In January 2011, one of our finest actors passed on to The Great Mystery.

Pete Postlethwaite commanded the screen and stage with his formidable presence, his film career punctuated with startling roles in Brassed Off, Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet, The Usual Suspects and let’s not forget Jurassic Park…

So, it was naturally a wonderful treat to see Paul Elton‘s intimate portrait of Pete appear in our trays of slooshing chemicals, his craggy demeanour immortalised as a Platinum/Palladium print.

Platinum/Palladium Print of Pete Postlethwaite by Paul Elton

Paul described to me how he made such a gentle portrait:

“Pete Postlethwaite lived with his family in south Shropshire.  Close by is a local beauty spot and National Trust area called the Long Mynd.  As Pete was himself a lover of the natural beauty of the south Shropshire hills, he wrote the foreword to a book written about the area.

“I covered the event for a society magazine.  During a quiet moment I asked him if I may take his portrait to which he agreed. Totally unassuming and down to earth, he stared straight into the lens with those soulful eyes.

“The impromptu shoot was over in less than five minutes.  Actually, I had photographed him on other occasions, but this image captured his integrity and for me reflected more faithfully my feelings of who he was.”

Although brief, it sounds like a wonderful moment for Paul with such a beautiful outcome.

Following some canvassing on Twitter and in ‘real life’, I’d like to leave you with a clip of one of Pete’s performances.

There are so many to choose from but this tear-jerking scene in Brassed Off came up consistently — as a friend of mine described it, “The most poetic piece of swearing ever filmed.”

Hankies at the ready…

Imagine it’s 1873.

Platinum/Palladium printing has just been invented but the print size is limited to that of the plate or film on which the photograph was originally captured.

An inherent attribute of any contact printing process, this meant that 5×4″ and 10×8″ Platinum prints were commonplace at the time.

Fast forward to the 21st Century and we now have the ability to make much larger digital negatives, resulting in the ability to make similarly larger Platinum/Palladium prints.

This year, Richard and I have been proud to take part in several projects that make full use of this new marriage of old and new technologies — Ian Aitken’s photographs of northern white rhinos have been a prime example.

30×22″ Platinum Print of the Northern White Rhino, Fatu, by Ian Aitken

This has been an extraordinary undertaking by Ian, who liaised with the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya.

Here, he took exclusive photographs of Najin, Fatu, Sudan and Suni — four of the world’s last seven remaining northern white rhinos — in a joint fundraising effort for the conservancy.

On 18th December 2012, Ian was invited to discuss the project on BBC Radio 4′s Saving Species.

Click on the image below, where you can hear Ian being interviewed from the 10:17 mark (I know the image below is a gorilla, it’s also a red herring!):

Listen to Ian discussing his project from the 10:17 mark…

As Ian explains further on his dedicated site:

In January 2012, I was invited to Ol Pejeta.

During this trip, I’d photographed the northern white rhino several times, but was not satisfied with my approach, so on the last morning of the trip I arranged to get some close-up portraits.

I wanted Mount Kenya in the background and the rhino in the foreground. With the guards’ help I managed to get Fatu in profile. I’d known how rare these animals are, but preparing for the photo I was struck by the loneliness and unbelievable fragility of their situation.

Then Fatu suddenly turned and started walking towards me. I was terrified — they are huge animals — but carried on taking photos, stepping backwards, faster and faster. The guards told me to stop and stand still for my own safety. Fatu came right up close to me and nuzzled her head in my stomach.

I know it’s corny, but at that moment, with the personal contact, I was hooked. I was completely blown away.

Framed 30×22″ Platinum Print of the Northern White Rhino, Najin, by Ian Aitken

Framed 30×22″ Platinum Print of the Northern White Rhino, Fatu, by Ian Aitken

Framed 30×22″ Platinum Print of the Northern White Rhino, Suni, by Ian Aitken

Framed 30×22″ Platinum Print of the Northern White Rhino, Sudan, by Ian Aitken

The framed prints are beautiful photographic objects…

The 24×16″ photograph sits within a sheet of 30×22″ paper and the print floats inside bespoke frames made of English brown oak inlaid with African mpingo and carved with the name of each rhino.

The set of four prints were first shown at The Royal Geographical Society on 31st October.

They carry an incredible stone-like quality, the long tones of the Platinum/Palladium combination lending themselves perfectly to the leathery skin of the rhinos and their surroundings.

For every print sold, 50% of the profits directly help to protect the northern white rhino from poachers.

Proceeds will fund the building of a modern security base at Ol Pejeta’s northern white rhino enclosure.

The full set of Platinum Prints on show at The Royal Geographical Society

The fundraising project is fully endorsed by Fauna and Flora International and the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

For further details on how to buy these stunning prints, please visit AitkenPrints.

If you would like to learn more about how we could make Platinum/Palladium prints for you, please take a look at this page or feel free to contact me.

Notes on Print Production:

I used my HP Designjet Z3200 in conjunction with HP’s very own Large Format Digital Negative Application to make Digital Negatives from Ian’s camera files.

The final prints were made on 310gsm Arches Platine in conjunction with 139 Printroom.

I’ll make no apologies for a second successive post on matters analogue.  You appear to enjoy them and I have a further post drafted (to follow in due course) offering my thoughts on why that might be.

Not only matters analogue, of course, as this is a marriage with digital technology too!

I digress.

Last week, I spent a couple of days working with my friend and colleague, Richard Freestone, in his domain, 139 Printroom.

I first enjoyed the darkroom experience at the age of twelve when I converted my bedroom to meet my new artistic and entrepreneurial requirements.  Sadly, I haven’t revisited these analogue methods since my university days.

Under the dim tungsten glow, I had forgotten what a gentle, calm experience the darkroom can be.

Everything slows right down to a strolling pace and goes a long way to creating the huge ‘pause button’ that I reckon the Western World craves…

Until now, my part in the Alternative Printing process has been to craft perfect Digital Negatives.  So, it was sublime to make my first Platinum/Palladium print from an image I have captured, scanned, made the Digital Negative and now printed using a process invented in 1873.

As you might imagine, I made some photographs of this rather special printing process and I thought you might like to see them too…

The Platinum/Palladium mixture, ready to be applied to the paper.

The mixture is drawn into a pipette...

...and applied to the paper.

The finest brush for the job is taken in hand...

...and the mixture is carefully distributed across the paper...

...leaving a smooth coating in readiness for the HP Digital Negative.

The HP Digital Negative is placed on top of the coated paper, held tightly under glass...

...and the exposure to strong ultra violet light is made.

Even before the paper is placed in the developing solution, parts of the image have already blackened to create a strangely beautiful latent image.

Into the developer we go and the image appears almost instantly.

After journeying through washes and clearing solutions, the print only needs to dry for the process to be complete.

A magical process, made possible by mixing together these chemicals (and then introducing some others!).

The Final Print | 'Scafell' by Jack Lowe | Platinum/Palladium Print from HP Digital Negative

Remember, you can learn more about this truly special service by clicking here…