Epson 7900 Experience - Printing

I suspect this will be the last of my sequential posts about the new Epson 7900, with plans for scattered additional posts about it as I become more facile with using the machine.

The 7900 is up and running and I can make some general comments to start with.

1. Printing is definitely faster than with the 7600; the printhead is much larger

2. Printing is far quieter though one could not call the overall machine startup etc quiet (not that this is a significant consideration for me).

3. I love the automatic head alignment...fast and easy.

4. I like the new automated method of loading for cut sheets very much. You simply rest the sheet in the slot, where it is supported from below, and make sure the side of the sheet is at the alignment marker on the side and press a load button. No more worrying if the sheet is going in perfectly parallel to the printer.

5. While the new 'spindle free' loading of roll paper is also nice I do worry a bit about the locking mechanism of the roll holder as it does have a feel or sound to it like it could break after a good deal of use...we shall see.

But what about printing? In short, the prints are absolutely superb. To be sure, I have never used photo black or semigloss papers before, so it is difficult for me to make a comparison in that regard to the 7600, and I have not yet changed out to matte black. Nonetheless, the prints are really gorgeous.

One thing that I have noticed is that the 'canned' 7900 profiles are quite good, as are the profiles I have downloaded from third party paper manufacturers. It seems the paper and printer companies are getting serious about these. I can also say that it seems, at least to me, that it is far easier to softproof and make a really nice print on the semigloss type papers that use photo black ink than it is on the matte fine art printers. I presume that this is because of there being less compression of the dynamic range and increased reflectance form the surface of the paper.

There are now two issues to work out and which I will report back on in the future. The first is what papers to use for printing with photo black in both color and monochrome as well as learning to use the Advanced Black and White mode driver to make black and white prints. Lots of experimentation to follow!

Epson 7900 Experience - Setup

I have had a million things to do lately, so I haven't managed to spend as much time with the 7900 as I would like to. In fact, I haven't printed anything just yet, but I have gotten it set up. I had originally planned to purchase the printer later this year but did so at this time to be sure to get the Epson $500 rebate which "ended" 3/31/09. Why is the word "ended" in quotes? As I suspected, though I don't see it on the Epson website at the moment, I have heard that the rebate period has been extended (I believe until May)! However, as I don't yet see that on their website there is a need for confirmation....I heard it on a printing newsgroup.

So, on to setup. My son had a few friends stop by and as soon as they stepped in the door I grabbed them to help me hoist the printer up on the stand. Though it wasn't quite clear to me from the pictures in the instruction book exactly how it would sit on the stand, it actually was quite easy to get it up, in, and sitting properly to be bolted to the stand. Once on the stand two things stand out: 1) it really is quite sleek and modern looking in design and 2) did I mention that this thing is HUGE!

The first step was to charge it with ink. This was really quite simple and is the first time the machine has actually been turned on. It takes a few minutes to charge and all the while it makes quite a number of different futuristic sounds. At one point I actually thought the phone in another room was ringing. It was only when I walked out of the room that I realized that the soft ringing sound was actually coming from the back of the printer.

One thing bears mentioning. The printer comes with 110 ml ink carts for priming and a good deal of ink is used in the process, as is a portion of the maintanance tank. Want to replace those 110 cc cartridges? Lets see, Shades of Paper doesn't have them, B&H doesn't have them, Adorama doesn't have them.....nobody has them. They all carry the 150, 350, and 700 ml carts, but no small 110's. Whats that you say, nobody has them because they aren't manufactured for sale! For heaven's sake, you would think Epson would at least give you regular ink carts....even the 150 ml ones, which are the smallest they regularly make.....with the printer. But no, they special manufacture 110 ml carts to ship with the printer to prime it. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT!!!! You buy a printer of this caliber and they short you on the ink that comes with it to get you to purchase more ink sooner than later!

Here is a little hint for Epson....anyone that buys a 7000 series printer is a) serious about digital imaging and b) going to be buying a lot of ink. The little bit extra ink sale you get by supplying less ink with the printer, while it earns you a few more bucks, doesn't exactly give the consumer a warm, fuzzy feeling. I think supplying 150 ml ink carts would be good public relations and remove the appearance that you are out to get the consumer as soon as the box is opened.

