Hahnemühle Discusses Their ‘Green’ Production Processes

LexJet is a proud reseller of Hahnemühle FineArt papers for inkjet photo and fine-art printing. So we are pleased to share this paper that Hahnemϋhle recently released describing the environmentally friendly production processes used in their papermaking.

Hahnemühle FineArt GmbH located in Dassel, Germany celebrated its 425th anniversary this year, making it one of the world’s oldest continuously trading paper mills. Throughout its history, Hahnemühle has been uniquely sensitive to environmental issues in an industry that is notorious for its exploitation of the natural world. Today Hahnemühle continues to lead with its innovative and infinitely sustainable production processes.

Joerg Adomat, Hahnemuhle CEO

Joerg Adomat, Hahnemühle CEO, states, “The green rooster, the brother of the Hahnemühle red rooster, was created to show that we care about the environment. Caring means offering environmentally sound products, using green power production and sponsoring environmental initiatives. In doing so, last year we saved 3000 tons of carbon dioxide, introduced bamboo fiber and sugar cane waste- based papers and donated more than $100,000 to environmental initiatives.”

The main resources necessary for the production of paper are water, pulp and a tremendous amount of electrical energy. Hahnemühle has addressed all of these from a product quality and sustainability perspective:

Water: The Hahnemühle paper mill was originally established on the banks of the pure, spring-fed Ilme river near the town of Dassel in the beautiful Solling region of Lower Saxony, Germany. Today this region has been designated as a Nature Protection Area by a European Flora Fauna Habitat directive. As a resident of this beautiful area, Hahnemühle has adapted sustainable fresh water and contaminant-free sewage recycling programs that exceed even the most stringent FFH directives. Now, 425 years later, the water of the Ilme is still classified as “drinking quality”!

Pulp: The Hahnemühle product portfolio encompasses more than 500 different types of fine art, filter and technical papers, many of which are used in precision industrial and medical applications that require the highest degree of purity. Since many of these applications rule out the use of recycled paper fibers, the importance of using sustainable forest resources becomes paramount to our green initiatives.

We use pulp from 20 different deciduous and conifer tree species worldwide and insist that our suppliers be certified for sustainable forestry practices that meet or exceed the equivalent of Forest Stewardship Council directives.

In addition to wood pulp, we also use six different types of cotton linters and rags made from the super-soft, non-aging fibers of totally renewable cotton plant seed vessels. In recent years Hahnemühle has developed two new “green” papers that have been added to the Digital FineArt Collection. The first was Bamboo 290gsm made from the fast growing fibers of the bamboo plant. The latest is Sugar Cane 300gsm, 75% of which is made from bagasse fibers, a by-product of sugar cane processing that would otherwise be burned. Cotton fibers gleaned from recycling our own paper waste make up the remaining 25%.

Electricity: The production of paper is an energy-intensive process; most of which is electrical. In January of 2009, Hahnemühle switched to one of Europe’s most eco-friendly electrical energy providers called LichtBlick. The power provided by this company is generated entirely from easily sustainable power sources. No atomic, coal, gas or petroleum fuels are used. This will allow us to eliminate approximately 3,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually, a figure that roughly equals our total paper production for a year!

Recycling: Whenever possible, we process our own paper trimming waste and return it directly into the production cycle. The excess waste trimmings that we cannot use are accumulated and forwarded to other fabricators, effectively eliminating virtually all our mill waste. Finally, all Hahnemühle packaging is made from fully recyclable materials. For more information visit www.green-rooster.com or www.hahnemuhledirect.com.

LexJet sells two Hahnemühle canvases (in sheets and rolls) and 22 different types of papers from the Hahnemühle Digital FineArt collection, including Hahnemühle’s environmentally friendly Bamboo 290 g and Sugar Cane 300 g papers.

Call a LexJet account specialist at 800-453-9538 for personalized assistance in selecting the right Hahnemuhle materials for your printmaking requirements and fast, economical delivery of your order.

