How Far Would You 'Go'?
... to work with Innovative Imaging Studio? 10 miles? 100 miles? 3500 miles? This is just how far some of our clients were prepared to go to get the quality of service that they wanted.
In this section we will be featuring a wide diversity of people - from near and far - who have chosen to work with us on their projects. we will be showing you samples of their work and hearing their comments.
We will be finding out from them just what it is about II Studio that makes the trip worth their while. We will see how the internet has made the services of this exciting partnership available to people around the world.
From the Arctic to Canning NS - via Halifax! March 7, 2007
Posted by Ellie in : Client of the Month , 1 comment so far
The featured client this month is Tony Deveau, a Nova Scotian photographer who has spent a lot of time in the Arctic many years ago and has some wonderful photographs to prove it.
Tony had a number of 20 year old + Kodachrome slides that he wanted scanned into digital format for archiving and then printed on special archival media. Some of them needed quite a bit of careful restoration in the digital format as water damage had deteriorated the originals.
Tony has been working with photographic printers and service bureaux for a number of years in different parts of the county. I was interested to hear of his experiences working with some of these in the past and the present.
When I lived in Manitoba I used the services of a small owner-operated business. He processed the photographs in the methods available at the time and had skills with the airbrush that he used, for example, on my Arctic Wolf print. I also used the services of a Winnipeg company that were fairly good.
Recently I took my work to a local commercial photographic processing bureau. It seemed to me that there were always limitations. For the print sizes, for example, I only had the choice of set sizes - 8″x10″, 10″x14″ etc. They also told me that my negatives were damaged and that I had two choices - either crop the damage out or keep the flaws in the print.
This photograph of a Jaeger is the first image of Tony’s that we printed for him. We first of all scanned the slide on our professional scanner, at the highest resolution. Then we repaired the damage and carefully worked with the image to highlight the delicacy of this bird and the feeling of freedom we get from seeing this creature soaring - giving the impression of being weightless. It was important to chose the right paper for the print and together with Tony we chose the archival Innova smooth cotton - a natural white 100% acid free cotton (rag) material. Its silky smooth surface made it ideal for his photographs and it has a satisfying weight at 315 g/m2. This has been our paper of choice for all of his prints so far.
Then I asked him what it was that made him try us to do his work.
I did a search on the internet using different terms - digital, imaging etc. Innovative Imaging came up and I went to the site. At first I thought that Canning was a bit far to go, but I found nothing else more local that would want to deal with an individual.
When I went through your website I found everything that I needed to know - the services you offered, who you were - even a map to get to you. It didn’t seem to be so far after all and I decided to come out and see you.
This regal Arctic Wolf was photographed as he lay surrounded by a pile of garbage. Although this is a poignant reminder to us of the results of mankind’s presence in the wilderness, the setting did nothing for his dignity. Tony originally had had the print airbrushed to hide the garbage, but the ravages of time had discoloured the print and made the corrections stand out. We knew that with the technology and expertise we have, we would be able to show the wolf in surroundings that befit his dignified pose. When this was printed using archival inks on the lovely watercolour medium, he knew that the print would finally last for generations without deteriorating.
We asked Tony what particular aspects of our services and skillset he most appreciates with respect to the work we do for him.
The whole consultation process that you offer helps me a lot. I appreciate the way you explain the different options available to me. There are always more than one to chose from and I like that. I like the way I can explain to you, as an amateur, how I want the image to look and you can understand and translate it to get the effect I was after.
I also really appreciate the fact that in scanning these images, I will always have them preserved in a digital format. I want to leave a legacy of these photos for family members into the future - so that they can say ‘your Uncle Tony took these… or your Great Uncle Tony…’.
Now I have them on archival acid free paper, so they will last, but, should anything happen to them, I have the images preserved on a CD. The work that you did on these is not lost the way it was in the old days when all the airbrushing work was lost when it deteriorated. My legacy will be preserved.
Tony took advantage of our matting and framing services that we offer and, working closely with Steve, carefully chose materials that would best display his beautiful prints as well as preserve them from pollutants. He chose to use the museum glass to protect what he has described as:
My most prized possessions
It is always a pleasure to work with beautiful photographs, especially when it is our privilege to preserve and restore these works to their former glory. We also really enjoy the challenge of getting the best from these works so that they will be preserved for the generations to come.
Thank you for your confidence in us, Tony. It’s a pleasure to work with you. We are looking forward to working with you on your future projects.
Ellie
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