Digital BW, The Print

Thanks to the efforts of Jeff Magidson and the generosity of Mark 
Tucker, who lent his prints, I've had a week of pleasure with Mark's 
copies of the 30-print exchange that concluded around Thanksgiving. 
When I sent it on the Sam McCandless today, I included in my 
warning post some suggestions for sending prints, especially across 
borders. I include the note here in the hope that it may have some 
relevance for our European members as well.

*****

Sam, Jeff
Using Mail Boxes Etc., I sent off the travelling show to 
Sam this afternoon via UPS.  The tracking number 
(follow it at ups.com) is W787 130 1086.

Jeff, it was wonderful of you to set this up for those of 
us who neglected the opportunity or were not yet set 
up to do B&W work. It gave hours of pleasure to 
admire the eye of the photographers, and the 
astonishing richness of the materials. Though it's been 
said again and again, much of the pleasure we take 
from these prints derives from the work of Paul Roark 
and the folks at MIS. We can't thank them enough.

FWIW, let me suggest a couple of things with respect 
to sending prints, and not only across the border. It's 
probably futile to insure them. It adds to the cost -- 
both the USPO and FedX prescribe expensive transits if 
the parcel is insured, and were the prints to be lost, the 
insurer would probably collect nothing. The prints are, 
after all, amateur photos in the eyes of the couriers. 
You might get the return of your carriage, plus a few 
cents for a 8x10 sheet of 300gsm Torchon, *IF* you 
filled out all the multi-page claim forms correctly.

Canadians have a special interest in all this, of course. 
We have lived for generations with a predatory 
government and a legion of border ruffians eager to 
burden anything of value that crosses the Parallel with 
taxes, fees, brokerage charges, tariffs and handling 
costs (Canada Post gets an extra $5 beyond the 
postage for "handling" a parcel, as well as charging a 
15% "sales tax" on the postage itself). The average 
Canadian is thus a master smuggler and skilled 
dissembler. The bland face we present to the world is 
not a function of "nice";  rather it stems from iron 
control of the facial muscles as one answers "No" to 
the question "Anything to declare?" We learn it from 
childhood ("OK, here's customs; you kids keep right still 
and read your comic books while your father does the 
talking.") 

Now the North American Free Trade Agreement has 
made things somewhat easier than it was forty years 
ago, but if you have occasion to ship anything up here 
(and I'm hoping you won't exclude us poor Northers 
from the exchanges because of all this), let me give 
you the magic word that will pass a parcel past all 
bureaucratic obstacles -- NCV. No Commercial Value. 
That's right, you've got to declare all these wonderful 
images worthless! Steel yourself. The parcel will get 
here quicker and I won't get a note from some broker a 
month later saying I owe $50 to Her Majesty's 
Government in Right of Canada. Poor Ross Mullins, 
who sent me the Travelling Show from Cordova, Alaska 
tried valiantly to get round customs by declaring the 
parcel a gift. A good dodge if you know what you're 
doing. But alas, he insured the photos for $300. That's 
three hundred dollars Yew Ess, or roughly $14,000 
Canadian. And sure enough, when the package got to 
me there was a bright orange sticker attached saying 
that since the gift was in excess of $20 in value 
(fourteen cents US) I must prepare myself to hear from 
somebody soon about a fee ... 

Well now; did I not forget there's a Mountie out there 
reads this list? All in good fun, eh Tunney?

Best regards,
Bob Bollini