Portriga Rapid Lith (2025)

More and more I find myself visualizing projects in a direct relationship with limited materials. I think it is the reality of darkroom printing in the modern era. Materials are expensive, and much less readily available than they were even ten years ago. In this case, I was given a sealed box of Agfa Portriga PRK111 paper. Decades old at this point, waiting patiently in a lightproof bag until eventually being opened in my darkroom in April 2025. Of course, the paper was magnificently fogged – almost a middle grey. So straight prints were out of the question. No amount of restrainer could keep that fog at bay. Lith prints are always a viable Plan B, so that’s what I went with.

One thing I’ve learned about lith prints is this: other darkroom printers I know seem to love them – they have a colour and quality that can’t be created otherwise. And non printers? They seem to hate them. Consistently nonplussed. My great worry is that lith printing may be the equivalent to experimental jazz.

The photos I have of these prints don’t capture a few wonderful qualities that you can see when held in the hand. One is the wonderful eggshell like surface of the Portriga paper. I don’t know of a modern paper that has anything like it. The other quality is one I can’t understand. There is an effect like solarization in the deepest tones of these prints, they shimmer like fishscales or the iridiscent feathers of a hummingbird . I’m not sure if it’s related to the relatively ridiculous amount of light I needed to expose these properly. I used a bare bulb and a contact printing frame for a minute or more. Lots of light. Combined with aggressive sepia toning, and this effect was born.

These are contact prints of large format 5×7 negatives, made in an 8×10 contact printing frame – hence the oppressive black border. The photos are from my first 2 years of photographing Hamilton, Ontario with my 5×7 field camera.

Dimensions

Paper size: 8″ x 10″
Image size: 4 ¾” x 6 ¾”

Unique sepia toned, silver gelatin prints