The Great Last Dye Transfer Blowout Print Sale

Ctein, Niagara Falls—2003
(image area 17.5 x 15")

Change comes.

But first things first: a lot of our readers have been waiting patiently for this, and this is a limited sale. If you want to secure your order before you recommence reading this post, go to the Order Page here [UPDATE: Link removed—sale ended at 5:06 p.m. Wednesday] and follow Ctein's ordering instructions. (Be sure to read before sending any money). V. important: Your email to Ctein secures your order and your place in line (English translation: in the queue).

...So, where was I? Change comes. For three thousand years, to name one example, the horse was the noblest conveyance of Mankind, as closely tied to the world's aristocracies as any suburbanite is to his or her SUV. But in the space of a handful of decades, that changed.

Optical-chemical photographic techniques, too, are gradually but inexorably being put out to pasture.

Our friend Ctein, determined to be a color photographer in an era when virtually all serious photography was black and white, went straight to the top, and mastered dye transfer printing. A difficult and involved process mostly used at the highest levels of commercial reproduction, it offered at least two advantages: supreme control and great beauty.

Ctein, Roses Against Black Stone Wall, Portland, OR—1990
(image area 17 x 15")

Ctein is not sentimental by nature; when Kodak discontinued making dye transfer materials in 1993, he appraised the alternatives and made a decision: he mortgaged himself to the hilt and filled his basement with a large quantity of dye transfer printing materials, some of it stored in specially-purchased top-opening freezers. For one thing, many of his clients wanted dyes, and he needed to be able to maintain his business. For his personal work, I distinctly remember him saying, some time around 1996, that he would not switch to digital until the output got good enough—meaning, as good or better than dye transfer.

Right now, as I write this, 99% of his custom printing business is inkjet. His own work is digital and inkjet. He's not sentimental about this either: he prefers digital now. The time has come: as soon as this sale is over, after more than four decades, Ctein is closing his wet darkroom permanently. These are the last dye transfer prints he will ever make.

Ctein, Columbia at Dusk, Cape Canaveral—1981
(image area 19 x 15")

For more than four years, he and I have been planning this sale: one last glorious blowout. I wanted to sell full-sized prints showing the best that dye could do; he let me pick the pictures. In the past month or two, he made a fastidious inventory of the last of his stockpiled materials, individually inspecting every sheet of paper and testing the match between image and materials. The magic number is 160. That's as many large dyes as he can make.

It's very complicated, however. Some prints can be made on some types of paper and not on others. So although he can make 160 prints, he can only make certain numbers of certain images. It's possible—not likely, but possible—that if you order one particular picture late in the game, he'll have to ask you to pick another.

This means: order early if you want to be assured of getting your top choice.

Roses is a personal favorite of mine as a supreme example of the dye transfer medium: the colors are delightfully pure, the subject "pops." I picked this picture as a magazine cover, and it was part of the very first print offer Ctein and I did together after I established the Collector Print program at Photo Techniques magazine in the '90s.

The oldest picture of the four is Columbia at Dusk, from 1981. What better medium to commemorate the now discontinued Space Shuttle program than now discontinued dye transfer?

The newest is Niagara Falls—2003. He just put this up on his website recently; it was new to me within the past year. I think it's lovely, the best treatment of this subject I've seen. I've never seen the print, but I'm betting the delicate tension between water-blue and sky-blue (note what different colors they are) floating amidst all that soft white is going to be stunning rendered in dye.

Ctein, Castle Eilean Donan—1995
(image area 19 x 15")

The last of my four picks, to keep the variety going and offer something for everyone, is a landscape, from Ctein's Scotland Portfolio. Castle Eilean Donan is one of his most popular and best-selling landscapes, one that everyone who sees a print of seems to love.

On to the details
Each print is $575—almost exactly a third of what you'd regularly pay to buy one of Ctein's large dye transfer prints. Shipping is a flat $25, no matter how many prints you buy or where in the world you are. (As I mentioned earlier, it's possible you won't get your first choice if you order late.)

