Taking Corporate Art to the Next Level

Photographing and printing sports action imagesWhen someone says, “Nashville,” the first thing that pops to mind is music, and for good reason. Local photographer Ed Rode is renowned nationally for his artistic renditions of various recording stars. Rode’s photography draws out the heart and soul of each musician with his distinctive combination of lighting, hue and composition.

Rode was recently commissioned to provide photographic artwork of scenes from the Bridgestone Arena, which hosts the Nashville Predators hockey team and various special events throughout the year. Rode’s photography would be used to bring a special touch to Bridgestone’s corporate suite, which was being remodeled and updated.

Printing canvas wraps for a corporate suite“I spent several days photographing the Predators for the project. Since it was intended as a showcase for Bridgestone, the real challenge was making sure to somehow feature logos and branding without detracting from the essence of the shot,” says Rode.

To produce the photos, the obvious choice was Mark Lakey, owner of Art Warehouse in Chattanooga, Tenn. The choice was obvious since Lakey prints much of Rode’s work and Lakey provides not only top-notch finished work but he does it start to finish.

Photographing and printing artwork for a corporation“The theme was Ed Rode’s stylistic interpretation of hockey games and events. They hired him to put his spin on the arena; to give the suite the artsy, hip look of Nashville’s premier photographer,” says Lakey.

Lakey produced Rode’s photography on Epson GS Canvas Gloss with his Epson GS6000 low-solvent inkjet printer. Lakey says he chose a solvent printer with a solvent-compatible gloss canvas for speed, beauty and ease of use since he wouldn’t need to coat the canvas after printing.

Lakey then constructed canvas stretcher bars for a museum wrap of each the 11 images, which varied in size from about 11” x 20” up to 20” x 40” once printed.

“It took about half a day to hang them up, then they walked us around the arena. It was fun; they were really nice people,” says Lakey. “They wanted a clean, modern look for the entire remodel, and wanted to reflect that look in the artwork as well.”

Check out more of Mark Lakey’s projects at previous posts on the LexJet Blog:

Benefit Brings out the Best in Photography and Inkjet Printing

How Art Warehouse Brought Chatanooga to Life with Inkjet Wall Art