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Photo Book and Exhibit on Ferrari Testarossa

Photographic artist Duane Conliffe, who was profiled in Vol. 3, No. 5 of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter, is proud to report he is  one of the featured artists at The Art of Living Black Exhibition at The Richmond Art Center in Richmond, CA from Jan. 26-March 13.

The first major public exposure of the exhibition will take place Saturday, Feb. 20 during an artist’s reception.  Conliffe’s portion of the exhibition is built around Redhead—The Ferrari Testarossa Art Photography Book that he produced earlier this year.

“The Redhead project began when a San Francisco car collector asked me to create a very special, high-quality book about one of his prized vehicles, the 1988 Ferrari Testarossa,” explains Conliffe. “He was looking for something unique to express his appreciation for the extreme levels of craftsmanship throughout this car as well as the superb quality of the driving experience.”

 Conliffe believes he was approached to create the one-of-a-kind book, because of his combination of experience photographing motorsports, auto and motorcycle events and expertise in bookmaking. He was honored to accept the project.

 “The Ferrari Testarossa was named after the Testa Rossa sports racing car series from the late 1950s,” says Conliffe.”And in fact, Testarossa means Redhead in Italian. This ‘redhead’ in the sports car refers to the red painted camshaft covers on the 12 cylinder engine.”

 Conliffe photographed the Testarossa in four sessions over a nine-month time span. He shot the exotic sports car at various locations in San Francisco and Alameda, CA, with the intention of telling the story of the car through purely visual means.

 “The handcrafted details of the Testarossa are great subjects for any photographer,” notes Conliffe,“but I also wanted to portray the driving experience through my photography because that is what an extreme sports car like this is made for.”

 After all the images had been captured, Conliffe spent several weeks in editing, post processing and book design. He paid a lot of attention to the sequence of images on the pages in order to create the right visual flow for the viewer.

  He also wanted full control over how the final images looked, so he printed all 75 color plates for the book himself, using his Epson Stylus Pro 9800 with Epson UltraChrome K3 inkset.

 “In my opinion, the ultimate expression of the photographer is the fine art photographic print. So one of the goals of this project was to use my digital-printing skills to create unique high-end artwork,” says Conliffe. The book pages were printed on Moab Entrada 190 gsm, 100% cotton, double-sided, bright paper. The finished pages were mounted into the Moab Chinle Digital Book black leather cover.“This makes a first-class presentation when finished off with the black slip-case that is provided with the book cover.” notes Conliffe.

 Judging from the reactions he got from his colleagues in photography and art, he realized that the book project was really something special.

 “So, I decided to expand the scope of this project,” said Conliffe. “I decided to present the book as part of an annual fine-art exhibition that I have participated in for the last seven years.”

 Visitors to the exhibit at The Richmond Art Center will see the one-of-a-kind book on display, but they won’t be able to thumb through its pages. Instead, Conliffe has set up an HP Dreamscreen 100 digital display to run a continuous slideshow of all 75 images featured in the Redhead book. In addition, he converted five of the best images from the book into 26 x 40 in. black-and-white prints. He output the prints on LexJet Sunset Select Matte Canvas, then coated and stretched them himself.

In keeping with the Art Center gallery hours, the HP Dreamscreen 100 is programmed to turn itself on at 11 am each day and shut itself off at 5 pm.

 “It tends to draw viewers in because it is a dynamic display with a very sleek design,” says Conliffe. “It readily complements the quality of the “Redhead” photography and the ultra-stylish nature of the subject matter.”

 Conliffe reports that the black-and white canvas prints have also drawn serious interest: “Black-and-white imaging has universal appeal,” he says. “Photographers, artists and the general public all seem to have a great affinity for this work. I noticed the same phenomenon last year when I presented a large-format black-and-white portrait photographic exhibition on LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.”

The canvases are protected with Golden Archival Varnish with UVLS (Gloss). “I sprayed the varnish in two cross-directional coats, let the coats dry for 20 minutes, and then sprayed with two more cross directional coats,” explains Conliffe. “Then, I let the coated canvas dry overnight. After the canvases were dry, I stretched and mounted them to heavyweight stretcher bars and installed hanging hardware. This presentation is very clean and has a lot of impact.”

 On Saturday, Feb. 20, Conliffe is participating in the Artist Talks from 1 to 2:30 pm before the Artist Reception is held from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. More information can be found at The Richmond Art Center website.

