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Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Tips & Tricks
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Bring Customers Back for More with Your Own Photo Growth Chart

Growth chart for child photographyYou may remember reading about a LexJet customer, Darren Carlton of Capture That Photography in Prim, Ark., and his LexJet customer specialist, Michael Clementi, back in April. In case you missed the article, which you can read by clicking here, it was about a unique new idea to help Carlton draw in more new and return customers.

Carlton and Clementi came up with the idea of creating photographic growth charts, something that Carlton’s customers love. The growth chart features a photo or photos of the client’s child and a measuring stick, printed on Photo Tex repositionable fabric from LexJet.

The idea is that as the child grows a new picture can be taken and laid over the previous photo, tracking the growth of the child and encouraging parents to return year after year for updates.

Since first coming up with the idea in partnership with Carlton, Clementi has been busy creating a growth chart template for other photographers to use.

The template is designed in a way that allows it to easily be edited in Photoshop so photographers can customize it, adding their own pictures and logos. The ruler, which starts 3 inches up at the bottom so it works on walls with floorboards, can be moved anywhere on the design allowing for each growth chart to be unique.

Clementi sees a lot of potential benefits for photographers when using the growth charts. “They can have their business marketing on the charts as well. Things like logos and phone numbers or a mark that says ‘bring your child back to our studio at this height and receive a free 8×10 with your package,’ and so forth.”

The template was created to work perfectly on a 17-inch roll of Photo Tex. For a copy of the template call 800-453-9538 and ask for Michael Clementi or Justin Craft.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Art with Heart: How Bill Stidham Made Inkjet Printing Work

Rock n' roll art John LennonWe just got a nice note from renowned rock n’ roll artist Bill Stidham, who is quite pleased with his Canon iPF8300 and Sunset Select Matte Canvas purchases from LexJet.

“I’ve never been a real technical person and I was a little scared of it, but now I’m much more flexible and can do some art publishing I wasn’t able to do before, plus I’ve saved a lot of money. It’s changed everything dynamically. I set up the printer, I get the size right and just print,” says Stidham, who is based in Austin, Texas. “The reproduction is unreal. After seeing all the inconsistency I was putting up with for years, I’m able to give my customer a higher-quality product. The simplicity and integrity of the machine and the final product the machine produces is shocking… Shockingly simple and dramatic.”

“Dramatic” also describes Stidham’s art. His signature collection is the Sacred Heart series, which brings iconic artists to life through Stidham’s watercolor medium. “These are people who have shifted the planet with their God-given gifts,” explains Stidham. “It also asks the question, ‘What are you doing with your sacred heart, your gifts?’ We all have different ones, and right now this is mine.”

Stidhan uses a high-end camera and professional lights to capture the original and takes a minimalist approach to reproduction. As he puts it, “All I really do is crop it. What you see is what you get and that’s the way I stay true to the integrity of the original piece.”

Many thanks to Bill for taking time to talk to us, and for recognizing our outstanding customer specialist team as a whole and his personal rep, Rob Finkel, for their hard work in the email he sent us, reproduced below…

My name is Bill Stidham, and I recently purchased a Canon iPF8300 from your company. My sales rep is Rob Finkel. I don’t know where to start… This has truly been the best purchase experience of my life, and I thought it was important to let someone in upper management at LexJet know!

Before I became a full time artist, I had a 20-year career as a sales rep. I know all about the ins and outs of what it takes to be a good one… Primarily, caring about your client. Rob was incredibly astute and knowledgeable about his products. He was incredibly informative and on the spot in giving me all the info I needed to make a decision, a no brainer as it turned out. I love my printer.

But, that was just the beginning. He made sure, under difficult circumstances, that I got my printer in a timely manner.

I am not the most technical guy. Frankly, I was damn frightened by the whole process of setting up this piece of equipment, downloading all the files, learning Photoshop, printing, stretching, etc. Your team, including Michael Clementi, was so helpful that the daunting task became a revelation in what I was capable of doing. I can’t believe what I am producing.

Plus, every time I call someone at LexJet, all I get is courteous, knowledgeable support. It’s unbelievable. I didn’t know this level of service existed any more… But it does! 

Rob continues to call and check in. Another pleasant surprise. I look forward to doing business with LexJet for a long time.

I just thought someone should give Rob a big pat on the back for doing one hell of a job. Plus, I want to acknowledge all the other good folks I have worked with over the past two months. Thank you again for creating an atmosphere where this is possible!