Printing Photos and Art for Outdoor Display

This photo-banner project started with a NASA public domain file that normally would have been suitable for printing at around 16 x16 inches. Using onOne’s Genuine Fractals software, Joe Menth of Fine Balance Imaging Studios enlarged the image to 9 x 9 ft. and output it in three 3-ft. wide sections on LexJet’s TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant polypropylene film. http://www.fbistudios.com

To most people, the term outdoor photography means photographs taken outdoors. But with pro-model pigment-ink wide-format inkjet printers and banner materials from LexJet, the term outdoor photography can also mean photographs displayed outdoors.

For example, check out this triptych photo banner that Joe Menth of Fine Balance Imaging Studios in Langely, WA, created using LexJet’s TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant polypropylene film on an Epson Stylus Pro 9800 with UltraChrome pigment inks and ImagePrint RIP software.

Polypropylene film is a bright white, tear-resistant alternative to photo paper that produces outstanding image quality. Yet it’s durable enough to hang outside for several weeks or months without lamination.  

Menth originally created this banner to celebrate Earth Day. But it looked so nice, and called attention to their studio’s second-floor location that they kept it hanging for a couple of months afterwards. Plus, the entire building is constructed from reclaimed and recycled materials, so the Earth banner went nicely with the sustainability theme of the building.  

 “One reason the banner is in three pieces is that we wanted a way to hang it out our windows, and be able to remove it or change it out easily,” explains Menth. “And because we don’t have any way to weld the panels together, we decided to just put it up as a triptych.” The banner could be seen from many blocks away.

For photographs and art that will be displayed outdoors for longer periods of time, you would probably need to find a service bureau equipped with a printer that uses low-solvent, solvent, or UV-curable inks instead of the aqueous  inks used in popular, wide-gramut photographic printers.  

LexJet works with thousands of services bureaus nationwide that use solvent and UV-curable printers and can recommend a printing firm in your area that can help you.

To learn more about different materials and options available for producing and displaying photographs outdoors, call a LexJet account specialist at 800-453-9538.

You can read more about Fine Balance Imaging Studios in the July issue (Vol. 4, No. 7) of LexJet’s In Focus Newsletter or in the Studio LexJet posts:  Deskfront Displays for Photo,Art, and Promotional Prints. Or visit their website: www.fbistudios.com

Photographers Get Creative with Photo Mural Fabric

Photo mural at Fine Balance Imaging

Last month, we published a post showing the beautiful black-and-white photo murals that Lizza Studios had created on Photo Tex PSA fabric for the Dietrich Theatre in Tunkhannock, PA. Photo Tex is an inkjet-printable fabric backed with a repositionable adhesive that makes it easy to make adjustments if you make a mistake when you are installing the printed panels.

Here are a few other examples of the creative ways other LexJet customers are using the user-friendly display material. 

WALL SIGNAGE: To help welcome visitors to the new studios of Fine Balance Imaging in Whidbey Island, WA, Joe Menth used PhotoTex PSA to create this 5 x 8 ft. wall mural of a photo he had taken of a local musician. The mural has sparked a wave of interest in the printable fabric among consumers and exhibit designers. Fine Balance Imaging has since produced a floor-to-ceiling mural in the newly remodeled kitchen of a local bed-and-breakfast.

TRADE SHOW GRAPHICS:  At a trade show for local businesses, Joe Menth and Nancy MacFarland of Fine Balance Imaging used Photo Tex PSA to create easy-to-install/easy-to-remove graphics for the side wall of their trade show booth. One of the purposes of the booth was to show some of the creative possibilities of printing images on non-traditional materials. The table drape for the booth was printed on LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and the graphics in the I-Banner stands were printed using Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and Polypropylene. According to Joe, using the banner stands and the PhotoTex PSA Fabric for booth graphics made it quick and easy to take down the booth when the show was over. You can read more about Fine Balance Imaging on this blog, or in the July issue (Vol. 4, No. 7) of LexJet’s In Focus Newsletter.

Trade-show graphics show what Fine Balance Imaging can do.

