Back in July when I first wrote about experimenting with the Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Metallic I had closed my article with a question as to whether to frame these photographs under glazing, whether it is museum glass or acrylic. My concern is with the potential loss of luminosity under a layer of glazing.
My final assessment is that the photographs on the Rag Metallic does lack the brilliance and appearance when seen under any type of glazing, thus my decision to frame this show without any.
Someone voiced a concern about the photographs not being protected when framed in this manner. Traditional silver gelatin black and white prints did easily scratch and were pretty fragile, thus it made sense to frame these under glass. Nevertheless the permanent ink on the Rag Metallic is really robust and can take some handling. I think it is similar to the framing of other types of artwork, such as silk-screen, water color or acrylic paintings. Plus, most individuals in a gallery are not usually going to be poking or touching the artwork.
The printed photographic images are slightly smaller than the 24 x 30″ sheet, thus a small amount of the Metallic paper creates a wonderful margin around the photograph, sort of a mini-matte. I am realizing that these photographs on Rag Metallic really are best seen in an exhibition space and what you see on the monitor is just an approximation. On a monitor you don’t get the full effect that’s available when walking around and observing the photograph printed on this very delightful medium.
I am looking forward to the solo exhibition of the Memory Pods series and my main concerns on how the on-going pandemic will effect the opening reception and subsequent gallery visitors.
Cheers,
Doug
Featured artwork, above; Confusion II (Memory Pods) copyright 2014 Douglas Stockdale
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Exhibition, Portfolio Reviews & Workshops
Update: February 20th – March 20th 2021; Photographs’s Eye gallery, Escondido, CA, a solo exhibition of my Memory Pods series (lens-based photography). Exhibition reception February 20th, 3-7pm.
January 21 – 24th, 2021; Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP), EXPOSURE WEEKEND, a series of virtual portfolio reviews, and I will be on the team of available portfolio reviewers available that weekend. Sign-ups start December 1st. More information here.
March 2021; Developing Your Creative Photo Book, a workshop that I am leading in collaboration with Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP), with dates and schedule being developed. Anticipate that this is a virtual workshop, four days, two weekends, on Zoom.
Singular Images 
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