a house. This movement is caused by the changes in humidity affecting the layers of the print at different rates. The print will settle flat again in a few days or so.
Guarantee
Given the above, the print is worth at least two hundred years if stored and displayed appropriately - if any deterioration occurs to the photograph during my working life, apart from damage due to poor storage or handling, I will replace it free of any charge
Darkroom
The four enlargers on the left of my darkroom are the finest available. The monster at the far end is a huge 10x8" (20 x 25cm) negative size DeVere 5108E. It carries a set of Rodenstock and Schneider enlarging lenses giving the finest image quality possible. The film processing line opposite the big DeVere uses Agfa 17 replenished developer which was started in Mqy 1985. Like me, It is improving with age
31 December 2009
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Negative Refiling
I am going through my negative log and discarding everything that is boring and commercial boring. I am slightly erring on the safe side, keeping all my architectural photography of the reconstruction of Georgian Bath, arts festivals like ARX and Perth Festival Fringe, artists portraits, SFA etc. However, the workroom floor is already knee deep in negs. Even supposedly important stuff like portraits on BW chromogenic film are discarded. Nothing commercial from the last 10 years is being disposed of at this stage. All colour negative work has been discarded already
So, anyone who might have BW negatives over 10 years old they want kept or delivered to them are asked to contact me as soon as possible
John Austin, Quinninup, Western Australia 6258