Yes, it probably is a trivial thing in the big picture, but it does make you feel like they went out of their way to get you, especially when you have to order that full set of 11 replacement ink carts at once. Yikes....it's like liquid gold.

Next, on to the driver installation. I didn't bother with the one on the enclosed CD as it was out of date. I downloaded the most recent printer driver and it identified the attached printer and installed without a hitch.

The next step was to check the firmware version and, noting that it was outdated, install the new version. While the driver installed seamlessly, the firmware update had a few little hitches. Perhaps hitches is too strong a word....a few quirks might be more accurate. Let me cut to the chase. Bizarre as it might seem, you MUST have paper loaded into the printer in order to do the firmware update. The first three times I tried, the software updater failed to communicate with the printer. It was only after I found a Word file that downloaded with the new firmware version (and installed into the same folder as the firmware file on the C drive without telling the operator that there was even such a file to explain the error statements) that I figured that out. It seems a bit counterintuitive, but that was the problem. Once the printer was loaded with paper, the firmware updater recognized and communicated with the printer and the firmware was successfully updated. Even upon finishing the update there was a quirk in that,though the printer panel stated that the update was complete, the software updater said the update was still ongoing until I tried to close it, at which point it said the update was complete.

One more little piece of information about this process that was also not intuitive. When checking the firmware version on the printer panel to ensure the update took place, I found that although the firmware version changed, it hadn't changed to the version number indicated by the firmware update file. The first several letters and numbers were the same, but the rest of the numbers were different. It was only after checking the same hidden Word file that I learned that the firmware version displayed on the printer panel was not supposed to be the same as the downloaded file number.....hmm, well then why make them so similar with the first several letters and numbers being exactly the same? Seems like a little common sense might have made it a bit more user friendly.

Nonetheless, despite the few little quirks I note above, the setup was reasonably quick and painless. The next step is to more carefully go through the manual and learn how to fine tune the settings for various paper types, do an auto head alignment, set the printer utility preferences and see how it prints!

As an aside, I am really looking forward to having those head alignments done in an automated fashion, as doing them manually on my 7600 really made me crazy. It used to take me 30 or 40 minutes and make me crazy looking at those patterns with a loupe and deciding which one looked best.

Epson 7900 Experience - The Delivery

Let me first set the scene. We live in a very architecturally typical house for Western Pennsylvania. That is to say that it is 1) very old, 2) has three floors, with the third floor being relatively small, and 3) has a normal sized staircase to the second floor but an extremely narrow, winding staircase from the second to third floor. My wife and I have our study up on the third floor and that is where I have my computer and do my printing. That was the destination for the 7900.

So, after three days of trying to making sure it was delivered in a liftgate truck, and with the freight company stating that they knew nothing about that each time, I finally got it delivered. Why a liftgate truck? The printer is delivered on a wooden pallet with the shipping weight being over 320 pounds.

After the truck puts it on the sidewalk the next question to the driver is.....well, how do I get it into the house? Lets see, there are two small steps, a walkway, and then about eight or nine steps up to the front door. The truck delivery guy is supposed to just drop it and not move it up any steps. Luckily, there were two things working in my favor. First, this was his last delivery of the day so he wasn't in a huge rush and two, he was an extremely nice guy and willing to help. So we got my 16 year old son who is probably stronger than I am and the three of us, using a dolly and a bit of ingenuity, managed to get it into the front door. I probably would have freaked when I heard the underlying wooden pallet crack a bit had I known that there is no bottom to the box and that the printer, in Styrofoam protectors, sits directly on the pallet.

But it got in safely and after giving the driver a nice tip the unpacking began. After all the documentation, stand, inks, parts etc are removed you are left with the printer on the pallet with lots of Styrofoam protection. Despite knowing from the Epson website that the printer weight without the stand is about 190 pounds, those were just numbers to me, and it didn't sound all that heavy for multiple people to handle. I had anticipated it being about the size and weight of my 7600, which I got upstairs to the third floor with the help of only one other person back in 2004. The biggest probl;em with the 7600 wasn't its weight (though it was heavy enough), but, rather, the difficulty in manipulating it around a narrow, tight, winding staircase. We did it, but just barely.