 

OFFICE DÉCOR: While working on a yearbook to help the J&B Group of Minnesota celebrate its 30^th anniversary, portrait photographer Chris Lommel suggested enlarging one of the company’s historic 8 x 10 prints into a 168 in. x 9 ft. mural the reception area of one of the company’s production facilities. When they agreed to give it a try, Lommel printed the image in four 42 in. x 9 ft. pieces on Photo Tex PSA on the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8100 he bought from LexJet.  He installed the panels with the help of the graphic designer who had worked with him on the mural. The company has received a lot of nice comments on the mural from visitors as well as employees. You can read more about Chris Lommel Photography and some of the other creative ways he is using LexJet materials in the August issue of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

 

  

Chris Lommel's mural-size enlargement decorates the reception area of a facility of the J&B Group.

 

  

Photographer Norman Gilbert printed golf course imagery onto PhotoTex PSA, then used the fabric to decorate his "Buddy Dog." The sheen comes from the automotive clearcoat that was sprayed on all the dogs so they could be displayed outdoors.

PUBLIC ART:  PhotoTex PSA fabric is designed to be applied to non-porous flat surfaces. But photographer Norman Gilbert of Memphis, TN decided to see if the fabric would work for something more complex. 

He used PhotoTex to wrap his 44-in. tall “Buddy Dog” statue in golf-themed imagery for the Dog Daze in Memphis public art project/fundraiser being conducted to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County, TN.  

The statue is modeled after Buddy, a three-legged Black Labrador that was rescued during Hurricane Katrina.Gilbert’s dog, named DogLeg, is one of 75 artistically enhanced dogs that are being display throughout the city and will be auctioned off later this month. Gilbert is the official photographer for the Dog Daze in Memphis project. You can read more about Gilbert’s unorthodox use of PhotoTex PSA fabric in the August issue of LexJet’s In Focus newsletter.

Easy-Install Fabric Photo Posters Honor Movie Theater’s History

The black-and-white posters in the new lobby of The Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock, PA were printed on Photo Tex PSA, an inkjet-printable fabric with a respositionable adhesive for easy installation.

Going to the movies was more of a community experience in the decades before national corporations started building huge, multiplex movie theaters at shopping malls. If the weather was nice, you could pile your friends into a car and head off to a drive-in. But most of the time, you had to go downtown to the local theatre to see the latest releases from Hollywood.

Civic leaders in small towns across America are hoping to recapture some of that sense of community by restoring old theaters and reinventing them as community arts centers.

Such is the case at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock, PA.  The Dietrich Theater first opened in 1937 with just one screen. That was fine until the mid-1980s when the Dietrich Theater couldn’t compete with the new breed of corporate-run multiplex theaters at malls.  After being closed for well over a decade, the Dietrich Theater reopened in 2001—this time with two screens to meet the changing expectations and diverse tastes of moviegoers.  And earlier this summer, the Dietrich Theater opened a new addition to the theater that includes two additional screens as well as space for arts classes and community events.

One of the most eye-catching features of the addition to the theater is the series of larger-than life black-and-white photographs hanging above the new lobby. The photo posters were designed by Stephen Hendrickson, a NY-based production designer for television who helps design special events and displays for the Dietrich Theater.  The posters were printed by Lizza Studios, a Tunkhannock-based business that provides large-format, fine-art reproduction services for artists.

The posters were printed on Photo Tex PSA fabric for solvent printers and an Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 solvent inkjet printer from LexJet. The posters were  installed by Bob Lizza, Doug Wilson, and Betsy Green of Lizza Studios.  

The seven posters in the series include three 80 x 82-in. posters on each side of the lobby and a 106 x 80 in. poster at the center. The posters feature some of iconic stars you would have seen in movies at the Dietrich Theater in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s, such as Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, John Wayne, Cary Grant, and Katherine Hepburn.

According to studio manager Betsy Green, this was the first time Lizza Studios had ever attempted a project like this, but they were more than happy to help The Dietrich Theater succeed as an arts center.  She said Lizza Studios typically uses the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 for reproducing art that features bright, saturated colors. But she reports that everyone was extremely pleased by how well the printer reproduced the black-and-white movie stills.

