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Ansen Seale’s Slit-Scan Photography Reveals Hidden Realities

By Bill Weiser

River of Light by Ansen Seale
River of Light by Ansen Seale

Just as a microscope or telescope allows us to see things that aren’t visible to the naked eye, the slit-can camera created by photographer Ansen Seale allows us to view everyday objects in a whole new way. Instead of recording a single moment in time, Seale’s slit-scan camera records objects over a period of time.

The slit-scan camera that Seale has been using for the past 10 years is a modified version of a camera originally designed to shoot high-resolution panoramas. For panorama shooting, the camera rotates on a platform and methodically captures one pixel column at a time.  For slit-scan photography, the motor controlling the rotation is disabled. The camera continues shooting a single sliver of space in rapid succession. Counter to classical photography, unmoving objects look blurry, and moving objects are rendered clearly.

In March of this year, Seale produced River of Light, a 100-ft. long backlit print that he displayed at Luminaria 2009: Arts Night in San Antonio. The image depicted water flowing over the unmoving rocks at the bottom of the San Antonio River. With slit-scan photography, the stones at the bottom of the river appear as stripes. Seale says, “The water flowing over them perturbs their static image, creating a kind of color-field painting.”  The reflection of the trees on the river’s edge added to the painting-like effects.

Instead of mirroring the world as we know it, Seale believes his camera records a hidden reality. He points out that that the apparent ‘distortions’ in the images all happen in-camera, as the image is being recorded.

“There is no Photoshop manipulation,” says Seale. “These distortions could really be described as a more accurate way of seeing the passage of time, even though it may be contrary to our tradition concepts of the depiction of time and space in art. In other words, my camera is recording a reality that exists, but one that we cannot see without it.”

The gigantic print, made from a 1.2 GB file, consumed an entire 42 in. x 100-ft. roll of LexJet’s 7-mil Absolute Backlit film. It was output on a Canon iPF8000 printer.

To display the print, Seale used electrical conduit to build 26 stands of different heights. He placed the stands about 4 ft. apart. Then he strung together fluorescent strips and hooked them onto the stands to provide the backlighting. Displaying the art on the different-sized stands made the print look more like a gently rolling river.

This wasn’t the first large print Seale has produced to showcase the hidden realities revealed by slit-scan photography. In 2006, he produced a 11 in. x 56 ft. image entitled Insectinsight.  The image was printed on 67 ft. of photo paper that was wrapped around the four walls of Gallery IV at the Blue Star Arts Space in San Antonio. You can learn more about this work and other works produced through slit-scan photography at Ansen Seale’s website, http://ansenseale.com

The 100 ft.-long River of Light artwork was only displayed for one night, but Seale would love to find a more permanent home for it.

Displaying your images on backlit film can showcase the vibrant, rich colors and details of your work. For tips on printing on backlit film, call a LexJet account specialist at 888-873-7553.

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Book Presents Tips for New Sellers of Art Photography

By Eileen Fritsch

RyderBigBookCompared to the number of books that have been published on digital photography and Photoshop, relatively few books have been written on inkjet photo printing. Even fewer guides have been published about how to mat, mount, and frame inkjet prints for display in an exhibition or gallery.

That’s why I was intrigued by a self-published book entitled: The Big Picture: Taking Your Photography to the Next Level. Many of the mounting, framing, and marketing tips featured in the book will be well-known to photography pros who have been selling their work for a long time.

But this book was written by Eric Zachary Ryder, a self-taught photographer in California who recently spent thousands of dollars and hours making the journey from hobbyist to professional photographer. He now sells his work for a solid profit and has a permanent presence in a well-regarded gallery in the Napa Valley and several other venues.  

He admits that he wasted a lot of money because “I didn’t understand the business. I invested in the wrong frames, mats, glass, etc. I also took forays that I shouldn’t have: shortcuts, cheaper materials, and paying someone else to do work that I could have done myself if I’d only known how.”

“It’s funny how you don’t think of ‘production’ when you think of selling your work, but it’s extremely important,” observes Ryder. “It’s not just a matter of simply having nice images; it’s presenting them in a way that is appealing, yet inexpensive to produce.”

