More Metal

Gypsy Girl and Her Cat

I am so happy with the first few images I had printed on metal and I just ordered a set of 12x12 metal prints of these three shots of a Romani girl in Barzitsa, Bulgaria. This is a step up from the first set of eight 8x8 prints.
The labs that offer metal prints don't fully reveal the process, but it is a heat sublimation process in which the image is printed on a white substrate and the whole thing is fused into the aluminum plate, with a very durable overlaminate. I accept the claims that this creates a print as archival as good giclee and silver gelatin prints, with the usual caveat that art should never be exposed to direct sunlight. Some vendors say use window cleaner on the surface, though I'd probably stick with a damp microfiber cloth.

Metal Prints

Here are six of eight square images that are being produced by one of my labs, printed on metal. They will have 1/8" rounded corners and be mounted on blocks to float off the wall without frames. It seems an interesting and different presentation for photographs (it is pretty new) and these will be introduced at my holiday shows (see home page of www.whidbeypanoramas.com).

About the Photos

From top left to bottom right: The grave markers in Istanbul were shot in infrared and processed with sepia toning. IR is great for clouds! I noticed the trees in the pasture where the sheep graze on the edge of Barzitsa and watched for a foggy morning to shoot them. This was infrared converted to pure black and white (the raw IR images have some color in them). The fishing boat was near Varna in an estuary that serves as an extension of the port. It's another IR shot. The outdoor sink with dish is conventional digital color. It is in the back yard of the small pottery near the village where Bulgaria Art Workshops is being established (watch for news). Though it might look staged, the blue dish was there, waiting for my eye. The orange lifeboat was moored behind a dilapidated waterfront home on the Bosporus. The original shot is in color but I desaturated everything in the scene except the boat. I spotted the staircase while walking around the same Bosporus village in drizzle and was taken with the Mediterranean colors juxtaposed with potted flowers and weathered wood.