Having removed the surrounding box, the shock set in! The 7900 makes the 7600 look like a toy. It is MASSIVE! I don't know how much the 7600 weighs but it has to be significantly less than the 7900. I immediately knew this was going to be a problem, and a big one!

I called my good friend (the same one as back in 2004, only then his 17 year old son and my 16 year old son weren't big enough to help) and he came over with his 17 year old son (one's age is driven home when it becomes apparent that your kids are stronger than you are). This was going to be a job for 4 people with my middle child, at 14, giving some directional guidance and assistance as well. Getting it to the second floor was going to be a piece of cake. Wrong! This 190 pounds is spread into a huge sized object which is heavier at one end and not all that easy to grasp (though there are areas designated for hand placement they are flat and smooth and not recessed with a grip). It was so difficult just getting it up to the second floor that it required a rest before the toughest part of the journey which was to come.

The path to the third floor was looking very tenuous and perhaps even a bit fraught with danger both for the printer as well as for us. First we tried getting it through the doorway horizontally, but because the stairs are actually to the left of the entrance there was no way to get it to the stairs that way....it was too long and the fit was too tight. Now, the printer obviously comes with no ink installed and with the printhead locked in place. I had asked tech support about turning it on end to carry it and they indicated it should be OK. So we had to flip it up on end and the four of us tried to get it up the stairs taking breaks every few minutes. This thing is extremely heavy and huge in size, making it difficult to maneuver in anything but a straight line. This was going to be a 'one stair at a time' journey.

Partway through I actually gave up and told my friends that there was simply no way in the world it was going to make it up and that it looked like I went a bit too far this time. I was prepared to leave it in our second floor bedroom and run an Ethernet cable down. My wife, who was watching this whole fiasco even agreed, as she thought there was bound to be an injury if we went any further. But my buddy and his son said they weren't prepared to quit just yet and lo and behold we made it around the tightest curve in the staircase with the printer on end with only one minor injury to my son's hand. With a final effort we made it up the remaining stairs and through the opening to the third floor (I had removed the door before we even started as it opens into and partially blocks the stairwell).

So there it sits on the floor of my study. I still have to build the stand and then get it lifted onto that. Needless to say, it took a few bumps and bruises on the way up but everything is locked down in it with no ink etc....so I am sure it will work just fine.

So, if one is thinking of purchasing one of these do be aware that it is quite different in size and weight from the 7600. As a matter of fact, the first thing my friend said when we finally put the 7900 down on the floor next to the 7600 (after glancing at the 7600 and then back at the 7900) was "That old one is just a baby compared to this one!" It really is a beast of a machine....however, it really is a beautiful sight to behold!

Taking The 7900 Leap

Over the last year or two, I have watched as various new papers have come out for black and white inkjet printing. I have really wanted to venture into black and white, but just never really liked the appearance on matte paper, though I do love the appearance of color prints on matte watercolor paper. In theory, I could change my 7600 printer over to photo black ink to use the new highly touted Baryta papers for black and white printing, but it is quite expensive as well as being a hassle to change over.

I have watched Epson printers morph from the 7600 to 7800 to 7880 and never really had a desire to upgrade, mainly because of the dual black ink issue. But now, with the advent of the new Epson 7900, changing the black inks is automatic and entails minimal wastage. Still, there is a small amount of ink thrown away when making the switch, but not very much....I believe it is 2-4 ml. One would think that since Epson totally revamped the head technology, they might have factored in separate nozzles for each of the two black inks so that no ink would be lost when switching, but then again they do sell ink...so not surprising. I understand it actually took a competitor's printer that makes such switches easily to motivate Epson to do so as well. But.....I digress.....

