A brief print sale update. The Michael and Paula print sale was a big success, with something right around 237 prints sold altogether (tying up a few loose ends will determine the actual number, but it will be very close to that). The two of them are immersed in work right now, trying to get all the prints made and shipped before their next obligation begins.
Now I can clue you in about our next one. As you know, Ctein is closing down his darkroom for good this spring, going 100% digital. Because dye transfer printing has been an important part of his custom printing business, he's carefully conserved his stock of full-sized dye transfer paper. No longer. Now he's going to use it all up at once, in one last big blowout.
He has enough materials to provide somewhere north of 100 full-sized dye transfer prints. He'll know the exact number once he's finished carefully examining the paper sheet by sheet for flaws.
This will be our most expensive print sale ever; big dyes just aren't cheap. But the price will be about a third of what they usually go for.
After the sale, Ctein will close down his darkroom permanently.
Ctein's opinion is that I have a knack for picking pictures people will like, so he's let me have the run of his whole dye transfer portfolio to pick however many pictures I want to offer. So far I've chosen three (two are old favorites, one's new to me), and I will pick one more.
I'm very enamored of the three I've chosen, but I'm having some trouble with the fourth one. I'd like to pick an atmospheric or astronomical motif because those are important to Ctein's work overall. But I find myself a bit torn. That's where I need some input. I have a longstanding attraction for this picture, called "Moon, Mars, and Circumlunar Arcs, Anchor Bay, California, 1995":
I first saw it in about 1996. I was attending the Photo West convention representing Photo Techniques magazine, and went to Ctein and Paula's house as a dinner guest and to review Ctein's portfolio (and to get squawked at by the resident psittacines). I was very enamored of it then and have had an ambition to purchase it ever since, which of course I've always put off because I never have enough money. But my affection for it makes me doubt my judgement...would it be a good fourth print for the Great Dye Blowout print offer, do you think, or am I being misled by my own attraction to it? Is this the one, or should I keep looking? What's your advice?
Don't hesitate to look through the whole portfolio and suggest alternatives, if you want to.
We're nearing the end of an era here; this April sale will be the last time Ctein will make new dye transfer prints for sale from us*. I want to get this right.
Mike
UPDATE: Sorry, I should have specified that the only prints that are candidates for this offer are the large prints, which will be marked 14x19" or 15x19" or something similar to that. The smaller prints in the Dye Transfer portfolio aren't eligible. My mistake.
P.S. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: the next two sales after that are going to be "two-digit" sales, with every print (well, with one possible exception) priced less than $100.
*He'll still have a limited inventory of already-made prints, but for much higher prices. And those won't be offered through TOP.
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A book of interest today:
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