Bill Stidham
Artist
Austin, Texas

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Promotions & Rebates
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Find Craft and Clementi, Pick up Prizes, Day Two

Find Craft and Clementi at WPPI TuesdayCongratulations to Rick Reil of ReaLife Photography, Kennewick, Wash., who found LexJet account specialist Justin Craft at the right place and time at WPPI today. Rick won a 24-in. x 40-ft. roll of Sunset Select Matte Canvas. Later, Gary R. Coppage, Goldvein, Va., found LexJet’s Michael Clementi and picked up Sunset Stretcher Bars and a pint of Sunset Satin Coating.

Where's Waldo?
These are the LexJet guys you'll look for Tuesday at WPPI for a free roll of Sunset Select Matte Canvas and a pint of Sunset Satin Coating: Justin Craft and Michael Clementi.

Tomorrow at WPPI (Tuesday), find Craft and Clementi at 1 p.m. at the Canon booth (401) and you’ll get a free 24-in. x 40-ft. roll of Sunset Select Matte Canvas and a pint of Sunset Satin Coating. Look for Twitter updates at twitter.com/lexjet. The first three photographers who find Craft and Clementi and mention either this blog or LexJet’s tweets will pick up the prizes.

Good luck, and we’ll see you at WPPI.

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in News & Trends
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Weekly Update: Events at WPPI, Sustainability and Textiles at FESPA, Canon’s Patents, X-Rite’s XRGA

Photographer trade show Las VegasLast week we highlighted some upcoming trade shows in the photography, large format graphics and sign markets. All of these trade shows feature educational programs that cover a variety of topics in their respective fields as well as special events, parties and industry panels…

Special events at WPPI: Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) hosts the appropriately named WPPI event, Feb. 17-24 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. In addition to a hall full of exhibitors and a full slate of seminars with 75 speakers, WPPI will include five special events: WPPI Launch Pad, a sneak peek at the latest products on the market on Feb. 20 from 2-5 p.m.; Sony Fashion Show, hosted by America’s Next Top Model celebrity judge Nigel Barker, on Feb. 20 from 7-10 p.m.; Canon Mardi Gras Party on Feb. 21 from 8-10 p.m. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena; Women in Contemporary Photography panel discussion on Feb. 22 from 7-9 p.m. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena; WPPI Awards Night on Feb. 23 from 6-9:30 p.m.; and Photoignite on the last day of WPPI, Feb. 24, where pro photographers demonstrate their techniques in five-minute presentations. Stay up to date on the latest during the show by following LexJet account specialists Justin Craft and Michael Clementi at twitter.com/LexJet, with additional news from the show at blog.lexjet.com. More info to come next week on special prizes and promotions if you find Justin and Michael on the show floor at WPPI.

FESPA Americas, coming to Orlando from Feb. 24-26, includes an all-day Digital Textile Conference on Feb. 25 that will feature a keynote speech by Nike’s Global Materials Quality Manager, Martin Wragg. Wragg will explore Nike’s sustainability projects under consideration and how printing fits into the bigger picture at Nike. Other topics during the Conference include: Market trends in digital textile printing, growing your business with fabric printing, transitioning from t-shirts to screen printing to digital printing, printing for fashion, big textile-printing applications, sustainability, mass customization and the digital supply chain, color management, a panel discussion and more. For more information about FESPA Americas, go to www.fespa.com/americas/

Canon registers 2,543 new patents in 2010: It’s official… Canon set a new company record when it registered 2,543 new patents in 2010. It also represents the first time Canon has exceeded 2,500 new patents in a single year. Some of the new products realized through the new patents include the Canon PIXMA MG8120 and MG6120 with a new light guidance system – a first for personal desktop printers – that incorporates Canon’s Full High Definition (HD) Movie Print mode; the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP, which represents the next installment of Canon’s flagship imagePRESS lineup for the production and graphic arts markets; and the CXDI-70C Wireless Digital Radiography (DR) detector, the company’s first wireless DR system.

X-Rite’s new Graphic Arts Standard: X-Rite has developed XGRA as a means to standardize and bring consistency across its current and legacy color management devices developed by X-Rite and GretagMacbeth. ColorMunki Photo, ColorMunki Design and EasyTrax already conform to XRGA and all future graphic arts instruments and software will also conform. X-Rite says the switch to XRGA results in small differences in measurement values, so many customers will not need to make any changes. For customers who have found greater differences in measurement values between former X-Rite and GretagMacbeth instruments, X-Rite will provide a means to move existing databases to the new XRGA standard.