I decided to make the jump and ordered a 7900! I had been thinking about it for a while and, frankly, was not really ready to buy just yet. However, Epson has a $500 cash rebate on the machine if purchased before 3/31, so it didn't make sense to wait. I purchased it from Shades Of Paper, which is where I purchase all my media and ink and have been extremely impressed with their prices, superb and personal customer service, and rapid shipping. It should also be noted that the price listed on any of the printer vendor's websites (including Shades Of Paper) is not the real price. It is similar to buying a car. You have to get on the phone and talk to someone to get the real price. Sometimes you have to call more than once. Truth be told, when you include the $500 rebate, the final phone price, and the fact that the 7900 stand is included in the price of the printer I actually got the 7900 for less than I purchased my 7600 plus stand for back in 2004.

So, I am looking forward to experimenting with black and white printing as well as luster/semi-gloss color printing all with a wider color gamut, smaller droplets, improved dithering and at a faster speed. It had been my experience from back when I was printing with an Epson 870 that prints on luster papers matched the soft-proofing in Photoshop much better than matte papers did, and others have reported this as well. I am hoping that there might even be some time savings due to less required 'tweaking' of images with these papers. This is also quite important to me as I tend to be an incessant 'tweaker'.

The printer won't arrive until late next week and I plan on making some diary type posts about the machine, my impressions, and any problems that might occur. I can say right now that my first problem is going to be getting home for the delivery truck and hoping that I can get the delivery folks to take the machine through the front door of my home. My understanding is that with the packaging it weighs over 300 pounds. Then I have to try to get it up a narrow winding staircase. It can be carried up unpacked and off the stand, but it is still quite large, long, and heavy. Even in this 'naked' state I believe it weighs over 150 pounds. I managed, with some help, to get my 7600 up the staircase and this is just a bit bigger in dimension, so I am hoping it makes its way up 'with a little help from my friends' in an intact state as well.

More Abstract Rock Patterns

I continue to be intrigues by the abstract patterns in Jasper rock samples. This one looked like an erupting volcano to me!

Volcano
Copyright Howard Grill

Information Regarding PDF e-Books

In Brooks Jensen's recent Lenswork podcast, which one can listen to here, he extols the virtues of using pdf format e-books to enable photographers to reach a wider audience, while avoiding the fiscal constraints that are associated with publishing a physical book. I was intrigued by this, though I wonder if the constraints are as strong as implied given the newer methods of self-publishing associated with print-on-demand services available from companies like Blurb.

Nonetheless, I found the idea interesting and tried to search around the internet a bit for information about designing and producing a pdf photography book. However, I found very little out there. Now, I know very little about using Adobe Acrobat and suspect that my inability to locate information on this subject may simply be that what is required is a good general book about how to use Acrobat, as opposed to special information on how to create pdf photography books.

So, I guess I am hoping that perhaps someone out there might be able to provide some good resource books or websites on the topic of how to use Acrobat to publish photographic e-books....or at least some place to start obtaining a bit of background knowledge. Anybody want to make suggestions????

Rock Geography

Another image from my ongoing rock photography series. This one looked like part of the US coastline to me. Would you agree with it being the outline of the state of Florida???

Florida
Copyright Howard Grill

Fotoblur

Since my last post was about a new photography magazine, I thought I would keep to that subject for one more day. I hadn't been planning to do so, but I discovered the inaugural issue of a new magazine that I think holds real potential.

I read about a new magazine named Fotoblur that was associated with a 'photographic community', and the images are chosen for publication by that community. The first thing I did was give a big yawn......sounds just like JPG Magazine. But then I took a look at the preview of the print on demand magazine.......and I was extremely impressed! Impressed enough that I went ahead and ordered it, though I hadn't been planning to do so. I received it in the mail yesterday.....and was blown away. The images were really superb and the printing was terrific. In my opinion, this is a whole different genre than JPG, with the photographs being much more of a 'fine art' genre.

I have not yet checked out the community, but, as I said, am extremely impressed with the magazine. So much so that I intend to buy the next issue and see if the quality is maintained. The stated goal is for publication on a quarterly basis, and I do hope that they are successful. I would imagine that the print on demand, while it makes for a higher priced magazine for the consumer, probably insulates the publication from the type of financial problems that are apparently affecting JPG. Nonetheless, I think the quality justifies the $16.20 price tag.

Want to check out the magazine.....see here and just click on the 'Show Preview" button to view the whole issue. The community can be checked out here, with a much smaller preview of the magazine.

