thechrisproject photography

To practice my editing skills I’ve been making 24 and 36 shot edits of trips I’ve been taking lately.  I make large JPG contact sheets out of them.  Below we’ve got a business trip, a wedding, and a visit to some friends.  I’ve got another business trip to NYC for PDN Photo Plus and then a wedding in November.  Then, hopefully, I’ll be staying home for a while.  I love seeing new places and traveling, but after 3-5 trips in two months, I start to feel worn out from it.  Click on the pictures below to see full sized versions.

This photo won a purchase award at the Seven States competition.  That means the Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee decided to buy it.  It will become a part of the Union’s permanent collection.  What that will mean for the shot is unknown.  It could be in the basement for decades, it could go in an office, it could be the centerpiece of a new wing they build in 2012. 

Let me tell you a little story about getting these images ready for this show.  I’ve been doing all my own printing for about two years now.  I’ve gotten fairly good at it, and my inkjet prints are fairly high quality.  As such, when I have a deadline coming up, I generally don’t sweat the printing part of it too much.  

Until this time.

I moved in August.  Moving sucks.  I was very careful to pack up my printer in its original box.  It stayed in that box for a few weeks after moving.  I didn’t have anything to print so I left it in there.  Eventually, a few days before the deadline, I pulled it out, plugged it in, and started to print.  It didn’t work.  I opened it up and looked.  Nothing stuck out at me, but it was pretty filthy on the inside.  Ink spray goes everywhere after two years of use.  I’m going to make a long story short here, but two replacements, five phone calls to tech support, and one extended warranty later, I have a new working printer.  I will say this: I’m opposed to extended warranties on principal, but I’m really glad I bought this one.  Printers are notoriously fickle and have a lot of moving parts and I’m glad my is gauranteed for another two years.

So, back to the prints for the show.  My printer was a non-option.  I looked at my options.  Local consumer labs were a no-go.  They wouldn’t print my photos same day even for any amount of money.  ”We’re just not set up that way,” The Camera Company told me.  I still like that store a lot and continue to purchase from them.  I’ve been avoiding Star Photo (who apparently lost their domain name) because of a bad customer service experience I had there a few months ago.  Where I work we have a number of large format printers, including an HP that is larger than I am and two giant Epsons.  I tried printing it there, but the black and white prints came back without much contrast and I just didn’t have time to troubleshoot.  They just weren’t set up to do what I needed quickly.  

Eventually, I turned to Burne Photo Imaging. Burne has a LightJet printer, a friendly staff, and the ability to turn things around quick if you’re willing to pay for it.  I was and I’m glad I did.  The prints are gorgeous.  For those not familiar, a LightJet print is a digital print made on photographic paper with lasers.  It is continuous tone, which means no banding or posterization.  Although my inkjet prints are really damn close.  Anyway, Burne saved my ass and made some great prints.

This also means that the tags next to my hanging images are wrong.  They aren’t inkjet prints, they’re Digital C-Prints.  Unfortunately for me, the price reflects what inkjet prints would cost. 

So… if you’re in the market for a cheap super-high-quality print of a parking garage, there’s still one left at bargain prices!