 Conliffe is also participating in a satellite exhibition that features 13 of the 53 artists showcased at The Art of Living Black exhibition. This show will be held at Mills College in Oakland on Feb. 27 and 28.

He wouldn’t mind at all if this exposure resulted in other art-book commissions from other car collectors. He can reached through his website: www.DuaneConliffe.com

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Photo Book Presents Uncommon View of the Commonwealth of Kentucky

You don’t have to travel the world to shoot images remarkable enough to sell.  Gifted photographers can find visually powerful scenes without wandering far from their own backyards.  

Just ask LexJet customer Jeff Rogers. He grew up in a tiny town (population 250) in rural Kentucky and has spent the past 20 years photographing Kentucky’s people, products, and culture for advertising, commercial, and corporate clients. His images have appeared in magazines such as National Geographic Traveler and Delta Sky magazine and on 30-ft. photo murals at the Lexington airport. 

Last October, he released his second coffee-table book of panoramic images of Kentucky. The book is entitled Kentucky Wide II, and Rogers expects it to be a popular promotional tool or memento for the thousands of horse-lovers from around the world who will come to Kentucky this year for the 2010 World Equestrian Games.  A number of Kentucky-based corporations bought the book for Christmas gifts. And some Kentucky residents bought copies to send to sons and daughters who have moved out-of-state. 

Kentucky Wide II presents breathtaking panoramics that Lexington-based commercial photographer Jeff Rogers captured on 35 mm Fuji transparency film using a Hasselblad XPan camera. Each image in the book is printed at least 7 in. high and 20 in. wide, spreading across two pages of the 11.5 x 8 in. book. Rogers self-published his first photo book (Kentucky Wide) in 2006, and it sold out within months. Shown here: Cumberland Gap in the autumn. ©Jeff Rogers.

Self-publishing and marketing a photo book can be a lot of work, Rogers admits. But his  photography business has benefitted in ways other than revenues from direct sales of the book. For example, because the book has sparked awareness of his archives of Kentucky-themed images, Rogers has sold many wall prints to upscale restaurants in Kentucky cities. (He prints these images himself, using LexJet Sunset Select Canvas or Sunset Textured Fine Art paper on his Epson Stylus Pro 9800.)

He has also seen an increase in his stock-photography sales. Most recently, Rogers learned that this book has received three Addy Awards from the Lexington Advertising Club.   

Kentucky Wide II is the second book Rogers has published.  He published his first photo book in 2006, using 75 panoramic images that he had shot over a 10-year period while “getting lost” on the picturesque back roads that crisscross the farmlands, forests, and lake regions of Kentucky. The book sold out in a few months, so Rogers decided to produce a follow-up.

For Kentucky Wide II, Rogers took a different approach. He deliberately set out to shoot a cross-section of images that would more fully reflect the diversity and beauty of Kentucky in all four seasons. The 83 images in Kentucky Wide II not only include scenes of farms, forests, and skylines, but also show rock climbers at Red River Gorge in Eastern Kentucky, barrels in a bourbon warehouse on Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail, colorful jockey silks hanging in a locker room at Keeneland Race Track, grapes being harvested at the Lover’s Leap Winery, and cars being manufactured at the General Motors’ Corvette assembly plant in Western Kentucky. 

Even though he shoots all of his commercial work digitally, Rogers shot 81 of the images for the Kentucky Wide II book on 35 mm Fuji transparency film. For the panoramic format, he used a Hasselblad XPan camera to expose approximately 1-3/4 frames per shot on the film. Jeff Whatley at National Geographic Imaging made 300MB drum scans of each image, and Richard Sisk made the meticulous color correction to meet the original film as closely as possible. 

“It would have been easier, and certainly less expensive to digitally stitch these images together in Photoshop,” Rogers acknowledges. “But I chose to create them with a dedicated film camera because of the purity of the process.”

“I have always enjoyed the creative challenge of using different formats and perspectives.” adds Rogers. Not only does it give the viewer something different, but it also enables him to produce the types of images that most people can’t replicate.

He hired a photo editor to help him select which images to include, and a graphic designer to make the book look like more of an art book, than a travel book.  And of course, he timed the book’s release for Christmas gift-giving and promotion of the 2010 World Equestrian Games.  

The 176-page, hardcover book sells for $39.95 and is available at bookstores, online, and on his own website. Rogers is donating a portion of the proceeds from book sales to various charitable organizations, including a clean drinking water program in Bolivia, the Center for Women in Racing, Hospice of the Bluegrass, and the Lexington Rescue Mission. 

