Bigger prints

After moving over to a roll fed printer - Epson 7800 - the size lends itself to images just a little bit different such as a wall canvas at approx 550mm x 2.1m in width...

Panoramics

With this new Epson printer, its opened up some big print possibilities but with this comes the headache of the best or most cost effective way of display.
Do I take the prints to be backmounted to acrylic, facemounted to Dibond or Foamex or do I look in to quality prints behind glass in frames?

Although my personal preference for a gallery print is framed either behind glass or not, the only way at the moment to do everything in house is to stretch either fabric or canvas over wooden frames.
I've just finished an 18" x 40" of the first one below and have printed the Langdale image at just under 20" x 2m which looks incredible. I've got to stretch it this weekend ( I picked up a Stanley electric stapler which makes it a chunk easier ) and should have it ready for the gallery next week.
Once I've finished I'll post photographs of them on the wall for scale.

Parrworld

Had the chance to go and see Martin Parr's Parrworld exhibition over at the Baltic.

First off, what a fantastic gallery - great location, facilites and incredibly helpful staff who want to chat about the stuff on show instead of just casting a nonchalant bead across any visitors.

As a curator, Martin Parr's selections of others' photographs are without question - considering these are his personal prints I am green with envy: Friedlander, Eggleston, Chris Kilip, Graham Smith and plenty of his Magnum colleagues. The photobooks as well are superbly picked and laid out giving the desired response of wanting to flick through and covet. The collected artifacts of miners strikes, Obama ephemera and US/Iraq/Afghanistan material are all interesting to look at but what exactly am I looking at here.....
I know as Parrworld we are invited to see the person (the genes of a chronic collector) but perhaps after seeing Damien Hirst's Pharmacy which is also showing here I wanted something with more substance then a Saddam wristwatch as nice as that may be.

I didn't think the images shown within the new Luxury theme Martin Parr has been working on were the strongest I had seen - plenty of the images are typical Parr: juxtapositions of class against class or in this case class against class aspiration and most show the signature effect of artificial light/ringflash (you can also spot it in sunglasses reflections so it can all be ticked off as suitable Parr-isms). My problem is that the selection shhown here feel almost Parr-lite.
If one of the highlights is that Newcastle glamour girls drink cans of Fosters instead of champagne at the races then ok, but I think we could have all taken a punt on that. Maybe its that we see it all now and that perhaps human nature in this sense is stagnating under X Factor and the likes of Heat magazine but I came away impressed the least from this new selection of photographs.

I must conclude though, that regardless of the quality of these new photographs - and any Parr is good Parr for most, myself included - and in a setting like the Baltic, t'was a most enjoyable day out by far.
Shame as I walked in to Newcastle to visit Side Gallery it was closed, but that's my excuse to go back....

A number of changes

After printing most of my images to sell on a Canon Pro 9500 A3+ printer, its finally been at the repair shop too many times and my patience with it has grown way too thin. As good as the printer is it has developed some kind of feed error and prints the first swathe slightly off and then bands repeatedly throughout the print. Canon showed no interest ( except quoting me approx £180 + VAT for someone to come out to look ) and I had to find alternative means to get it up and running.

With the ink costing a fair chunk of money - £9 for a thimbleful and its also 10 colour - I decided to sell on some equipment that I wasnt using and take the plunge in to something more usable. The 135mm F2 lens for the 5D has gone ( I shed a quiet tear.... ) but I'm now running an Epson 7800.

Being roll fed - 24" - and the inks costing around 4 times as much as the Canon for 20x the amount, its opening up a whole new arena of larger scale prints. As I printed most images at full A3 for max impact, a 24" x 40" has a wow factor the smaller models just can't match.

I also shot my first wedding a few weeks back - I'll post pictures in another post.

Liverpool Piazza Market

Involved in this tomorrow - should be interesting.
Only problem is the weather forecast - whether or not it pours down or just continually drizzles... I'm going to nip over to Argos later to see about a gazebo - dont know whether it'll stand on the paving but its either that or sou'wester and soggy pictures.

Penwortham Gala, Preston

Screaming kids, funfair rides, smell of greasy burgers. Inadvertently released overpriced helium balloons head skywards - cue more screaming.

Ruffs Dog Show - Preston

The world of competitive dog ownership comes to Ashton Park in Preston.
Pooches and partners of all varieties and sizes queue in the sporadic drizzle in front of judges - four eyes yearning for rosettes ( at least I like to think the dogs know whats going on ).
Waggiest tail and shiniest nose clinched, crowds disperse to the tombola raffle and inevitable dog training stalls.