Until he was invited to sell his prints in the gift shop of a local winery, he says he hadn’t ever given much thought to issues such as matting, mounting, framing, and marketing.  The information he found from various online sources was confusing at best.

So now that he’s successfully selling his work, Ryder decided to publish the techniques that have worked best for him.  He explains how to mat, mount, and frame 8 x 10 and 16 x 20 prints and discusses topics such as finding your style, creating title cards, pricing your prints, buying print racks, and transporting your work.  The book includes links to sources of the products he has used, including mats, gallery description card holders, art cases, print racks, and shipping tubes.

Ryder says some of the biggest mistakes he made were in choosing the wrong frames and mats: “Getting the whitest mat is critical—at least for my work. But there are a zillion ‘whites’ out there.” Here are a few of his tips on matting the framing: 

Try to standardize on a few print sizes so you can buy mats in volume and at a discount.

Use a mat width (border) that is appropriate for your print size.  “Any prints bigger than 11 x 14 in. should have a mat width of 4-1/2 to 5 in. on all sides,” advises Ryder.  “Prints smaller than 11 x 14 should have a mat width of 2-1/2 in. or less.  I use a 1-1/2 in. mat width for 5 x 7 in. prints, and 2-3/4 in. for 11 x 14-in. prints.”

For black-and-white prints, use black frames with white mats. “When I experimented with other options, the frames looked great, but too many people already had walls full of black-and-white prints with black frames and white mats,” says Ryder. “Adding one of my framed prints to their collection would mess things up.”

Sign the mats—in pencil. “I tried all kinds of things to avoid ruining the clean lines of an unsigned mat,” says Ryder. “ It turns out that people like signatures on the mats. I tried putting a white border on the photo itself and digitally titling and numbering the picture in Photoshop. This wasn’t good for large pictures, because as one client said it looked like a poster.  But I found that it was actually good for 11 x 14-in. prints in a 16 x 20-in. mat.”

Consider using metal frames instead of wood. “Metal frames these days are quite nice, and hold up very well,” says Ryder. “They don’t require any special equipment to assemble and you save quite a bit of money by doing the frames yourself.”

You can view sample pages and a table of contents on Ryder’s website and order it as either a printed book or an e-book.

I don’t know if Ryder ever came to LexJet for advice during his journey from hobbyist to professional. But if he had, a LexJet account specialist could have helped him save time and money. In addition to setting him up with a great pro-model inkjet printer and efficient, cost-effective workflow, LexJet could have shown him some of the products in the Framing Made Easy collection.

LexJet’s community of customers includes hundreds of self-taught photographers who print their own work and sell it at art fairs and galleries.  When a LexJet account specialist learns about something that worked well for one customer, they take note of it and recommend it to other customers who may be facing similar issues.  We also routinely publish artwork-production, display, and marketing tips in LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

To talk to an account specialist, call LexJet at 888-873-7553. Or, subscribe to LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

Posted on by LexJet Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Portrait Project Looks at Homelessness, Hope, and Gratitude

By Rob Finkel

At LexJet, many  customers tell us about how they are using their photography and printing skills to support worthy causes in their communities.  Jim Spelman of Jim Spelman Studios recently told me about the Hope in Focus  project that he is working on to support Carpenter’s Place, an agency that serves the chronically homeless in his hometown of Rockford, IL. 

SpelmanIMG_7950 emailBetween now and November, Spelman will capture at least 1,000 portraits and stories from individuals from throughout the Rockford community. One of the goals is to “shatter stereotypes about the homeless” and inspire us all to feel more grateful for the things we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.  The portraits and stories are being gathered along with videotaped interviews to produce a traveling exhibition that will help raise funds to support Carpenter’s Place.  

The mission of Carpenter’s Place is to provide tools for rebuilding lives. It is a safe daytime, drop-in center that aids chronically homeless people, many of whom suffer from mental illness, substance abuse, or learning and emotional disabilities. Instead of simply providing a meal or a bed for the night then sending the person back to the streets, Carpenter’s Place helps each “guest” develop and implement a comprehensive Life Recovery Plan.  Homeless visitors to  Carpenter’s Place can store their personal belongings, shower, make phone calls, receive, and wash their clothes. When they are ready to move into more stable housing, donated furniture is made available to them.  