To see more of Rogers’ work, visit his website www.jeffrogers.com

Rogers chose to shoot panoramics so viewers of Kentucky Wide II could experience Kentucky sights and scenes in a more natural, immersive way. Shown here: Flat Lick Falls in Jackson County. ©Jeff Rogers.
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Qoro Fine Art Services Offers a Unique Guarantee

When the founder of Qoro Fine Art Services in New Castle, Delaware named his new business, he combined the letter “Q” for quality with the Spanish word for gold. But according to one satisfied client, the name Qoro could also be an acronym for “Quality of Reproduction-Outstanding!”  And while Qoro does have the equipment and skill  to make great reproductions of original oil paintings and other art, the firm offers much more than gold-quality printmaking.

Having been in the business for more than 10 years, they have interacted with galleries, museum curators, art publishers, and art schools and gained insights that can help artists with every facet of their careers. They freely share some of these insights online and through consultations with each artist they work with.

Advised Pigment Ink Developers:  One distinctive chapter of Qoro’s history is that staff members provided insights to some of the chemists and researchers who were developing some of the pigment ink technology that has enabled inkjet printing to gain widespread acceptance in fine-art publishing.

Qoro’s founder Bill Jensen was a frame-shop owner, whose friends included chemists who were working with inkjet printer manufacturers on pigment inksets that would provide both the wide color gamuts and long print life that art publishers, galleries, and collectors would expect.

So Jensen started Qoro as a printing business in the late 1990s and began exploring how inkjet printing could be used to reproduce paintings and fulfill orders for art sold online.

Although Jensen has since retired, Davis and Griffith have both been with Qoro since 2000. They recall talking at length with ink chemists and color scientists about how inkjet-printing technology could be improved to meet the expectations of potential producers and buyers of art prints. During these consulting sessions, Davis and Griffith gained extensive firsthand knowledge about some of the chemistry and color science behind print permanence and image quality.

Today, Griffith and Davis are so confident in the quality of the inks, substrates, and protective coatings that they use in printmaking, that they offer Qoro customers a full replacement guarantee. Because they know that most artists don’t really want to delve into the complexities of ink and coating chemistry and print-permanence testing, Griffith and Davis decided to make Qoro’s guarantee as simple and as straightforward as possible.

As stated on their website: “If you damage a Qoro Replica™ we will replace it at no charge. Simply return the damaged product to Qoro and we will send you a new one.”  The word “damage” in their replacement guarantee doesn’t just apply to fading or water damage. It includes damage of any kind.

According to Griffith, the purpose of this guarantee is to make buyers comfortable enough to hang their art anywhere they want with the confidence that it will always remain as beautiful as it was the day they purchased it. Because most artists and art buyers traditionally handle artwork with great care, Qoro has only had to replace a few prints. For example, they replaced one Qoro Replica that had been displayed outdoors for five years on the deck of yacht, where it was routinely exposed to bright sunlight and salty, humid air.  And, they have replaced a few prints that were damaged during stretching or accidentally gashed by an artist preparing for a show.

Qoro’s production manager Frank Davis is an artist himself. Clients are impressed to see how accurately his reproductions match his original paintings, such as this one entitled “Cursed Cauliflower.”

Personalized Marketing Advice: Davis and Griffith have worked with enough artists to understand that no two artists are alike, and each has different goals, aspirations, and levels of knowledge and experience. Qoro gladly provides personalized, high-quality of printmaking services to all artists—whether they are just starting out after graduation, pursuing an art career after retiring from another job, or are already selling originals for thousands of dollars each.

“I care about every piece of art that comes through our doors,” says Davis, who is an artist himself.

Qoro has made prints for hundreds of artists, including masters such as N.C. Wyeth. They also help institutions such as the Delaware Art Museum and Delaware Historical Society supplement their revenues by offering reproductions of selected works of painters such as Edward Hopper and illustrator Howard Pyle.  Qoro has also reproduced paintings so that each heir of an estate can have a high-quality replica of a treasured family heirloom art.

High-Quality Equipment and Materials: For image capture, Davis uses a PhaseOne large-format camera. It has enough resolution to give printed reproductions the illusion of a three-dimensional surface. For printing, he currently uses a Canon imagePROGRAF iPF 8100 printer with Onyx software.