Color

I am always on the lookout for interesting photography magazines, as there seem to be relatively few really good ones. B&W magazine is one that I find worthwhile and enjoy getting. Recently, the publishers of B&W introduced a new magazine entitled "Color". Being a subscriber to B&W, I took the them up on their invitation to also subscribe to Color and recently received the magazine's premier issue.

Overall, I am quite pleased with it, both in terms of the quality of the photographic reproductions and the image content. The issue had a diverse selection of well-known, as well as somewhat lesser known, color photographers as well as a nice cross-section of subjects including nature, street photography etc.

My opinion on what might have made it a bit better? The layout and presentation is exactly the same as B&W magazine. On the one hand, why mess with a formula that has done well....on the other hand, it might be nice to have had something a bit different or imaginative (along with the associated risk that it might not work well). In addition, I personally find the writing a bit bland. But, hey, given the relative dearth of good quality photography magazines available, why complain. After seeing the first issue, I am definitely glad that I subscribed.

The Ghosts Of Auschwitz

My last few posts about ethereal photographs and spirit photography bring me to a much more serious topic. Photographer Cole Thompson, who I have written about before, has recently had his newest body of work entitled "The Ghosts Of Auschwitz" published in B&W magazine. The same portfolio is also going to be featured in upcoming issues of Silvershotz and LensWork.

The recent article in B&W describes how, during his visit to the death camps, he had initially planned not to take photographs. However, "while thinking of the spirits of the people that still lingered there", he began making images. Neutral density filters allowed long exposures, turning the tourists that were visiting the camps into haunting, ghostlike blurs.

Having lost relatives in the Holocaust and having an uncle who still bears his concentration camp number tattooed on his forearm, I find Thompson's images intensely personal and moving. However, one need not have any personal experience with the event to have the images convey a sense of somber remembrance. They do so in a way that makes the memories of those that perished come alive. They are a unique interpretation of events that are otherwise exceedingly difficult to portray in a way that makes the viewer want to look, linger, and think.

Spirit Photography

The zone plate imaging that I have been doing produces soft focus and ethereal looking photograpahs. Seeing the 'ghostlike' results that are obtained made me think about the phenomena of 'spirit photography' that began in the 1860's. At that time, there were people who purported to being able to take photographs in which spirits or ghosts appeared in the image that had not been visible to the naked eye.

Bill Jay wrote a marvelous essay on the history of 'spirit photography' entitled "A Case Of Spirits". It is really a fascinating read and one that I think will be enjoyed by those interested in some of the more bizarre aspects of photographic history . If you have never read Bill Jay's writing before, you are in for a real treat. I have previously posted about the extensive number of his essays and writings that he makes available on his website. There is plenty more interesting material to read after finishing the essay on spirit photography.

Scripted Shots

In the past, other than for the family snapshot, I have never 'set up' or scripted a photograph. Lots of photographers do, but since my main focus has been nature photography there is generally not much opportunity to do so. However, my recent experimentation with a zone plate has me trying new things that I haven't done before.

I was using the zone plate at one of my favorite parks, but didn't seem able to really capture anything that had what I considered a 'special feel' to it. I realized that the zone plate images that I felt were my most successful ones to this point contained human figures in them. Being alone, I decided it was time for me to 'star' in my own photograph. There was a covered bridge that was dark inside with bright sunlight at the other end. Melting ice had generated puddles of water inside. I previsualized an ethereal type of image with bright light behind a figure that seemed to emerge from the 'ether'.

The only way to do this was with the 10 second self-timer on my camera. It was quite cold out and the covered bridge is in a relatively out of the way park.......but it still was a road and every 10 or 15 minutes or so a car would come down the curvy two lane street (at low speed by necessity, given the type of road it was).

So imagine this bizarre and rather funny scenario. I set my tripod and camera up at one end of the covered bridge, check to make sure there are no cars coming (you can see a good way down the road), hit the self timer, run as fast as possible down towards the other end of the covered bridge while counting off the seconds, turn around, pose for the shot, and run back as fast as possible to ensure that no cars are on the way to demolish the camera and tripod.