Spelman has already shot some images of the people who come to Carpenter’s Place for help. But he is also shooting portraits of any Rockford-area resident who will answer four basic questions:

1.            What does Home mean to you?

2.            What are you grateful for?

3.            What brings you hope?

4.            Have you ever been homeless? If so, how long?

SpelmanIMG_7989 emailUltimately, the exhibition will be designed to make people think. It will not only convey some of the hardships of homelessness, but also the deep sense of gratitude people express when they receive everyday items that most of us take for granted (such as a pair of pants or basic toiletries). Executive Director Kay Larrick has observed that “The people who have the least seem to have the most gratitude.”

The Hope in Focus project just got underway a few weeks ago. But Spelman is already finding that people who don’t think they’ve been homeless, actually have been homeless at some point in their lives, even if only for a few days. 

In his photography business, Spelman specializes in shooting highly stylized beauty and fashion images for magazines. He also shoots fantasy/glamour sessions for high-school seniors.

For the Hope in Focus project, Spelman isn’t doing any cosmetic retouching. The portraits are each very detailed and very real. “I think there is such beauty in everyone’s individuality,” says Spelman.  

Although some people are initially startled to see unretouched photos these days, most are intrigued and amazed.

In addition to the shots taken at the Carpenter’s Place facility, Spelman will be shooting portraits in his studio, at the Rock River Valley YMCA, and at various art festivals and events throughout the summer.

 He isn’t the only creative professional working on the project. Brian Anderson of Cain & Company is developing a logo and PR materials. Videographer Andrew Reynolds of uchoosetv.com is shooting videos of several of the interviews and architect Joseph Zimmer is building a special walk-through house in which many of the portraits will be displayed. The Carpenter’s Place also has graphic designs and public-relations people involved.

The exhibition will open with a special event planned Nov. 4 in Jim’s spacious new studios. Representatives of the local news media will be invited, as well as the people featured in the portraits and the extensive network of volunteers and community leaders who support Carpenter’s Place.

SpelmanIMG_7954 emailSpelman plans to print all of the portraits himself using LexJet Sunset Photo papers and Water-Resistant Satin Cloth on his Epson Stylus Pro 9800. He has only been printing in-house for about six months but feels confident he can handle it.  

“I used to send everything to a lab,” says Spelman. “Labs are great, and they definitely have their place, but I love being able to print my work myself. In addition to having ultimate control over the image quality, the printer gives me the capacity to be more creative.”

Everyone who sits for a portrait and contributes comments to the project will receive a digital copy of the photo. Or, they can order large framed or unframed prints of their portraits, with 25% of the proceeds being donated to Carpenter’s Place.

“Right now there’s a lot of energy behind the Hope in Focus project,” says Spelman. He’s not entirely sure what direction the project will take by the time the exhibition opens in November.  He also plans to use some of the portraits in a book project he’s been working on for several years.

But one thing he does know is that many beneficiaries of the agency’s services are grateful to be participating. As Spelman observes, “They want their voices heard, because for many of them  Carpenter’s Place has helped save their lives.”

Posted on by LexJet Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Stephen Gross Makes Prints for NY Photo Festival

By Kelly Price

For Patrick Weidmann's images at nyph09, printmaker Stephen Gross used a Canon iPF9000 and LexJet Sunset photo papers.
For Patrick Weidmann's images at nyph09, printmaker Stephen Gross used a Canon iPF9000 and LexJet Sunset photo papers.

A growing number of LexJet customers who initially bought wide-format inkjet printers to output their own photography are now offering printmaking services to other photographers and artists.

For example, Stephen Gross, an experienced commercial photographer with an interest in fine-art photography, now operates Brooklyn Editions. He works one-on-one with artists to produce reproductions of their paintings and other artworks.

To support the Brooklyn-based New York Photo Festival (NYPH09), Gross recently produced 90 color and black-and-white large-format prints for 12 of the photographers that curator William A. Ewing had selected for his All over the place! exhibition. The 2009 festival was held May 13-17 in several venues in Brooklyn. 

