115 - Handmade Platinum Portrait by Herb Ascherman

Platinum | The most beautiful of all photographs. 

For 47 years Herb Ascherman, Jr. has been Cleveland’s most prominent portrait photographer. Platinum printing was patented by Englishman William Willis in 1873. The process was immediately embraced at the turn of the century by photographers of the Pictorialist, Photo-Secession and Linked Ring movements. Prized by the masters, this entirely hand made process exceeds all others in its physical beauty and longevity. Depending on the proportions of the metals used, a photograph printed in Platinum, or its sister metal Palladium, will vary in color and intensity from warm dark browns to cold neutral blacks. Printing the image is a contact process, requiring a negative the exact size of the print to be made. The photographer hand coats the paper with a solution of Platinum and/or Palladium, places the negative directly on the dried coated paper, and exposes the image to ultra violet light (which, in the old days meant placing the image outside in the sun for exposure). The image is then developed, fixed, washed and dried. Because it is composed of pure metal, the Platinum process is one of the most stable and archival of any in photography. Unlike other processes where the image is printed on a surface applied to the paper, the Platinum image is literally embedded in the paper itself.

It is often said that the Platinum image will outlast the paper upon which it is printed.

The timeless Quality of fine Portraiture and elegant Platinum Printing is brought to you exclusively by Herbert Ascherman, Jr. This item must be redeemed by November 16th, 2022. Image shown is an example, not the take home item. 

ascherman.net

 It must be used within 3 months of the auction date.