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The standard paper in the late 60s seemed to be Kodak's F
bromide - 'F' for the ability of ferrotyped glazing I think.
Much influenced by the 'romance' of the photojournalist, I
automatically opted for what I and many considered to be the
finest of the bromide papers, Agfa Brovira, a cut above the
bread and butter Kodak paper we thought. I happened to use
also Ilford Bromophen print developer. It was the most economical
in use, and its phenidone formulation meant it was very long
lasting too. I didn't know it, but it also fostered the cold
tones of bromide papers. I was in the very forefront of modern
photography, I thought conceitedly.
And yet, and yet. I knew in the local camera club a couple
of people who were turning out superb quality lustrous luscious
prints on papers like Kodak Bromesko and Ilford Plastika or
Ilfomar. These chlorobromide papers gave rich warm tones,
and very high maximum black densities. But their users in
the club were picturing natural history. To me, a child of
the swinging sixties, this was a pretty fuddy-duddy subject,
and luscious as the prints were, it represented everything
that seemed old fashioned.
In the intervening decades, the process of economic rationalisation
and standardisation has seen a steady reduction in choice
for photographers. The number of companies producing paper
has reduced, as have the number of paper surfaces, paper base
shades, contrast grades, and emulsion types. In the last few
years this has meant the virtual death of widely retailed
graded papers. All the VC papers seem to be not bromide or
chloride (which would be too slow in practice) , but bromochloride
or chlorobromide mixtures giving an image colour just slightly
either side of neutral black.
Ilford Multigrade has became the only paper almost universally
available in any photo-retailer the UK, often only in RC.
That's no criticism of Ilford. They deserve their dominant
position because of the decades of effort and investment they
have put into developing such a fine paper, and in the support
they have given to monochrome photography. I just like to
see a choice.
It does mean though that it is down to a few specialist dealers,
often mail order specialists, who are left to fly the flag
for graded or more unusual VC papers. The sad result has been
that at many of the workshops I run, many of the participants
only ever use Multigrade and some are actually unaware that
there are any other papers.
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