Lizza chose to print on Photo Tex PSA because it is so easy to hang that it doesn’t require any specialized training in installation.  Photo Tex is an inkjet-printable fabric, backed with a repositionable adhesive. The adhesive cures over time so that the mural will stay put, but if you make a mistake when you are installing the printed panels, it’s easy to fix. And, because the fabric “breathes,” you don’t have to spend a lot of time removing the trapped pockets of air.  The adhesive removes cleanly from the walls when it’s time to take the mural down.  Photo Tex PSA is available for both aqueous-ink and solvent-ink printers.   

“If we hadn’t used the Photo Tex material, the job would have been nearly impossible for us.” Green admits.  During installation, they had to work from a high lift and precisely align each panel in the recessed areas the architect had included in the lobby walls.

They had to take the posters on and off a few times to get each poster installed exactly right. But they succeeded, and Green now calls Photo Tex PSA a miracle material: “Whoever invented it is genius. It is user-friendly in every way.”

The addition the Dietrich Theater opened in June and everyone agrees that the black-and-white images look stunning. The prints provide a striking, historic contrast to the ultra-modern design of the lobby below. Hildy Morgan, of the Dietrich Theater, says “It’s the most beautiful visual tie-in that you can imagine.”

At LexJet, we love hearing how customers such as Lizza Studios are using their inkjet printers and alternative materials to contribute to community projects. We’ve published other stories about Photo Tex murals in our In Focus newsletter and we’ll be showing some other examples in upcoming posts on this blog.

For example, you can read about the photo mural Advanced Signs & Graphics installed in a health-care facility or the wrap-around photo murals Tom Grassi of Image-Tec installed as a scenic backdrop at a rehabilitation facility.

If you have any questions about the material or how to use it, please call one of the helpful account specialists at LexJet at 800-453-9538.

You can read more about the extraordinary art-reproduction services offered by Lizza Studios on a separate post on this blog or by visiting their website: www.lizzastudios.com

Catalog Showcases Materials for Inkjet Photo and Art Printing

Many posts on this blog showcase some of the creative ways that photographers and artists are using some of the materials they have purchased from LexJet, including Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, Absolute Backlit Film, and Sunset Photo eSatin Paper 300g.

You can see additional examples of how photographers and artists are using LexJet materials by downloading a copy of the 2009 Edition of the The LexJet Catalog for the Professional Photographer and Fine-Art Printmaker 

The 28-page catalog also lists roll size, sheet size, and pricing details about many of the inkjet-printable materials available from LexJet, including:

• LexJet Sunset Photo Paper
• LexJet Sunset Fibre-Based Paper
• LexJet Sunset Fine Art Paper
• LexJet  Sunset Select Gloss and Matte Canvases
• LexJet Instant-Dry Satin Canvas
• LexJet Inkjet Paper
• Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper
• EPSON Professional Media

 The catalog also highlights:

•  LexJet Specialty Films
• LexJet Adhesive-Backed Media (including Photo Tex PSA)
• LexJet Banner Media, (including Water-Resistant Satin Cloth
• 3P Inkjet Textiles
• Pigment Inks for Epson, Canon and HP Printers
• Hahnemuhle Standard and PRO Galerie Wrap Stretcher Bars
• LexJet I-Banner Spring Back Banner Stands
• Banner Finishing Accessories
• Sunset Coating

Most of the materials in the catalog are designed for use on the Canon imagePROGRAF, HP Designjet, and Epson Stylus Pro  inkjet printers that use aqueous dye or pigment inks. However, the catalog also features LexJet papers, canvases, banner materials, adhesive-backed media, and specialty films that are used by higher-volume printmakers who use the Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 and other printers that use solvent or UV-curable (SUV) inks.

The catalog lists only some of the products LexJet carries and more products are being added all the time. As the imaging business continues to evolve, LexJet can provide the equipment, supplies, and knowledge you need to adapt.

Over the past 15 years, LexJet account specialists have helped thousands of photography studios, fine-art printmakers, service bureaus, and printing companies discover new ways to profit from printing. We can help your imaging business too!  To learn more, visit www.lexjet.com or call an account specialist at 800-453-9538.

