Studio News - Autumn 2021
New UV Lamp and Vacuum Frame
Since moving studios in January 2021, we have been without a UV light source and unable to make any platinum-palladium prints or polymer photogravure plates. The old lamp was far too large for the new space and so we ordered a new unit. Unfortunately the 6 weeks I was told turned into more than 5 months, although at that time I had enough other things going on with the new darkroom build to keep me occupied, but ultimately I was let down.
Enter Jon Cone and his new LED exposure units. We immediately ordered a 22×30″ model with the fastest 4x speed setup and built-in vacuum frame. A few weeks later it’s now up and running in the darkroom and is a wonderful, truly well made piece of equipment and a pleasure to print with. I’ve already calibrated it for platinum-palladium negatives and printed a small portfolio of prints for a client, so the next step will be calibrating it for the polymer photogravure process.
Workshops
Now that I have the new UV lamp and vacuum frame installed, and once I finish calibrating everything, I’m considering offering small (1-3 max.) workshops in both platinum-palladium printing and polymer photogravure. The pandemic has naturally curtailed many of the opportunities for people to learn these processes, and I’ve had an inordinate amount of people asking me if I’m offering classes or private tuition. They will likely take the form of one or two day weekend classes in the studio in NE Minneapolis.
Hopefully MCAD will start offering the polymer photogravure class once again and that I’ll be teaching it there too, but meanwhile, if you’re interested in either process, email me and let me know which you’d prefer – keith@keithtaylorphoto.com.
Projects
Now that I the darkroom is up and running well, I’m back making prints for photographers both locally, nationally and internationally. In need of a new, quality notebook? Nick Cave is and I make those too, as well as boxes and cases.
If you have a project you think I might be able to help with, email me keith@keithtaylorphoto.com or call +1 (612) 701-9671 (voice and text)