For those concerned that I posed a danger, I should add that I would never do this on a 'real' road. This was a very low speed curvy road where people stop before going onto the bridge because it is dark inside. In addition, one can see a good distance down the road in both directions. The entire process could be completed before any visible car could possibly make it to the bridge. No one was in danger, save my camera. And even that was more likely to be toppled by my rushing around running back and forth than by anything else.

And the results (after innumerable tries to get it right)..........

Dreamscapes#4
Copyright Howard Grill

Books On Books

Errata Editions had an interesting idea with their new 'Books On Books' series. They describe their series as an 'ongoing publishing project dedicated to making rare and out-of-print photography books accessible to students and photobook enthusiasts. Each volume in the series presents the entire content, page for page, of an original master bookwork which, up until now, has been too rare or expensive for most to experience'. I love photography books and thought this was a wonderful idea, so it was with great enthusiasm that I purchased Volume 1 Atget: Photographe de Paris, the newly released first book in the series.

Despite the fact that I was really looking forward to this series, I found myself quite disappointed when I received the book. The series plans, as Errata puts it, that ' Through a mix of classic and contemporary titles, this series spans the breadth of photographic practice as it has appeared on the printed page and allows further study of the creation and meanings of these great works of art. Each volume in the series contains illustrations of every page in the original photobook....'. However, the majority of the images in the book are not even the size of a single page.....and the book size itself is quite small at approximately 10 x 7 inches. On many pages, the original Atget book is reproduced with four pages on the one page of the Errata Edition with images of the photographs measuring less than 2.5 x 3 inches.

I fully understand that the Errata Edition is not simply for photo enthusiasts, but was also meant for serious study, and that this would mean including every page so that a feel for the flow of the original could be appreciated. Nonetheless, the very small size of some of the images in the book markedly detracts from the ability to enjoy the photographs. The book would have been far more succesful, in my opinion, had they simply reproduced the Atget book at its original size, page for page, and added the original essays as well as the new essay for the Errata volume to it. I do understand the logic for producing it in the way they did, but, in my mind it simply doesn't hold up as a book that I want to own. The artifact was given far more importance than the artwork itself. Don't get me wrong, the current Errata edition might be the perfect presentation for some uses, but, to me, it does not hold up as a way to appreciate the artistry of the original.

New Website

Though I had programmed my website on my own, and was generally pretty pleased with it, the site had the drawback of being difficult to update. An art site is not particularly helpful if it tends to stagnate and isn't updated with one's new work. To alleviate this problem, I had been working on programming a new site that would automate some functions, but this was taking far more time than I had planned. Not happy with how things were going, I decided that it would be more effective to use a 'hosted solution' to the problem. In short, I felt the best use of my limited time was not to spend it concentrating on website design.

After looking at various companies and their solutions to the problem, I decided to go with Visual Server. It doesn't have much in terms of fancy bells and whistles (though they seem to be making relatively frequent updates, the most recent of which includes an easy way to add a shopping cart to the site) but the templates are clean and easy to use. The template setup has also led me to think of my images in a more project oriented fashion. They put the focus of the site squarely on the artwork, which is where it should be. Though a bit on the pricy side, Visual Server is owned by Photo-Eye, so I also feel that at least I am supporting an art-centric organization.

My old URL (www.hgrillphotographic.com) redirects to the new site. However, people had a difficult time remembering that web address and so I now have a new domain. The new site can be found at http://www.howardgrill.com.

I made the site live as of about a week ago, and am still working on getting it just the way I want it. Not all my work is up yet, as I am still working on assembling the images into portfolios. Nonetheless, if anyone takes the opportunity to visit, I would love to hear what you think.

Owning Photographs

Most of my enjoyment of photographs, other than my own work, has been through books. Like many photographers, I love books of photographs and own quite a few of them. More recently, however, I was thinking that , given my love of photography, it is somewhat absurd that I don't actually own anyone's prints other than my own. I felt that I should not only produce my own artwork, but also own and appreciate other's work. I also thought there would be something special about being able to hold the actual artifact, the actual photograph, and thus be able to directly see how the artist wished to have his vision conveyed to the viewer.