Along with traditional photo and art papers, LexJet sells materials that can be used to print promotional graphics. For example, Picture This Photography in Avon, IN used AquaVinyl adhesive-backed vinyl from LexJet to print these graphics for the vehicles the studio uses to store and haul props. LexJet account specialists can provide tips on how to produce, apply and remove these types of graphics, which can be a cost-effective way to promote your studio wherever you go.

Desk-Front Displays for Photo, Art, and Promotional Prints

By Darren Vena

Fine Balance Imaging Studios uses changeable panels in their desks to exhibit their clients' art and promote their own services. (www.fbistudios.com)

At LexJet, we love it when photographers and artists send us pictures that show some of the creative ways they are using some of the inkjet-printable materials we sell.

In two previous posts on this blog (about photographers Leslie D. Bartlett and David DeJonge), we’ve shown you why LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth is quickly becoming a popular option for printing photo and art exhibitions. For one thing, the inkjet-receptive coating on this smooth, lustrous, wrinkle-resistant cloth is designed for high-resolution, full-color imaging. And, because prints on Water Resistant Satin Cloth don’t need to be framed or mounted, shipping exhibition prints from one site to another is a breeze.

But here’s one use of Water-Resistant Satin Cloth that we hadn’t seen until now. The clever, desk-front display system shown here was devised by Joe Menth of Fine Balance Imaging on Whidbey Island, Washington, a mecca for artists, photographers, and nature-lovers about 25 miles north of Seattle.

Joe built the desktop display system earlier this year when Fine Balance Imaging moved into a spacious new studio, which was more than twice the size of their original working quarters. He says the desks from the old location simply looked out of place in their new surroundings.

So he customized the desks with fixtures designed to hold changeable graphic panels made from satin-cloth prints attached to recycled door moldings. (The door moldings are used like stretcher bars in canvas gallery wraps.) The panels can be slid in and out of slats in the desk fixtures whenever Fine Balance Imaging wants to feature something new.

“In the desks, the panels looks seamless and permanent because we’ve put trim over the top,” says Menth. “But we simply pull up the trim, pull out the frame, and drop the new prints in.”

The images are printed onto LexJet Water Resistant Satin Cloth using the ImagePrint RIP and the Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printer.

The desktop graphic panels are just one of the ways that Menth shows clients what’s possible with high-resolution inkjet printing and different types of materials. As you can see from Joe’s panoramic shot below, when clients walk into Fine Balance Imaging they see bold splashes of color almost anywhere they look.

Along with promotions for the studio’s services, visitors can see small exhibitions of the work produced by clients such as Michael Foley. His macrophotography series Miracles in Minutiae was printed on LexJet’s Sunset Select Matte Canvas and is displayed for everyone to see.  In the corner of the studio is a print on an aluminum sheet made possible with Golden Digital Grounds for Non-Porous Surfaces.  Hanging above the desk are paintings enlarged to 400% and printed onto Color Textiles Habotai Silk.  Most of the framed photographs were printed on Epson UltraSmooth Fine Art paper.

As for promotional graphics, a front counter sign is printed on LexJet Water-Resistant Polypropylene and the graphics in the I-Banner Stands are printed on either Water-Resistant Polypropylene or Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.

Fine Balance Imaging was founded in 2004, a couple of years after Nancy McFarland and her son Joe Menth had moved to Whidbey Island intending to start a small, family-run art gallery. Nancy and Joe are both photographers and artists at heart, but had worked mostly in technology-related careers that they never were fully passionate about.

At the art gallery, they started making small art prints for a few of their new artist friends. They opened Fine Balance Imaging in direct response to what the artists in the area said they needed. The fine-art business has since expanded to include an extensive array of capture, design, finishing, and marketing-support services for artists, photographers, small businesses, and consumers. These services include: high-end film and flatbed scanning; photography; graphic design; panorama stitching of multiple images; and photo restoration, color correction, and retouching.