Many of the canvases and art papers Qoro uses come from LexJet. “LexJet has been a godsend for us,” says Davis. “As a company they have the same idea that we have—that the customer comes first. When I call my salesperson Dustin Flowers, he treats me as if I’m the biggest account out there.

Along with the Sunset Select Matte Canvas, Davis uses either Sunset Gloss or Matte coatings, depending on which look a client prefers.

What to Look for When Hiring a Printmaker: Thanks to the advances in pigment-ink technology that Davis and Griffith saw being developed, almost anyone can afford to buy a wide-format inkjet printer and promote themselves as being capable of being in the “fine-art reproduction business.”

Davis  says artists should spend more time investigating how the services and capabilities of one printmaker differ from others.  According to Davis, artists should pay attention to these three things:

  1. the quality of the equipment used in the image capture;
  2. what services are included in the price and which services cost extra; and
  3. any clauses in the contract that may grant the printmaker permission to use your art in ways you didn’t intend.

Davis advises artists to “Learn as much as you can before you commit and always protect your work by reading the fine print in a contract.”

To learn more about Qoro, you can follow them on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or read Frank Davis’ blog (“Frank Discussions”). You can also visit their online gallery, through which they sell prints and originals from clients, artists and museums directly to interested customers. (www.qoro.com and www.qoroart.com)

Through Qoro’s online art shop (www.qoroart.com), customers can purchase reproductions of works by individual artists or art included the archives of the Delaware Art Museum and Delaware Historical Society. This painting,“The Pirate” by N.C. Wyeth, is available in three different sizes of limited-edition canvas prints or as an open edition of 24 x 12-in. prints on art paper.
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Setting the Stage for a Major Exhibition at the National Geographic Museum

If you are planning to visit Washington, DC anytime between now and the end of March, consider visiting the National Geographic Museum to check out an amazing exhibit entitled “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor.” The reason we’re talking about it here is because the National Geographic Imaging Department used an Espon Stylus Pro GS6000 and LexJet Sunset Satin Canvas SUV to print many of the graphics and visuals that tell the story of the Terra Cotta Warriors and artifacts on display. Below are excerpts of an article that appeared in Vol. 4, No. 12 of LexJet’s Expand newsletter.  

 One of China’s most popular tourist destinations is near the city of Xi’an, where archaeologists are continuing to excavate a massive, subterranean vault containing fragments of thousands of life-size terra cotta figures produced more than 2,000 years ago. The figures were created to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, who ruled from 221 B.C. to 210 B.C. 

More than 1,000 figures have been unearthed, and an estimated 6,000 more remain in the known underground pits. National Geographic magazine first published an article about these terra cotta warriors in 1978, after the first fragments were found four years earlier by farmers digging a well. The site is now regarded as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. 

When it was announced that some figures and artifacts from Qin Shihuangdi’s tomb would be available for display in the United States, the National Geographic Museum was one of four museums chosen to present an exhibition.  Entitled “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor,” the exhibit opened at the National Geographic Museum on Nov. 19 and runs through March 31, 2010.  The 12,000-sq. ft. exhibition is organized in four rooms on the first floor of the headquarters of the National Geographic Society in Washington, DC.

The “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor” exhibit at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC runs through March 31, 2010. The exhibition showcases 15 life-size terra cotta figures, including two infantrymen, a chariot driver, two officers, an armored warrior, two archers, a cavalryman, two musicians, a strongman, a court official, a stable attendant, and a horse. Also on display are 100 sets of artifacts and an hour-long film that features an inside look at the massive tomb where the artifacts were found. For more information, visit www.warriorsdc.org. (Photo: Kate Baylor, National Geographic)

The exhibit’s graphics and visuals were designed by Alan Parente, Art Director for the National Geographic Museum.  Dozens of text panels, illustrations, and other supporting graphics were produced by Rob Naylor of the National Geographic Imaging Dept. which is managed by Bernard Quarrick. 

About 95% of the graphics for this project were produced on the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 low-solvent-ink printer that National Geographic’s Imaging Dept. had purchased from LexJet. The graphics include more than 75 large graphics panels printed on Sunset Select Satin Canvas SUV and 50 to 60 directional and informational signs printed on vinyl and posted inside and outside the museum.     

“We were extremely excited to get this exhibition,” says Parente. “We were all honored to be able to work on it.”

Because of the tremendous costs involved in transporting and insuring the artifacts, and providing additional security, this is the first time the National Geographic Museum has sold tickets for an exhibition.  When the exhibit opened in November, more than 100,000 advance tickets had already been sold.

