Fresh Bouquet of Flowers

Here's a small selection of fresh Flora images I've shot over the past few months.  More can be seen on my website under the Exhibited Portfolio.  Enjoy!!!

Editions editions everywhere...

As a practitioner of the fine art print the need to make editioning decisions has continually bugged me for years. I was never satisfied with the traditional method of limiting the number of prints to a specified number.  Either that or I just plain can't make up my mind.  The foundation of limited editions is rooted in the very real fact that a carved block, of any material, only has a set number of prints it can perform before it's worn down and unprintable.  With photography, especially digital photography, there is no physical pressure applied to the negative (or digital file) and thus the image can be re-printed indefinitely.  The only reasoning behind limiting an edition in photography is to artificially increase the value of each print.  There are far smarter people than I who have debated this very issue for years.  Now I'm not wholly against this, I like money as much as the next guy.  My problem lies in the fact that photography is an infinitely manipulatable and reproducible art form.  Anything within the image can be changed.  And traditionally, in a limited edition all prints are identical.  My vision of any particular image can (and often does) change over the years, and I'll adjust the image in future prints to reflect that change.  So if I decide one day that I want all prints to be 11 inches square and very dark, is that the start of an edition?  And equally confusing is when I change my mind and decide that I like all my images to be 15 inches square and on the lighter side, then what?  Perhaps this is all just language and applying definitions.  Maybe I should just concern myself with making images and not bother with the rest.  But I just can't seem to let it go, so recently I've decided on a system that seems to meet all my idiosyncrasies.   Open, sequentially numbered editions where there is no cap on the final number of prints and each image sold can independently unique.  By adjusting the price of the prints every 10 or 15th print sold the print run will eventually cap itself monetarily.  This is not a new idea and I by no means invented it, but I just wanted to share what has been streaming through my brain all week.

Prints, Portfolio, Deadlines

In the five years I've been printing fine art images I've never been completely satisfied with my portfolio designs. I say plural because I've been through more box, paper, slipcase, book combinations than I have images to put in them. Printing traditional silver prints requires one to dry-mount them onto a matte board because they curl quite extensively, and coming from the place I learned all this photography stuff from if it wasn't dry-mounted forget about showing it to anyone, let alone a professor. When I switched to printing digitally this curling dilemma went the way of the darkroom and yet I still insisted that they be mounted and over-matted because well, that's what you do, otherwise don't bother showing it to anyone. The problem with this is each print becomes bulky and heavy and therefore the portfolio housing for them is also bulky and heavy. And so I switched to a book form, but that wasn't much better in price and the construction was a nightmare. My fine art portfolio is seldom called in so another portfolio redesign was extremely low on my ever growing to-do list, until two weeks ago. Having a deadline really pumps the creative juice flowing and so after throwing out all my old ideas, wanting to start from scratch, I brainstormed and researched. And I'm happy to say the result is better than I ever expected. I am one happy photographer. The beauty of whole system is in its simplicity, it's ability to change on the fly, and it's low cost.  I opted for loose prints, but instead of a heavy box I folded a thick piece of acid free paper to create a 'wrapper' of sorts. The viewer opens the package of prints and really gets a tactile as well as a visual interaction with them. If a print gets damaged, it's easy to replace as is the paper envelope they are housed in. Here's some shots of the package of flower prints I'm putting together for a possible commission project.

An Explosion of Color

Okay, so I've joined this fantastic web storefront called Etsy.  For those of you in the know I'm sure it comes as no surprise when I say that this site has incredibly talented artists and crafters, for those of you who have no idea what Etsy is just click here and get yourself lost in the vast warehouse of handmade coolness.

For me, Etsy has been a wonderful venue to showcase my selection of bright and colorful flora themed prints.  I shoot these particular images when I'm in need of some photographic meditation.  Living next to a huge state park allows me to wander aimlessly with my camera and intimately capture the colors and graphics of nature.