Freestyle Photographic Supplies

I have to tell you what a cool, fun day I had at Freestyle Photographic Supplies in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard.  I usually order from them online, but I am down in socal visiting my sisters and I told them I want to go to Freestyle!  I had gone thru my catalog and marked all the goods I needed and found interesting to purchase.  Thank goodness I did that.  That place is like a candy store to me!  We really lucked out as we got a one on one tour of the place and I received several photography lessons on processes I wanted to try!!  That really made my day - I'm still smiling!!

We were first greeted by Michael and he helped me with his knowledge of the various papers and processes, namely:  chromoskedasic process.  It claims to put the 'fun' back in the darkroom process.  You start out with a black and white print that has been freshly developed but not yet fixed.  Then an activator and stabilizer is used under normal lighting conditions (not in the dark).  The chemicals in the presence of light produce deep red-browns, blues, yellows, oranges, greens and even purple.  Michael started telling me the process and then out comes Eric Joseph who is the Senior Vice President of Merchandising and product development.  I mean his "job" is to search out and find available alternative processed for photography, and sometimes creates an old age process utilizing current product/chemicals.  So Michael and Eric then proceed to show us their upcoming employee show, since we are from out of town and won't be here when it is set up for viewing.  Awesome, absolutely awesome.  Then Eric took us in his office to share with us some of his work utilizing the different processes he has developed and/or that are out there for anyone to try!

I could go on and on just about the papers.  I've always had an interest in the results achieved from utilizing the various papers and have tried numerous - but THERE ARE SO MANY MORE OUT THERE!!  I learned how the papers are actually cut.  Here I was always concerned that I'm wasting paper when I'm printing an 11x14 on say 11x17.  I love the 11x14 size and Epson paper at that size is hard to find.  Michael tells me paper is made in large sheets, and then the different sizes are cut from that original sheet.  Apparently the 11x14 is an odd size and the manufacturer wastes paper as cutting that size leaves wasted excess.  I never imagined that the paper was processed that way.  And then I also found out that Epson doesn't even make their own paper!!  It's made by various other companies (Canson, Hahnemuhle for example)! 

So this is what I bought:  the chemicals for the Chromoskedasic Sabattier process as well as additional Arista Ultra FB glossy paper.  Using this paper (v. other FB papers) for this process results in more silver rising to the top of the paper creating a more dramatic finish.  So I will try both papers and see for myself.  I also picked up some Arista II Photograde Metallic glossy inkjet paper (this is going to be so cool)!  And finally I purchased some Arista II OHP Transparency Film to make some 8x10 digital negatives.  They can be used in various other processes.  The one I was interested in was the cyanotype.  I have to tell you, I have always thought that if you made a good print of any process, it doesn't mean it has to be HUGE to be great.  Big is not always better.  This was reinforced today when I saw all the beautiful prints displayed today and everyone did their own innovative processes and nothing was over 16x20.

All I can say is that I'm going to bed happy, excited, and recharged.  And if you would like to check out these and the many, many more available processes out there, go to their website:  www.freestylephoto.biz.