But the bulk of the studio’s business revolves around wide-format printing of fine art, photographs, posters, banners, and displays. The studio uses the Epson Stylus Pro 4800, 7600, and 9800 printers with ColorByte Software’s ImagePrint RIP for consistent color from print to print.

For artists who want prints ready to sell at local festivals, Fine Balance will provide shrink-wrapped or polybagged mounted prints. Finishing options include UV-coating, hand deckling, or custom trimming.

As their services have expanded, so has their base of customers. And that’s why they needed to move to a bigger space and chose to do something more creative with their desks.  When more customers see for themselves the type of images that can be produced on Water-Resistant Cloth, Menth says, “More and more clients are using it to create frame-free, ready-to-hang art.” Fine Balance Imaging sells the prints complete with a simple hanging system made from dowels and satin cord.

This type of ingenuity in producing ready-to-hang prints that has made Fine Balance Imaging very popular with their clients. Plus, “Doing work that we truly love motivates us to uphold incredibly high standards,” says Joe.

He adds that, “Our clients don’t care what equipment is used to create their prints. They just care that we spend time with them personally to make sure that they’re happy when they leave, so they will come back to us again and again.”

You can read more about Fine Balance Imaging and how they find ways to help artists succeed in LexJet’s In Focus Newsletter (Vol. 4, No. 7) and in future posts on Studio LexJet. Or visit the Fine Balance Imaging website: www.fbistudios.com

Rock-Solid Art Exhibited on Lightweight Fabric

©Leslie D. Bartlett, http://www.followthegleam.com

By Kelly Price

Arrive, to look. An artist’s statement can’t get much simpler than this. And these three little words accurately express the philosophy of Leslie D. Bartlett, the accomplished landscape photographer who now creates painting-like photographs of the beautiful natural stone formations that can be found deep in the historic quarries near Cape Ann in Massachusetts.

The formations are all that remains of the region’s once-thriving granite industry. In the early 1800s, Cape Ann inhabitants started cutting the peninsula’s 450-million-year-old granite into blocks at stone for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, parts of the Statue of Liberty, and thousands of streets worldwide. 

Now, using the natural light reflecting off the Atlantic Ocean, Bartlett captures the richly textured stone motifs that have been forged by extreme weather, salt air, and the colors bleeding out from the oxidizing granite.

He then prints these images onto Water-Resistant Satin Cloth from LexJet using ImagePrint RIP software with his Epson Stylus Pro inkjet printers. The prints look so dimensional and detailed that many viewers feel as if they can almost reach out and touch the textured surface of the rock. The lightweight, wrinkle-resistant fabric makes it easy and economical for Bartlett to transport the prints from one site to another and hang them in different-sized gallery spaces.

Multiple Exhibitions: After he showed a few of his rockscapes at the Park Ave. Armory in New York, Bartlett was invited to present a four-month solo exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA. Entitled Chapters on a Quarry Wall, the exhibit shown above contained 40 large images, including the series of five vertical panoramic prints (24-in. wide and 77-in. high) shown below. These prints show how the colors on the surface of a rock face changed in spring, summer, fall and winter.

These five images show the seasonal changes in the rockscapes from one spring to the next. ©Leslie D. Bartlett.

The Chapters on a Quarry Wall images were so extraordinary that Bartlett was invited to show some of them at the Soho/Photo gallery in New York in May, 2009. Now, he is preparing to present an updated, more extensive exhibition at the Vermont State Capitol this summer.

When the Chapters on a Quarry Wall images were shown at the Cape Ann Museum, Bartlett knew that many visitors to the Cape Ann Museum would like them, simply because they had lived near or grown up near the quarries where many of the images were shot. But he wasn’t sure if the images would evoke the same type of quiet contemplation when they were shown in New York. The Soho/Photo gallery in TriBeCa was established by a group of photojournalists from the NY Times and focuses more on extraordinary photography than local landmarks and history.

When visitors to the New York gallery reacted the same as people who saw the images in the Cape Ann museum, Bartlett realized that he had unearthed a real niche for himself as an artist.  Although his photographs aren’t actually paintings, he has since had them critiqued as if they were. This willingness to seek advice from artists has helped him bridge the gulf that sometimes separates those who use paint to create art from those who use cameras.

