For Peters Photography Studio, Kodak’s Dry Lab Paper Delivers

Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio
Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio

 

Last summer, when Peters Photography Studio lab manager Matt Baxter could no longer count on the delivery time frame and quality of the photo paper he’d been using, he turned to a name he’d trusted for years: Kodak.

His former supplier had become unreliable, so he switched to Kodak’s PROFESSIONAL Inkjet Photo Dry Lab Paper with a lustre finish.

Photo by Peters Photography, London, Ohio
Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio

“We’d always used Kodak when we had a wet lab,” Baxter says. “I was used to Kodak from way back.”

As the photography industry has evolved from film and chemical photo development to digital images and inkjet printing, Kodak has created resin-coated paper with an e-surface finish, ideal for the type of rich, detailed portrait work Baxter polishes up at the London, Ohio-based studio.

“I touch every single image that comes through here,” says Baxter, who’s been with Peters for 15 years. “All of the color correction, processing, digital image prepping … and printing is included in that.”

He runs the Kodak dry lab paper on an Epson SureLab printer, which is an ideal match, he says. Working with 8-inch and 12-inch rolls, he explains that the paper calibrated easily and “fell right into place really quickly. There were no big adjustments to make.” The paper also works well with Peters’ signature linen-like textured coating that sets the studio’s prints apart.

peters new 3
A look inside Peters Photography’s gallery, showcasing Kodak PROFESSIONAL Inkjet Photo Dry Lab Paper, lustre finish. Photo by Peters Photography; London, Ohio

Kodak’s logo, printed on the back of the paper, adds an immediately recognized symbol of the long-trusted brand. “We like it,” Baxter says. “We were used to having that for all those years. Now, it feels like we’re printing on quality … it makes it feel like we’re doing it the right way.”

And because Baxter orders paper as needed, rather than storing a lot of inventory, he says he’s pleased to get delivery just a day or two after he places his order with his LexJet sales rep. “With our other supplier, we never knew when we were going to get it,” he says. “But now we get it right away. We order as we need it. I don’t give myself much leeway, and LexJet makes it so I can do that.”

Storefronts that Sell with Prints on Perforated Window Vinyl

Printing window graphics

Award-winning studio photography deserves to be front and center, and when appropriate, larger than life. And so it is at Peters Photography, a family-owned studio with three locations in Ohio – in Dublin, London and Centerville – and a national reach through the recognized expertise of its photographer crew.

The photographers – which include founders and owners Larry and Karen Peters and their daughter and son-in-law Janine Peters Killian and Brian Killian – capture the essence and personality of their subjects through the breadth of their studio work, including families, babies, children, high-school seniors and individual portraiture.

Printing window graphics on perforated window filmTheir largest and most visible studio, with plenty of window space facing a roundabout that runs by it, is at the Dublin location. It’s the perfect spot, with all the right ingredients, to showcase the studio’s top-notch, colorful work.

Lab manager Matt Baxter printed the latest round of images chosen by the photographers on LexJet Aqueous Perforated Vinyl (70/30) with the studio’s Canon iPF8100 to fit within the approximately 27″ x 54″ window panes that run alongside the studio, and the front door.

Brian Killian installed the panels, some of which were set up as individual images within each pane while others are one large image encompassing all three panes. “We make sure we cut out the right gaps so they stay proportional and don’t look out of whack,” says Baxter.

Baxter adds that the images have been up for about a month and are no worse for the wear, despite the see-sawing early spring weather in Ohio from hot to cold and dry to wet.

“We’ve been doing a lot of promotional printing lately,” says Baxter. “And with the Canon printer we haven’t had to build our own custom profiles like we used to. With the LexJet profiles, the Canon plug-in and driver, everything prints out the way it’s supposed to, it looks right and we’re not guessing.”

The LexJet Aqueous Perforated Vinyl makes the images opaque from the outside looking in, but people inside the studio can see out. The vinyl also provides a tinting effect that keeps glare down inside the studio’s lobby as well.

To keep things fresh the images will be replaced with another set in another six months or so. Until then, the promotional images will play their part, drawing people in from the street to the studio and building the Peters Photography brand.

For more information about Peters Photography, go to http://family.petersphotography.com/. And, to see what makes this dynamic studio tick, go to http://www.photovisionvideo.com/premium/peters_0515/.