Working the Flow
Last summer I had serious printing withdrawal. The racing season at Golden Gate Fields ended in June and I was looking forward to a summer where I could focus on my portfolio and print some of the work I’d done since graduating in ’08. At Santa Cruz I had essentially unlimited access to the digital lab. I loaded my own roll of paper, checked the color profiles and made any necessary adjustments. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately, Santa Cruz is almost a 2 hour drive from Berkeley and getting prints done in the real world is not so fun.
I started trying out online printing services and then a couple local places, which were just as unpredictable. The first problem I ran into was no one would print the custom sizes my panoramic shots require and I can’t afford to pay for wasted inches. Next, paper choices were always a gamble and color, of course, was all over the place. I heard from some folks at the Marin Photo Club that a little studio in Mill Valley, CA called The Image Flow was becoming the place to do high end digital printing. One 8×10 later I found myself @ The Image Flow.
Stuart and Damien understood my frustrations with printing and their enthusiasm for the creative process was refreshing. They both come from the world of professional photography where every detail matters and the perfect print is the norm, not a magically random occurrence. I guess they realized I knew a thing or two about digital photography and asked if I wanted to help out at the studio. So, now I’m @ The Image Flow and having a great time, retouching, printing, teaching photoshop, and of course learning a lot. Though it’s still a little odd that I’m commuting everyday to the town I grew up in.
My goal now is to do some cross-blogging here and on The Image Flow blog. I’ll be writing about the projects I’m working on and any tips and tricks we discover. Stay tuned for more!