"Collectible" carries with it a sense of stuffiness and, more importantly, a high price tag. Worse than that, if something is extremely expensive one tends to be nervous about 'using' it and tends to distance themself from it....white gloves and all. In addition, when one talks about collectible photographs or artwork they are often talking about purchasing it not only (or perhaps not even primarily) for enjoyment, but also for its potential appreciation in value.

With my decision to purchase photographs I wanted to dispense with all the above issues. Specifically, this is what I was looking for:

1) The price had to be what I consider reasonable so that an occasional outlay would not leave me thinking and worrying about whether I had made a wise purchase. That price might well be different for others, but for me it was in the $20-40 per image range, with the knowledge that I would be purchasing smaller prints at this price. However, smaller is exactly what I had in mind for this venue....something that I could take out from time to time and appreciate without necessarily hanging it on my wall as a large print. I wanted to be able to handle the print.

2) Images that 'speak to me' without concern for price appreciation.

3) At this price point, I knew that I would be acquiring inkjet, as opposed to gelatin silver, prints. However, given the well-known advances in inkjet technology over the last several years this is not something that was particularly concerning to me. In fact, this is something that is likely to be most meaningful to those who are collecting with an eye toards price appreciation. That is not to say that some people might not prefer the aesthetics of gelatin silver, just that the quality of inkjet prints are at least as good, even if the aesthetic might be different.

So where does one go to find photographs that fit these qualifications? Let me suggest three starting points. First, and this is what recently got me interested in acquiring photographs, check out the new LensWork Special Editions Folios. The ones already offered are marvelous and there are sure to be many more offered in the future. Second, and I discovered this from the Thoughts On Photography podcast that I wrote about in my last post, check out the 20x200 gallery which offers 8x10 prints for $20. Thirdly, look at the websites of some of the photographers that you interact with on internet forums and blogs. Some offer small prints at very reasonable prices. In addition, I also wonder about the possibility of print exchanges with other photographers.

All of this has had me rethinking my own print pricing structure, but more on that in my next post.

"Thoughts On Photography" Podcast

My leaning in photography podcasts has been towards those that deal with the creative, as opposed to the technical, aspects of the medium. As such, I regularly listen to, and have previously written about, Jeff Curto's Camera Position podcast, Brooks Jensen's Lenswork podcast, and Ibarionex Perello's The Candid Frame. I have as much of an interest in gear and Photoshop techniques as the next person, but prefer to get that type of information from books and websites, particularly since I usually listen to most of my podcasts while driving.

Frankly, I thought that I had already found all the photography related podcasts that would deliver the type of content in which was interested. I was wrong.....I found another. Recently, on The Candid Frame, Ibarionex Perello interviewed Paul Giguere, a photographer that I was not familiar with. During the interview, Paul mentioned his podcast entitled "Thoughts On Photography" and, based on the content of the interview, I thought it would be worth checking out. Well, 52 episodes later, I am glad I did.

So what is the theme of Paul's podcast? "Thoughts on Photography" is about 'living a photographic life'. It is about what happens when photography is important enough to you that it becomes a part of who you are.

I personally find it to be akin to the Lenswork podcast, with a bit of a utilitarian twist to it, along with a dash of The Candid Frame podcast tossed in for good measure. Let me give some broad examples of what I mean. While Lenswork might talk about the idea and importance of the photographic project, Thoughts on Photography might discuss the importance of developing a body of work along with specific ideas as to where and how one might go about having the project seen or published. While Lenswork might talk about photography books in general, Paul might recommend his top 10 books of the year and tell you why he found them interesting. Like The Candid Frame, he has recently also included a nice array of interviews with photographers who I was unfamiliar with. These interviews were interesting enough to motivate me to go to these photographers' websites and check out their work.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Lenswork, Camera Position, and Candid Frame podcasts. I am not at all implying that one podcast is in any way better than the other.....they are all different and, in my mind, complement each other quite nicely. But I do put Paul's podcast right up there with the others in terms of the quality of the topics and discussion, and that is something that I had not expected.