Even though the artifacts had previously been shown at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, CA, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Parente wanted to create a fresh design for the National Geographic Museum. He wanted to present the Terra Cotta Warriors in a way that would include the type of explanatory information that fans of National Geographic Society expect.

Parente chose earth tones for the color scheme to put the focus on the warriors themselves. He selected canvas as a no-sheen, natural-looking material for the entryway, explanatory text and supporting illustrations.  Most of the text panels are applied directly to the walls. The illustrations were printed on canvas, stretched as gallery wraps, and hung on the wall.

The walls of the opening room are completely covered in about 820 sq. ft. of LexJet Sunset Select Satin SUV Canvas printed on an Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 printer. The canvas was installed directly to the walls by a professional wallpaper-hanger. (Photo: Mark Thiessen, National Geographic)
Each of the other three rooms of the exhibit had 12 to 16 text panels. Each panel was about 8 to 10 ft. high, and varied in width from about 16 to 52 in., depending on the size of the presentation case. (Photos: Mark Theissen, National Geographic)

The exhibit graphics were produced during an intense six-week period from early October through mid-November. During this time, the GS6000 ran nearly non-stop including nights and weekends.

“The printer got a real workout on this job,” says Naylor. “But it came through like a champ.” Naylor also used the GS6000 with calendered vinyl to print floor graphics, outdoor signs, and directional signs. He used LexJet Sunset Fine Art Satin SUV by Hahnemuhle to produce promotional prints that could be displayed in the windows of local retailers. 

Supporting illustrations for the exhibit were printed on canvas, stretched, and displayed as gallery wraps. The largest illustration was a 16 x 3 ft. seamless panoramic image designed to give viewers a sense of the immensity of the archaeological dig site in China. (Photo: Mark Thiessen, National Geographic)

Producing graphics for the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit enabled the National Geographic Imaging Department to demonstrate their full range of capabilities. Until now, most exhibits in the National Geographic Museum have featured the organization’s world-class images that show the richness and diversity of our world. Most of these images are printed on National Geographic’s Durst Lambda which uses RGB lasers to exposure images onto photo papers which are then fed through a silver-halide photo processor.

National Geographic Imaging is also equipped with a GBC Orca wide-format laminator and three Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printers which are used primarily to print maps and as proofing devices for National Geographic magazines and publications.

According to Quarrick, the graphics team at National Geographic Imaging can handle a wide range of exhibit-graphics work for other museums in the Washington, DC area. “We don’t like to turn down anything. What someone might consider a problem, we in National Geographic Imaging treat as a challenge,” says Quarrick.

Designer Alan Parente agrees that the Imaging Department has some very knowledgeable employees: “These guys are great partners to have. They are very creative in their own right. When I come to them with my ideas, I know I can rely on them to help me figure out how to make these things a reality.”

Naturally, everyone at LexJet is thrilled to see LexJet materials used in such a magnificent exhibit. Account specialist Jaimie Perez says, “I have been working with Rob for years, and was honored to help Rob find the perfect materials to fit their vision of the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit.”

For more information about “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor” exhibition, visit www.warriorsdc.org

For more information about using the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 and LexJet materials to produce exhibit graphics and visuals, contact Jaimie Perez or any of the other helpful experts at LexJet ay 800-453-9538.

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Brilliant Studio Continues the Tradition of Collaborative Printmaking

By Dustin Flowers

Brilliant Studio is located in a warm and welcoming facility in the countryside about 30 miles from Philadelphia.

The newest issue of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter shines the Artist Spotlight on one of my customers, photographer and master printer Bob Tursack of Brilliant Studio and Brilliant Graphics in Exton, PA (near Philadelphia). 

Brilliant Studio provides top-quality printmaking in the broadest sense of the word. While Bob can reproduce art with the utmost fidelity, he believes he does his best work for artists and photographers who trust him as a collaborator. He regards printmaking as an art in itself—an extension of what can be achieved with cameras, paintbrushes, or drawing tools alone. Thus, he feels comfortable recommending ways clients can achieve the highest artistic realization of the image they had visualized from the start.

Brilliant Studio works with many galleries, publishers, artists, and photographers and has printed reproductions for painters such as the late Andrew Wyeth and photographs by Michael Furman, George Tice, and Yaakov Asher Sinclair.

