Digital BW, The Print

(I'm glad you brought this up.  I've been meaning to write a report/ 
review of my experiences with Bamboo.)

I have a show up currently (in my small town of Silverton, Oregon) of  
23 prints, all on Hahnemuhle Bamboo, printed on a 7500 with MIS UT2  
inks (no toning inks used).  I used IJC/OPM to profile and print,  
which worked really well.

Bamboo's a lovely paper -- but only if you like very warm tones!  It's  
a wonderful match for pure-carbon inks, since the off-white of the  
paper combines really nicely with the brownish tones of the carbon.  I  
mounted the prints behind Rising museum mat board that had a warm  
tone, too, so the whole package was very pleasant.

The feel of the paper is unique -- rather than the cloth-like texture  
of the cotton rag papers, Bamboo feels pressed and almost armor-like,  
and is quite tough (I used the 17"x39' roll).  However, it still has a  
personality; it doesn't feel mass-produced.  There is a slight  
texture, but it's more like the feel of leather than of cloth.

For my subject (photographs of southern Europe), the resulting tone  
worked really well.  If you're a fan of photogravure or intaglio  
printmaking, you'll like it; if you're a fan of cool-toned wet  
printing, you probably won't.

My only (somewhat unserious) complaint is in the marketing -- the  
packaging talks about "spiritual printing" or such like; it's  
definitely being pushed towards people who respond to eco/natural/zen  
talk.  Luckily, that's me.  ;-)

As an aside -- after several years of not printing anything, and  
hauling around a non-working 7500, it was quite interesting to re- 
enter the field of B&W printing.  I used to be a die-hard fan of  
Somerset Velvet (first uncoated, then coated).  I figured that paper  
technology had moved on, and so when I was offered the show, I tested  
a variety of modern papers.  I was quite surprised to find that I  
actually still preferred the less-sharp look of Somerset over the  
various brightened, high-contrast, high-dMax papers.  Call me old- 
school, I guess.

Regarding the ecological pros/cons of bamboo -- the usual argument for  
architectural-style bamboo (eg, flooring) is that while bamboo grows  
quickly and is replenishable, that type only grows in Asia, and so the  
energy taken to ship the product to elsewhere in the world may cancel  
out its ecological benefits.  I don't know anything about the  
production process of bamboo paper, though; perhaps it is sourced from  
elsewhere, or is composed of recycled bits.  It would be interesting  
to see if Hahnemuhle would like to explain that to us.

Best,
--John

photos at: www.johnlabovitz.com