The New York Photo Festival was started in 2008 to address the need for the world’s photography capital to host its own world-class photography festival. The event looks at the future of contemporary photography through the eyes of several world-class curators and selected artists. The festival also features workshops and portfolio reviews for all levels of aspiring and professional photographers. 

William A. Ewing, director of the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland, was one of four exhibition curators at NYPH09.  The other curators were: Chris Boot, an editor and photo-book publisher; Jody Quon, photography director at New York magazine; and Jon Levy, director of Foto8, a London-based photography publishing company.

In the All over the place! exhibition, Ewing celebrated photography’s rich diversity and inability to be pigeonholed into neat, convenient categories. Ewing also sought to remind people that fabulous work can come from anywhere in the world and that new discoveries aren’t always from living photographers.  The All over the place! exhibition presented works of three historical figures (Ernst Haas, Jacob Holdt, and Edward Steichen) along with those of  13 contemporary photographers (Anoush Abrar of Iran and Switzerland, Manolis Baboussis of Greece, Matthieu Gafsou of France and Switzerland, Oliver Godow of Germany, Tina Itkonen of Finland,  Anna Lehmann-Brauns of Germany, Juraj Lipscher of Switzerland, Kevin Newark of the UK, Virgnie Otth of Switzerland, Phillip Schaerer of Switzerland, Joni Sternbach of the US, Robert Walker of Canada, and Patrick Weidmann of Switzerland).

Gross output prints for 12 of the contemporary photographers featured in the exhibition. He used a variety of materials from LexJet on his 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9800 and 60-in. Canon iPF9000 printer. Prints ranged in size from 16 x 20 in. up to 60 x 88 in.

Visitors to nyph09 view works by Oliver Godow (foreground) and Virginie Otth (background) output by Stephen Gross on LexJet Sunset Photo eSatin Paper.
Visitors to nyph09 view works by Oliver Godow (foreground) and Virginie Otth (background) output by Stephen Gross on LexJet Sunset Photo eSatin Paper.

Which printer and material Gross used depended partly on the size and nature of the image and the type of material on which the artist had submitted the proof to be matched. For example, for some prints Ewing and Gross chose to use Hahnemϋhle Photo Rag. For other prints he used Sunset Photo eSatin or Sunset Fibre Elite.  For European artists that supplied Cibachrome prints as proofs, Gross used LexJet’s 8 mil PolyGloss film on the Canon iPF9000 to replicate the ultra-shiny surface.

When faced with the challenge of reproducing a series of black-and-white proofs on a paper with a slightly warm tone, Gross used Sunset Fibre Elite and his Epson Stylus Pro 9800 with the Colorbyte ImagePrint RIP. “The ImagePrint RIP gave me much better linear control over the tone,” says Gross.

The most time-consuming part of the project wasn’t outputting the prints themselves. Rather, it was working with the different types of proofs and files submitted by 12 different photographers from around the world.  While some of the artists supplied properly tagged files and corresponding proofs, others seem to have received different instructions about how to submit the proofs and files.  

The project involved several days of intense proofing before Gross output the prints that would be mounted and hung on the walls of the exhibition spaces. “The whole point of the show was to represent the artist,” says Gross. “So I really wanted each photographer to be happy.” After the conclusion of the show, the prints were given to the artists.    

Gross says the project was personally gratifying: “I really enjoy working with artists and photographers.” He says helping them solve problems related to exhibiting their work gives him the same sense of satisfaction he enjoyed when he taught digital photography at the college level.

In addition to meeting some of the artists, Gross took advantage of having his own photography critiqued during a portfolio review at the festival.

Gross, who has always enjoyed printing, bought his first wide-format inkjet printer from LexJet six years ago while shooting a national campaign for Elizabeth Arden Salons. He handled every facet of the project from creating the concept and casting the model to shooting, editing, and retouching the image. So when it was time to print posters for 27 salons around the country, Gross wanted to better control the quality of the printing as well.