At first, Brilliant Studio outsourced the printing of artists’ books and gallery catalogs. But because Bob grew up in a family that ran a commercial printing business, he decided to establish Brilliant Graphics as a companion business. He bought a Heidelberg press, developed a computer-integrated printing workflow, and now prints brochures, annual reports, corporate marketing materials, catalogs, posters, and perfect-bound and casebound books.

Brilliant Graphics provides these printing services not only to galleries, artists and photographers, but to other businesses as well. They are particularly skilled in printing publications that require superb image reproduction. For example, Brilliant Graphics produced catalogs for Swann Galleries, the New York auction house that sells works from the earliest days of photography to images by modern masters.

Outstanding Facilities: Earlier this month, I was honored to be invited to the Open House Brilliant Studio hosted for current and prospective clients. Their studio was unbelievably clean and well-equipped. Not only were their customer reception and proofing areas immaculate, but so were their camera rooms, printrooms, and computer rooms.

Brilliant Studio is equipped to produce giclee prints, exhibition prints, intaglio copperplate etchinigs, relief prints, and offset lithographs. They also provide scanning and mounting services.

The post-and-beam construction of their building may look rustic, quaint and homey, but everything inside the building was specifically designed for optimizing workflow, enhancing communications with customers, and controlling print quality.  

For capturing original artwork, Brilliant Studio uses Phase One and Hasselblad cameras and Creo Eversmart Pro Scanners.

They can make prints on a wide range of equipment, including four 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printers with the ImagePrint RIP, a 64-in. Epson Stylus Pro 11880 printer, and a Ryobi four-color waterless offset lithography press. In the midst of all new technology stands an antique etching press, which can be used either for copperplate etchings or relief prints from woodcuts or linoleum cuts.

Empathy and Advice: As a photographer himself, Tursack understands that when photographers give him an original file to print they are giving him a piece of their soul. He says, “I know what goes into creating an image and the sense of great disappointment that can be felt when something you created isn’t reproduced well.”

He encourages artists to freely tell him when they don’t like something. But he also feels comfortable enough to suggest ways they can improve the market acceptance of their work without compromising their artistic integrity.

Marketing Support: Bob Tursack and his staff are happy to help good artists get their work noticed. When appropriate, they introduce artists to some of their gallery or publisher clients.

And the marketing consultants and designers at Brilliant Graphics can help artists create branding and identity packages, and advertise their work in regional lifestyle magazines and art trade journals.

Brilliant Studio also produces a bimonthly mailing of full-color art cards to 3,000 qualified contacts in the print-sales marketplace. Each card features the work of a single artist with details about the artist and available print sizes.

To promote efficiency and communications, all of the estimating, customer service, prep and planning are done in one location. (Photo: Brilliant Graphics)

In-Depth Media Evaluation: One role Tursack takes very seriously is helping the artist choose the right paper or canvas for each print. He recommends a paper for a particular job based on its color gamut, maximum density, tactile quality, archival nature, and what the paper will add to the personality of the print.

Depending on the requirements of a particular job, he may recommend a Hahnemuhle German Etching, Photo Rag Bright White, Photo Rag Satin, Fine Art Pearl, Photo Rag, or Fine Art Baryta. For prints output on canvas, I am pleased to report that he uses LexJet Sunset Select Matte Canvas or Instant-Dry Satin Canvas.

Bob Tursack evaluates different materials so that the artist’s trust in his expertise will be rewarded. He believes that “Understanding where an artist is trying to go with their work is by far the most important part of what we do.”

 It’s hard to describe how impressed I was when I visited Brilliant Studio earlier this month. I encourage you to read more in the story In Focus, or visit the websites of Brilliant Graphics and Brilliant Studio and see for yourself what makes this business unique.

The Brilliant-Graphics website includes a virtual tour of their facilities. Shown here is one of two customer viewing areas and conference rooms.
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Vincent Goetz Brings a Painterly Feel to Abstract Photography

Now more than ever, photography careers are shaped by how quickly and clearly you can recognize emerging markets for images. Just ask Vincent Goetz, who recently resumed his photography career after taking a 30-year hiatus from the craft.

This photograph, entitled Steel Navel, actually depicts a bullet hole in rusted sheet metal. (Photo: Vincent Goetz)

Like many of his peers, Goetz developed an interest in photography in high school, bought a lot of equipment, experimented in the darkroom, and considered becoming a commercial photographer. But after doing two shoots, he realized he didn’t want to deal with people telling him what or how to shoot. Nor did he relish the more mundane parts of the business such as a collecting bills, or dealing with talent.

