Mikhail Pavin presents the longest photograph
in the world.

September 25, 2001, Russia, Vladivostok.

Description

 

This photograph is a part of an art-project "The FIRST DiMENTION" of a well-known
Vladivostok photographer Mikhail Pavin and contemporary art gallery Arka.

It has been manually printed on AgBr photographic paper by traditional B&W technology.
It consists of 62 frames printed one after one from standard 35-mm Kodak film
by means of standard projector.

All components of self-made original-recipe developer and fixer
were bought in a chemical shop.

Illustrated description of a process wich took place in a small (2,7X6m. + 2,4X3,8m.)
studio of Mikhail Pavin on September 15-16 you can see on next pages.

All stages of a process were fixed on photo and video by Sergey Litsukov

I will be glad to answer your questions mailed to mpavin@narod.ru

How it has been made:
Equipment

To print the photograph I used only standard mass-made equipment with small additions only.
Enlarger was turned for horizontal projecting and provided with film support units
made of coffee can cups.

How it has been made:
Equipment

To escape film shift cassette rolls were added to film holder.

How it has been made:
Equipment

Exposing of the test print.
Self-made photographic paper holder allows to roll paper in a plane
perpendicular to the optical axis of enlarger.

How it has been made:
Equipment

Developing machine was made of wood, plywood and cellophane.
Plastic rolls provide soft moving of a paper from developer bath to fixer bath.
They have metal bearings and rotate very easy.

How it has been made:
Preparing

My assistant Katya marks the 35mm film perforation edges
to increase their contrast.

How it has been made:
Exposing

Exposing photographic paper, I used a secondmeter to controll the exposure
(1,5 min. each frame).

How it has been made:
Processing

Processing of exposed paper by means of dragging it through the plastic rolls from developer
(original recipe) to fixer (double concentration) and then - to water bath (is out of view)
in progress.

How it has been made:
Processing

Reconstructing the developing machine to washing machine was very easy and fast.

How it has been made:
Processing

Washing the print was also easy, but very long.
You cannot see water outlet because it is covered by the print.

How it has been made:
Processing

Reconstructing of washing machine into dryer.

How it has been made:
Processing

Two fans (small double fan is more than 500c.m. per hour capacity!) blow on the wet print
from both sides, electric lamps 100W each one heat it to dry faster.

How it has been made:
Processing

Removing water drops also accelerates drying process.

How it has been made:
Measuring

To recognize exact length, I have spread dry print
along the submarine C-56 on a memorial complex.

How it has been made:
Measuring

Measuring has shown that the length of printed area of this photographic print is 66,54 m.
at the humidity 40% approx. When humidity grows, the length increases.

How it has been made:
Presentation

	Memorial complex where the presentation had place is under a round-the-clock control, so we have had to get a special permition before. All important mass-medias of Vladivostok were present. One of my friends told me after presentation, that he has never seen so many photographers in one place. Submarine's length is 77,8 m.

How it has been made:
The end

Who will see this photograph next?