The Contact Print
Text by James Alinder
The Friends of Photography (Untitled 30), 1982, 48 pages
ISBN 0-933286-32-5
The advent of small handheld cameras, whose tiny negatives could be enlarged many times while still retaining good image quality, saw photographers move away from the use of contact printing. But some photographers continued to use big, bulky view cameras to create large format negatives that could be contact printed to create the finest quality photographic prints.
This book showcases the work of ten such photographers, with contact-printed images ranging in size from 4x5 inches all the way up to 8x20 inches. The book uses a large page size, 11.75 inches square, to accommodate these large contact prints.
The book is beautifully printed in black & white. The images are gorgeous, and feature a wide variety of subjects. A brief caption accompanies each image.
Biographical information is provided for each featured photographer, and the introductory essay by James Alinder covers the history of contact printing and provides some insights into each photographer's featured work.
Recommended.