So, he found other ways to support his lifestyle. He worked as a fisherman, grocery clerk, janitor, burger flipper, climber, Yosemite park ranger, bartender, waiter, banker, and consultant. Although he took some photographs as part of the Light Brigade outdoor-education group in Yosemite, he eventually quit photography because he felt that that glass of the lens was getting in the way of real life. As Goetz puts it, “I found myself taking pictures of life rather than living. I was fairly active—surfing, climbing, kayaking, riding motorcycles, skiing, etc. I was always looking for the picture, rather than stopping to enjoy what I was doing.” 

By the time he decided to get back into photography 30 years later, everything had changed. It was all about experimenting with the limits of digital instead of Kodachrome. And although he quickly discovered “the learning curve in digital is immense,” he also immediately recognized that digital opened up endless new possibilities for how the images could be processed and used.

Bringing Creativity to Digital Décor. Currently, Goetz is eager to explore what can be done with images in large office and commercial spaces and on materials such as plaster, aluminum, leather, and non-conventional substrates. He is excited by the fact that digital printing is radically changing our perceptions of what photography can be.

“You can cover a fair amount of wall space and create a certain feeling in a room with an image,” says Goetz. “A painting can only get you so far.” He believes it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out a way to transfer images to wet plaster as a building is being constructed. He can envision how images might look applied both to the interior and exterior walls of buildings.

A Hybrid Style: Goetz characterizes his own style of photography as a hybrid between photography and painting.  Although he does shoot some scenics, he believes that it’s his more abstract images that distinguish him as an artist.  This year, he exhibited his work at the Yuanfen New Media Art Space in Beijing, China and the Gordon Huether’s Hay Barn Gallery in Napa, CA.
Would you ever guess this was a photograph of the surface of an old gas pump? (Photo by Vincent Goetz)

Some of Goetz’s favorite work includes a series of close-up images of the surfaces of old gas pumps that had been exposed to the elements for 70 years or so. The peeling, oxidizing paint reveals a surprisingly rich depth of color and textures. Unless you’ve been told that you’re looking at the weathered metal surface of a gas pump, you’d never guess.

“I like making images that make you think and question what you are seeing,” explains Goetz. “I look for color and texture, and the purity of the image. I also like to see how our eyes are attracted to images and absorb them.” 


Printing on Canvas: When Goetz first started using Nikon D200 and D300 cameras, he had a friend print his work while he concentrated on learning Photoshop and the basic workflow.  But having worked in the darkroom in high school, Goetz knew he eventually wanted to learn to print his work himself.  With guidance from his printmaker friend and account specialist Darren Vena at LexJet, Goetz has reached the point where he prints nearly all of his own work on the Epson Stylus Pro 7900.

“I am also starting to print for others, which is really fun,” says Goetz. “It’s also a good way to see and understand what other people are shooting.”

He prints some images on LexJet Archival Matte paper because he likes the way that it holds the blacks. But he prints most of his images at 24 x 36 in. on LexJet Sunset Select Matte Canvas.

“I really like printing on canvas,” says Goetz. In addition to shooting and printing images that looks like paintings, Goetz has started studying painting and likes experimenting with different techniques. Similarly, he would love to experiment with printing on non-traditional surfaces, especially now that it has become much easier to make wall-size prints than wall-size paintings. 

For 20 years, Goetz worked as a banker, which might seem to be odd career choice for someone born with the spirit and vision of an artist.  But as a banker, he delighted in helping other people find ways to make their dreams come true. That experience has motivated him to focus on pursuing his own visions as a photographic artist.

“A lot of life has distilled the way I see, and I am constantly intrigued by the abstractness of nature and the environment around us. Having been a banker, I also see the business side of photography and am trying a different model.” says Goetz. 

In October, Vincent Goetz's images were exhibited at the Yuanfen New Media Art Space in Beijing, China.

He would like to create photography that gets people to see differently—to open their eyes and realize that some of the most common things around us are startingly beautiful.  Someday, Goetz would also like to see his work printed very large or on unique substrates, and has started seeking partnerships in the US and abroad that might make that happen.

“I would like to think that some of my images are interesting enough that people look twice at the world around them,” says Goetz. “Sight is such a gift, and to share what we see is even more magical.”

To see more of Goetz’s photography, including images shot during his recent trip to China, visit his website: www.vincentgoetz.com