As you know if you're familiar with our sales, we keep the doors open for five days, and then that's that—sale over, opportunity lost. That's doubly—triply—quadruply true this time around! This is it, folks. In the future, Ctein will only have already-made prints from his archive to sell, and those will be much more expensive than his current regular prices.

So, this being a limited sale in number, the sale will end at noon, Monday, April 22, 2013, or until the prints sell out, whichever comes first. We hope you'll be able to order as late as Sunday or Monday if you want to, but there's no guarantee.

Note again that a payment alone does not constitute an order. You first have to email Ctein (after reading the instructions on his order page); that's your order, and that's what reserves your print(s) for you and cements your place in line. A payment alone doesn't do it. Be careful about this—don't say I didn't warn ya!

Each print has large white borders (a minimum of one inch) and they are signed and titled by Ctein on the lower front border in ink and signed and dated on the back in graphite.

All prints will ship within 60 days, via USPS Priority Mail with tracking numbers.

You'll find the rest of the relevant details at the Order Page [UPDATE: Link removed—sale ended at 5:06 p.m. Wednesday]. If you have any questions, ask away. Ctein will be very busy today and is unlikely to be able to answer individual queries immediately, but I'll be here, and I can get a hold of him if need be.

I really hope you like this, our third and last dye transfer color print sale. As ever, thanks for looking.

Mike

[UPDATE 1:00 p.m. Wednesday: At exactly one hour into the sale, 90 prints have been sold. Just a warning that this might sell out sooner than expected.

Ctein wants people to know that he's been too swamped keeping track of the orders to send out order confirmations yet, but all emails will be tabulated by time stamp and you should get a response and order confirmation from him by the end of the day. —Mike the Ed.]

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below. We hope the "CAPTCHA" requirement will be TEMPORARY.)
Featured Comments from:

adamct: "I have a small collection of Ctein's pictures. When I heard about this print offer, I immediately ordered two of Ctein's large prints that I have wanted for a long time, lest he run out of supplies and be unable to print them in the future. They arrived recently and, as expected, are stunning.

"FWIW, I would put in a strong vote for 'Roses Against Black Stone Wall.' I haven't seen it in print, but it seems like a subject that would lend itself strongly to Ctein's process and skills. The texture of the black background and the veins in the green leaves, coupled with the color in the blossoms, is sure to be a joy to behold in person."

Richard Tugwell (partial comment): "Is he still taking orders for the un-discounted items? That is, the ones that are three times the price?"

Mike replies: He's not doing any more printing to order, but he has stock prints of many of his pictures which he will sell to you for the current prices during the five days of the sale. The current price list is here. You do need to check with him about the particular image you want, though, because some of them are sold out. After the sale ends, the price for older stock prints will go up substantially.

Also, if you try to contact him today, you shouldn't expect a reply right away.

Thingo: "I just can't wait to see if my order was placed sufficiently promptly. Many thanks to photographer/printer Ctein, and facilitator Mike, for this wonderful opportunity. Now back to being horizontal for a bit more shut-eye (UTC+10)."

Richard Man: "Since I am local to Ctein, I was fortunate enough to have seen his portfolio with many large prints. I am sure the Rose is spectacular, but as a "Space enthusiast," I have been hoping to obtain a space print for some times. My first choice would have been this one, but Columbia at Dusk will do nicely. Thank you Mike and Ctein!"

Comments

[Nikhil Ramkarran]

Can't afford it, but already ordered. I was worried that I might not like the choices offered, but that Niagara blows me away on screen at 72dpi and a few inches across.

The children will just have to go without proper sustenance for a couple of months, but they're tough, they'll manage.

[M Bennett]

My email to Ctein is sent .... fingers crossed :)

[chris.scl]

Well, you did manage to get me into a rush with all the anticipation. Nice selection, excellent price, and Niagara Falls was one of my favorites from Ctein's portfolio. Just hoping that my 12:04 email to Ctein came early enough!

[Ronny A. Nilsen]

I was hoping that you would pick som great images, and you have delivered! This is a worthy ending with four great images. Two of the images spoke more to me than the others, so I have placed an order for those two.

Ronny

[Richard Tugwell]

Is he still taking orders for the un-discounted items? That is, the ones that are three times the price? Might want to pick another image, given that these ones don't really do anything for me

[John Haugaard]

Great job Ctein and Mike. Excellent selection of prints offered.