Bernard Chaet, the artist and well-known art professor at Yale University, wrote about Bartlett’s rockscapes in the show at the Cape Ann Historical Museum. Chaet commented “In the rocks of Cape Ann, he gives us a long extended trip of time and space. He must know that the viewer cannot scan his images; We must see his images slowly. His photographs hold amazing secrets.”

©Leslie D. Bartlett, http://www.followthegleam.com

Rebecca Reynolds, curator of the John and Margaret Manship Sculpture collection, noted that “Bartlett’s stonescapes are a sensitive tribute to the basic elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Demonstrating how careful documentation can become poetry, Bartlett records the world as he finds it, but with a frame of vision that intends to act upon the viewer and shift one’s perception.”

The power of each image comes partly from Bartlett’s willingness to watch and wait for that perfect gleam of light – often immediate light. He visits sites repeatedly to observe how the exposed surfaces of the stone warm and cool as the light shifts and the seasons change.

He meticulously edits each captured image to replicate the light, color, and details exactly as he saw them.  He uses the Nik Sharpener Pro plug-in to Photoshop to adjust how the large prints will appear from a viewing distance of 20 to 25 feet—the same distance from which he photographed the rockscapes.

To render the exquisite shadow and highlight detail when he prints the images, Bartlett uses ImagePrint RIP software with the correct printing profiles for the LexJet Water Resistant Satin Cloth. The images are then output one of the two pro-model inkjet printers he purchased from LexJet:  a 44-in. Epson Stylus Pro 9800 and 17-in. Epson Stylus Pro 3800.

When Bartlett first began specializing in natural stone photography six years ago, he printed exclusively on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper and framed the images behind glass. But framing quickly became impractical after he started shooting vertical panoramas and horizontal prints as large as 40 in. x 13 ft. He prints big because he wants viewers to experience the rockscapes in way that’s very real. The glass used in framing distracted from the dimensionality and distorted the look of his meticulously sharpened prints.

Byobu Folding Screen

Printing on LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth now proves to be the perfect solution.  The inkjet-receptive material produces the rich detail his images demand and is ultra-easy to transport and install. Plus, there are no insurance and liability issues related to shipping the prints from one locale to another.

Bartlett is so pleased with the versatility of LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth that he is using it to convert his rockscape artwork into a new line of byobu folding screens, and privacy screens for indoor and outdoor use. To learn more how to print superb photographic and art prints, you can contact Leslie Bartlett for a personalized printing consultation.

To learn more about the exceptional versatility of LexJet’s Water-Resistant Satin Cloth, call me or one of my associates at LexJet at 888-873-7553. We can recommend a variety of ways to turn your images into products that can help you expand your photography business.

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

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.

Choose the Right Inkjet Paper for Competition Prints

The Soloist by Jeff Bowman was honored as Best High School Senior Portrait in the VPPA Print Competition.

By Kelly Price

Entering prints in competitions sponsored by organizations such as the PPA and WPPI can be a great way to learn how to improve your photography and market your work. To ensure that your images will look their very best when viewed under competition lighting, it’s important to choose the right photo paper.

One person who has mastered the art of making competition prints is Jeff Bowman, CPP, Master Photographer of Commonwealth Photography in Chester, VA.  In an album on Commonwealth’s Facebook fan page, you can see some of the 27 blue-ribbon-winning prints that Jeff created for himself and five other photographers who entered the statewide competition of the Virginia Professional Photographers Association earlier this year.

Jeff took home the Grand Photographic Award for having the print case with the most credits earned in total this year. His prints won awards for Best High School Senior portrait, Best Group portrait, and Illustrative Court of Honor.  Bowman also produced six blue-ribbon-award-winning prints for Pete Wright, five blue ribbon-award-winning prints for James Cook, four for Julie Bowman, and one for Liliana Wright. Jessica Robertson was named Best Newcomer for having the highest-scoring print for a first-time entrant.