Blogging for Thor: In Soviet Russia...

So many stamps! There's just so many!

Thanks to the wonders of eBay, I was recently able to purchase some Soviet-era photographic paper from a seller in Lithuania. I'm not sure why they needed 44 stamps to send it to me, but apparently they did. I'm keeping this envelope forever. I asked a Lithuanian friend if such an abundance of stamps was ordinary or reasonable, but he assures me it is neither. He was at a loss to explain the stamp-splosion that arrived in my mailbox. Whatever, it's awesome.

The paper itself is decidedly... less awesome. First off, all three types of paper I got are designed for color processing. Generally, I do not find color photo paper to be as well-suited to lumen printing as black and white paper. It tends to take longer to expose and often has less dramatic colors. I've found that certain Kodak types of color paper have an odd reversal effect when exposed to moisture, producing a positive image instead of a negative image. That can be cool, but the colors are still generally just not as bright and fun as black & white paper can produce.

One frustrating thing about this Soviet paper is that it doesn't have any kind of brand or identification. It's just labelled "Photo Paper" with the sub-label "PhotoColor-2". Soviet Communism appears to have been boring as shit in addition to all its other faults. I approached the Alternative Photographic Processes group on Facebook to see if anyone could help translate the Russian information on the envelopes. Special thanks to Galja Karpova and Anton Orlov especially for translating some of the information. It appears at least some of this of paper dates from the 1970s and was produced in Leningrad. I believe it also has a glossy surface.

I purchased two sizes of the USSR FotoTsvet-2 (8x12 and 18x24), along with one bag of Fortecolor Type 3 paper (13x18) from Hungary. The Forte paper may be newer than the USSR paper, but not by much.

3 wet wild grape leaves

FotoTsvet-2 (18x24)
The 18x24 size of FotoTsvet-2 appears to have distinctly different characteristics from the smaller size. I got two 20-sheet packets of it. Overall, I'm not impressed with the paper. It's boring and dull, but I am continuing experiments to see if there might be something that can be done with it to produce more interesting results.

Color Palette: Brown field and light brown images. There seems to be very little range in this paper. I've done only two exposures, both for fairly long times (6+ hours) but I don't anticipate anything interesting happening at shorter exposures. The paper is very slow to expose at all. It starts off as a cream color, either naturally or as a result of its extreme age and fog.

Moisture Response: Almost none. There is a tiny visible halo of lighter brown, but it is extremely difficult to see even on the physical print.

Reaction to Fixing: Unknown as yet. I am not enthusiastic, given the rather dull colors that this paper presents prior to fixing. My previous experience with fixing color paper is that it virtually destroys the image.

FotoTsvet-2 (8x12)
I only have one 20-sheet pack of this size of paper, so I'm trying to be a bit cautious with it. I'm enjoying it more than the 18x24 size. It's still limited to earth tones, but there's some variation.

Color Palette: Violet-brown seems to be the color of the field, no matter what else changes. Objects can take on different tones depending on moisture and length of exposure, but generally all within a yellow-orange to red-orange range. The paper is very slow to expose at all. It starts off as a cream color, either naturally or as a result of its extreme age and fog.

Moisture Response: Unlike the larger size of FotoTsvet-2, this version does have a notable reaction to moisture. The example image shows two leaves exposed on the same sheet. The upper leaf was dry, the lower leaf had been soaking in water for a few days, so it was full of moisture and damp on the surface. Further experiments have revealed that fresh leaves and water produce deeper, redder colors and better contrast on this paper. Very little in the way of a halo effect, but there is a minor darkening around the edge of wet subjects.

Reaction to Fixing: Unknown as yet. I am not enthusiastic, given the rather dull colors that this paper presents prior to fixing. My previous experience with fixing color paper is that it virtually destroys the image.

Fortecolor Type 3
I enjoy modern, black and white papers produced by Forte quite a bit. Fortecolor Type 3, though, is not one of my favorites. So far, results have been very bland.

Color Palette: Browns, mostly. The paper has an overall tint of violet, but generally the colors produced can be described best as shades of brown. The field is dark brown, the objects are light brown. It isn't quite as starkly boring as FotoTsvet-2 (18x24), but it's close.

Moisture Response: Again, very little. There is some response to direct liquid application, which produces a darkening with more purple than brown in the affected areas, but simple moisture from fresh or even wet leaves is not enough to cause a dramatic effect. I may experiment with immersion during exposure, just to see what happens.

Reaction to Fixing: Unknown as yet. I am not enthusiastic, given the rather dull colors that this paper presents prior to fixing. My previous experience with fixing color paper is that it virtually destroys the image.


As always, you can check out my Flickr for further experiments. "FotoColor-2" and "Fortecolor" are the keywords for these new papers!