Back in the days of film and darkrooms
we used to make 20 by 24 inch work prints
like they were free Xeroxes.
I just wanted to see what stuff looked like
BIG.
So, after a long day of paperwork and planning and phone meetings I came back into the studio after dinner and played. I looked through boxes with hundreds and hundreds of large, black and white prints and I pulled some out and laid them out on the floor and thumbtacked em to the walls. I pulled out some fun nudes we did back in the 1990's and some great portraits from the 1980's and few from last month that I just got back from a real lab and I laid them out and just walked around the room looking at them.
I'm not planning a show or anything like that-----I just wanted to see how work looks when it's big and it's aged like a fine, old red wine. And it's really having an effect on me that I didn't anticipate. I'm happy with my portraits. One thing I've been missing from digital is printing stuff really big. Printing it really big and printing the perfect frame and the frames on either side and the frames on either side of those. And then living with the work for a while. Big.
It's curious. After the passage of long years I seem to like the alternate frames. The ones I didn't show. The nudes between the sensual and the prurient. The expressions that were just to one side of alluring.
I'm thinking I need to send more stuff out to be printed big. There's no question that today's cameras can handle it. And I'd like to have another dozen or so boxes of 100 prints or more in the "just because I can" vault before I hang it up.
9 comments:
I'd like to think the making photographic prints is an art form that will never die. It's guaranteed that large TVs, Computers, Tablets, and etc will kill off a large majority of the print market. However there is something about holding a beautiful well printed photograph that no screen can ever replicate. This is coming from a 23 year old too.
What a wonderful portrait. I would like to see an exibition of yours...
"I'm not planning a show or anything like that."
Why not?
Personally I like very large prints. A well-executed large print can be a revelation. The large scale also invites the observer to enter the world of the artist - to become part of the work.
Just a beautiful portrait. You've earned the pleasure of just looking.
Gunny
I like to still believe that it is not really photography until it is printed. Glad to see there are others who feel the same way!
"...and look at them and try to figure out why I like them"
really? could be the pretty women. works for me anyway.
Facinating Article! didn't know samsung made cameras....
One of my most important learning tools is a wall in my office dedicated to "work prints". Mine are smaller. Usually 4x6 to 6x9 and a few 8x10ish. My references from the photo world all came from books.. hence the smaller size. They are all tacked up and play musical chairs. It's a constant work in progress. A visual sketch book of ideas... some good, some not so good.
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