[Sylvain G.]

I really can't afford it but the Niagara falls print would be superb in my living room :'-)

Really sad to see a process dye... I meant die.

Thanks to Mike & Ctein for that nice opportunity.

Greetings,
S.

[Ed]

Hell, I like, love, adore youre Niagara Falls shot Ctein, have seen a lot of shots from it. Mostly rather gloomy affairs (like Gursky's shot with the tourist boat). This highkey picture however sort of depicts the joy found in every water molecule that jumps the clifface, you can here the droplets screaming....

Greets, Ed.

[Steve E Miller]

Ctein, that Niagra Falls pic is just sublime! Wish I had the money to buy a print!

[Bahi]

Not within budget at the moment but we have a few Ctein prints here (some from his digital photographs and others from film) as well as a smaller dye-transfer print and they really are terrific. Castle Eilean Donan is one of our recent ink-jet prints — it's quite something to see!

[Vuong Long]

Hi Mike and Ctein,

When I saw the picture Castle Eilean Donan in Ctein's gallery, it looks sunny and much more warmer than the picture shown here which is more gloomy. Why's the difference ?
Could I get the sunny version of the picture ?

Thanks,

Long

[Dear Long,

The JPEG in my Online Gallery was pulled from the digital monograph of the Scotland Portfolio. It's a decent representation of how that photograph prints as an inkjet print. But it's not the way it prints as a dye transfer print. For that, the versions on Mike's and my TOP Sales page (especially on my page) are much more accurate.

If you really, really like the inkjet version, you can purchase that at the normal price, outside of this sale:

http://ctein.com/howorder.htm

pax / Ctein]

[Q]

*sigh*

Does anyone have $2,325 they feel like donating?

(No? Oh well; I guess I'll make do with 800px-wide JPEGs.)

[Nigel]

Was unavoidably out this evening, so may be too late.
Fingers crossed.....

[Jeffrey Lee]

Having grown up near Niagara Falls, almost every picture of it bores me. I echo the sentiment by Steve Miller. That image is sublime. Captures the mystique and power of it with a subtle delicacy. I'm sure the dye transfer version is equally as stunning. I wish I could afford it right now.

[Pieter]

If I only bought it for the historical aspect (can you imagine telling your kids about it one day), that would be enough. But one of these images speaks to me, and I hope against all hope that I can get it!

[Paddy C]

Couldn't jump in because I'm in budget mode for the foreseeable future but just wanted to say that that Niagara Falls photograph is fantastic. One of the best I've seen of the falls. Good work Ctein.

[Carsten W]

If by some accident there should be enough chemicals for 161 prints, I would love on of "Castle Eilean Donan". When I woke up this morning, everything was already gone :(

[RobG]

well boo. missed it completely. I hate my life.

[Christer]

Was fortunate enough to get in on this sale. Thanks for the opportunity, Mike and Ctein!

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Maybe time to set up a pseudo secondary print marketplace at TOP, where buyers of previous prints can resell them. Of course Mike would collect, say, a 10-15% facilitation fee on the sales.

OK, just kidding.

[Mark Alan Miller]

I couldn't have afforded one, but even viewing the small versions here is a treat for the eyes. Splendid images, full of life, the kind of pictures it would be impossible to ever tire of. In a way I'm glad my wallet is empty as I never could have chosen. Roses, Niagara, Columbia, one of those three, though the fourth is also lovely. It's nice to see photography that isn't edgy or confrontational for a change. Sheer perfect beauty is much harder to achieve.

[ctein]

Dear Carsten (and others who have asked via e-mail),

One of Mike's firm rules about these sales is that once it's over, it's over.

It's not about whether I'll have spare prints or materials. I built a safety margin into that 160 number, to allow for wastage during printing and possible losses during shipping. Unless I am extremely unlucky, I'll wind up with several extra prints of each that will go back into inventory. That's got nothing to do with it. It's about maintaining the exclusivity of the sales.

pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
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-- Ctein's Online Gallery http://ctein.com 
-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com 
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