Digital BW, The Print

Fine art photographic galleries, don't necessarily want to sell large
prints. Fine art photographic buyers don't necessarily want to buy large
prints. I realize this list is about B&W printing, but sometimes the members
forget it's the art not the engineering that makes photographs appealing. I
have been to photographic galleries selling contemporary
8" x 10" images shot with a pinhole camera, for 1,500.00. By the standards
on this list, these prints would be considered terrible (I don't disagree
with that appraisal), but they were selling.

I like everyone else on this list strive to make my prints the highest
quality possible. Every time I sell at a show, it's usually the images and
prints that I like the least, so go figure.

Gary Brown

www.pbase.com/garyallenbrown
www.gabsculpture.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Djon" <westsidemaurice@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 8:35 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: A Multiple Choice Question:


Guy, I should emphasize that this has been seat-of-pants over the past
several months...not big science, maybe not even true this week :-)

Two of the galleries were owned by the photographers who were
showing...both genuinely exceptionally fine, one working both
traditionally and digitally in B&W, mostly printing 16X20-up (I've not
talked with this guy...need to...don't know his views, but they'll be
important)...the other a woman who photographs old vehicles, shows
huge and spectacular Epson prints (done by a small lab). She's also a
painter and her photos show that background.

None of the digital prints were glossy or semi-gloss...just the work
of photographers intent on strong images (maybe half use digital labs,
the same way many/most traditional gallery-exhibiting photographers
use labs for dye transfer or big Ektacolor/Ciba prints).

All of the digital prints were at least 20X24...which obviously
figures:  galleries inherently WANT to sell big prints, why would they
bother displaying little hobbiest-budgeted prints?

The majority of silver prints around town are small (under 16X20),
typically antiquities by the usual famous suspects...the *vast*
majority of modern images are color, whether digital or wet, and BIG,
often 30X40-ish and above.

Djon



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, guy washburn
<guido02474@y...> wrote:
> Djon,
>
> Great report! This matches well what I am hearing from
> gallery owners (who could care less about technology
> and only want what is perceived to have lasting value
> and will sell).
>
> Any consensus on what papers are working for them?
> Matte or Gloss/SemiGloss/Luster?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Guy
> --- Djon <westsidemaurice@y...> wrote:
> >
> > I've been looking closely at fine digital prints on
> > display in
> > expensive Santa Fe NM galleries, talking to the
> > photographers.
> >
> > Amazing stuff. Santa Fe is full of worthless
> > painting and jewelry
> > schlock, but several photo galleries are the best
> > I've seen anywhere.
> >
> > I always ask: The printer is invariably an Epson
> > (2200, 4000, 9600)
> > and the pigments are invariably OEM, both B&W and
> > color.
> >
> > They look faaaabulous. They lack nothing Vs silver
> > prints, and are
> > lots better than 90% of the "fine" Ciba...though
> > some giant Ektacolor
> > prints have been startling...
> >
> > The photographers simply did fine photographs and
> > used high quality
> > tools to produce fine prints. They evidently weren't
> > looking for
> > cheapest, newest, or "alternative" solutions. They
> > evidently weren't
> > into shopping, machines, or tinkering.





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