STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY | prints
For pricing and to obtain prints, please contact me.
Images are printed using the 'carbon on paper' process, in which carbon-based ink is deposited by an inkjet printer on specially coated cotton-rag paper. I use a variety of papers; currently, I use predominantly matte papers because the finish is so attractive, and, in contrast to glossy papers, they ink appears less to be floating on the surface and more integrated into the paper itself. With the new bartya-coated papers, the depths of the blacks are comparable to glossy papers, and the reduction in contrast that was a price for using matte papers until recently is no longer paid.
I choose the term 'carbon on paper' because it accurately describes the process. The term 'inkjet print' is less good, because some printers use inks that contain dyes, which are considerably less permanent that carbon prints. Galleries sometimes use the term 'giclee', an obfuscation designed to hide the fact that the prints are made on an inkjet printer. This strikes me as pretty silly. The best modern inkjet printers are capable of making prints that are far superior to traditional darkroom prints, primarily in the quality of the finish, but (since about 2006) in tonal range also. A great advantage of the inkjet process is that it requires no washing; darkroom printing is limited to papers that can withstand the rigorous washing that is required to eliminate traces of chemicals that limit the longevity of the print. I sometimes wonder if those who decry inkjet printing in favour of older technologies could tell the difference between a carbon ink print on an art matte paper and a platinum print on a similar stock.
In the past, I used custom greyscale inks, but I switched to Epson OEM inks when the ABW printing mode became available. Although I was very happy with the quality of the prints I obtained using custom inks, I found that it was near impossible to control gloss differential across a range of papers. And although the Epson inks are extraordinarily expensive (about the same price per volume as Chanel No. 5), I am glad to no longer be spending so much time creating custom curves. I do create my own black and white ICC profiles, which improves the linearity of the ABW prints, and helps ensure good shadow detail.