If photography is important to you, check out "Thoughts On Photography" (as well as the other podcasts I mentioned, if you are not already familiar with them). In addition to the link above, the podcast can also be subscribed to via iTunes. I think you will enjoy listening; I find it time exceedingly well spent!

Black And White

I have always admired black and white photography. The ability to convey feeling through only shades of gray is truly amazing. It has been some time since I did any black and white imaging, though I originally started that way with my home darkroom when I was in 9th grade.

One of the reasons that I have not done much black and white work has been the difficulties that have accompanied black and white inkjet printing over the years. However, these problems have clearly been decreasing rapidly. Lightroom and Photoshop CS4 have made converting color images to black and white much more intuitive. I have also been contemplating buying one of the newer printers that, based on all I have seen and read, are quite capable of producing beautiful monochrome prints.

With this in mind, I recently started 'playing' with some of my already processed color images to see what they would look like in black and white and how 'good' a conversion I could do. For an initial try, I rather like what I was able to produce, at least in terms of how they look on the computer monitor.

"Fluidity"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Siren's Song"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Dreamscapes #1"
Copyright Howard Grill

"Water Painting"
Copyright Howard Grill

Zone Plate II

Dreamscapes #2
Copyright Howard Grill

I would like to solicit some opinions on this one. I personally enjoy this image as much as the prior zone plate shot. However, when I have shown this to an admittedly small number of people they seem to strongly prefer the previous one. The interesting thing is the reason. They all seem to say that this one appears much more abstract and that it is more difficult to tell 'what it is a picture of'. I was a bit surprised as it seems pretty clear to me that it was two children at the water's edge.....but then again, I took it, so perhaps it is a bit more clear to me. What do folks that might be reading this think? Is it too abstract? Is it not clear what it is a picture of? Perhaps in some ways it doesn't really matter, but I would like to get a feel or understanding of what the viewer's experience is like when looking at images like these.

By the way, if anyone is interested in some resources that explain the technical aspects of zone plates, here and here are good places to start. However, I have to admit that at this point I haven't really tried to undertake a scientific understanding of the process in order to manipulate it....I have just been shooting to see what I get and trying to see what types of subjects seem to 'work' well from an artistic standpoint.

Zone Plate

Dreamscape #1
Copyright Howard Grill

In my last post entitled "Process", I wrote about using the LensBaby Optic Swap system with a Zone Plate and mentioned that I would post some photos. This image is the first that I have processed from a series I took about two weeks ago. Some people I have shown it to have found it 'interesting' and some have called it 'creepy'. Personally, I really like the ethereal feel.

I usually title my images, but this series is one that I feel should be left without titles so as not to influence the viewer's interpretation.

Process

Over the years there has been considerable debate on the issue of photographic process and the role it plays in artwork. Most recently this has been exemplified by the now old and very tired question “Is digital photography really photography?”. Several years back this question engendered serious debate….now it is hard to understand why, as nearly every photographer would answer “yes, it is….it is just that some fine art photographers choose to use film and others a digital sensor as their method of ‘capturing the light”.

I recently discovered the new LensBaby Composer with the “Optic Swap System” that allows one to swap different optical components in and out of the basic LensBaby format, which is basically a tilt/shift type of apparatus. One of the very neat swappable components is a ‘lens’ that lets you place a pinhole or zone plate on the camera instead of a glass or plastic lens. I have found experimenting with the zone plate to be quite enthralling.

However, I hesitate to post images made with it on forums that specialize in this sort of imaging. Why? The reason is that the tired debate about digital vs film does not yet seem to be dead when it comes to ‘alternative’ processes such as pinhole and zone plate imaging.

In the past I had written about such processes, which I had found quite intriguing (see here and scroll down to the pinhole posts). However, I have had limited opportunity to pursue pinhole photography because of limitations in time, and time is what is required to process film and scan negatives. However, with the advent of the LensBaby Optic Swap System I see an opportunity to explore this type of imaging. I am particularly intrigued in utilizing the zone plate, as it is something completely new to me, something very fresh.

Personally, I don’t think it should matter if the zone plate image was made on film or a digital sensor. But that’s just me, and a lot of people seem to disagree.