Soon, Gross began printing editions for his brother Alex Gross, who is a well-collected painter. It wasn’t long before other artists and their friends started coming to his studio asking for help. Having been frustrated himself by the inconsistent quality he had received from digital service bureaus, Gross understood the level of individualized attention and quality that these artists and photographers were seeking. So, now Gross operates Brooklyn Editions along with his core business, Stephen Scott Gross Photography.

Unless a really big photography or printing project comes his way, Gross typically spends about one-third of his time printing for others and two-thirds of his time shooting commercial and fine-art photography.  He considers it a pleasant balance that gives him the benefit of working collaboratively with other creative professionals.

If you are a New York-area artist or photographer who would like large-format reproductions, check out Brooklyn Editions.  

If you live outside the NY metro area and would like to find a printmaking studio closer to home, contact a LexJet account specialist at 888-873-7553.  We would be happy to refer you to other studios that are equipped with 44- or 60-in wide printers, use LexJet’s exceptional photo- and art-printing materials, and have a successful track record of providing printmaking services to other artists and photographers.

Posted on by LexJet Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Easy-to-Ship Photo Exhibition Honors World War I Veterans

An exhibition of extra-large photographs can be a powerful way to tell  important stories. Large, professionally produced photographs have the power to make people stop, look, and think. 

When a photo exhibition is particularly well done, it’s wonderful when people in other cities can also enjoy the experience of viewing it.  But the costs of shipping large, framed prints from city to city can quickly add up, making it impractical for photographers and non-profits or publicly funded groups to produce as many traveling exhibitions as they might like.    

An article entitled Education in Fabric in  Vol. 4,  No. 5 of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter describes how photographer David DeJonge used an inkjet-printable fabric from LexJet to create a lightweight, easy-to-ship photo exhibition that honors veterans of of World War I. The exhibit is scheduled to visit 1,000 school districts and be seen by as many as 2.5 million schoolchildren, teachers, and other viewers.

Photo banner honoring James Russell Coffey
Photo banner honoring James Russell Coffey

DeJonge, who owns DeJonge Studio in Grand Rapids, Mich., started photographing the remaining veterans from World War I about 14 years ago as part of his Faces of Five Wars series, which depicts veterans from World War I through Desert Storm.  The initial project led to vast amounts of press coverage, an exhibit in the Pentagon, and the drive to build a national WWI monument. 

When the first exhibition was shown at Creekwood Middle School in Humble, Texas, DeJonge’s images were printed and framed. All together, the images weighed around 400 pounds and cost nearly $1,000 to ship round-trip.

The first exhibit was viewed by 3,000 people and raised more than $14,000 for the restoration and expansion of the World War I Memorial on the National Mall. Still, DeJonge realized that packing and shipping the framed prints to multiple sites would not only be expensive but cumbersome.

After DeJonge started researching ways to make it more feasible to present his photo exhibition at multiple sites, he chose LexJet Water Resistant Satin Cloth. He used the fabric to print 14 large banners that showcase the images and life stories of 13 Allied World War I veterans, including 108-year-old Frank W. Buckles who is the last living American veteran of World War I.

DeJonge printed the banners on his 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9880 wide-format inkjet printer. Each banner is 42 in. x 6-1/2 ft.  By presenting the photos as fabric banners instead of framed prints, DeJonge eliminated about 330 pounds from the shipping weight of the exhibition.  Plus, the banners can be rolled up for shipping, making it easy to transport the exhibition from school to school within the 1,000 school districts the tour is scheduled to visit.

As for the quality of the image reproduction, DeJonge says he was very pleased with LexJet’s Water Resistant Satin Cloth: “It provides good flesh tones and smooth transitions between the shadow and highlight areas.” He also praised the clarity of the text reproduction on each banner, adding that, “I have never experienced anything like it with a similar printable material.” 

To read the full story in LexJet’s In Focus newsletter, click here.  

To learn more about how to use Water-Resistant Satin Cloth to produce easy-to-hang photo banners, contact a LexJet account specialist at 888-873-7553. 

For other creative ideas for using inkjet-printable materials and pro-model wide-format inkjet printers, subscribe to LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.