Photo by Curtis Speer Early in his career, Speer hooked up with HP and got to experiment with the DesignJet Z3200 wideformat printer. At present, he outsources most of his print work to a shop in Los Angeles. currently in negotiations for a solo exhibit in the fall. Early in his career, Speer hooked up with HP and got to experiment with the DesignJet Z3200 wide-format printer. At present, he outsources most of his print work. “I work with a photolob in L.A. that does impeccable work,” he said, although he is still pining for a wide-format device of his own. Like many artists and photographers, he places special emphasis on the paper that is used. “I started working with different kinds of paper because I don’t print on photo paper,” he said. “I print on a heavyweight cotton rag paper that absorbs the ink and kind of softens some of the edges a little bit, although the images are still really crisp.” He added, “But then it begs the question, is it a painting or a photograph?” Philosophical questions are never far from the artist’s mind. Speer is a fan of Canson photo rag paper. “It’s super smooth, which is fantastic and I get a little more detail,” he said. “The other one I use is Hahnemühle, and it’s a cotton rag paper that’s got more of a coarse texture so it looks more like a painting.” All artists and photographers judge “image quality” differently, of course, and for Speer, the key is the blacks. “How rich are the blacks? Are they intense, do you feel like you could reach your hand into them? If it’s dull, or gray, or flat, then it’s not a good print to me.” He’s been happy with the individual images he’s had output—either from his own equipment or from a photolab—but a recent self-publishing venture was a valuable learning experience. In 2012, he produced the book Three, his account of having been abused as a child and how that experience shaped his current worldview. It was an intensely personal project, heavily illustrated with his own photographs. He did a prototype and got a quote from an online self-publishing-oriented book printer for high-quality luster paper and binding. When he finally got the printed books, however, he found they had switched to inferior quality book paper at the last Photo by Curtis Speer minute. The run of 600 books sold out, but it was a lesson learned. “I need to ask better questions and stay more on top of it on the front end,” he said. And therein lies his advice for print service providers looking to work with artists and photographers. “As an artist, you have your vision,” he said. “The trouble I have with outsourcing anything is getting the person on the other end to handle it and treat it with as much integrity as the artist has. They’re not as emotionally involved as the creative person.” Speaking in Tongues Epson’s Steinhardt also stresses that print service providers need to understand the artist’s vision and what that artist is after. “The best practices are spending the time to ask the questions and understand the needs,” he said. “For a service provider who really wants to go that extra mile and go after the more discerning client, it’s more about asking the questions than just taking in the job.” Part of that guidance is speaking the right language, and it’s a very different language, and a different way of working—and selling—than the average commercial print client. “You’ve got to know, if you talk to an artist, you’re looking at an hourand half-long conversation,” said Mike Hill, director at AoSA Image. Based in Orange County, CA, AoSA Image offers sustainable printing for the sign and display industry on a variety of materials. The company also has a sideline working with digital artists, specializing in dye-sublimation printing on metal substrates such as aluminum. “You have to have the sales person understand the market and speak the language. It’s not an add-on. You can’t take a person that’s been doing prepress or sales for bound books and have them start doing art. You need an insider. You need an artist to sell an artist.” It’s also about understanding papers. “People always ask me, ‘what Wide-Format I MyPRINTResource.com maging | July 2015 9
Wide-Format Imaging July 2015
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