framing « Red Skies at Night

October 29, 2011

Mounting Addendum, EHCC Fall Arts Fest 2011 & The Importance Of Titles

Filed under: competitions, exhibits, framing, photography, process — Tags: ehcc, mounting, titles — Eric Jeschke @ 8:53 pm

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One thing I forgot to mention in my last post on exhibition mounting: it seems that most of the contests I enter require you to attach an entry slip to the back of the mount. Invariably they use plain old scotch tape for this, and when you remove the label it tears up a layer or two of the mount board when the tape comes up.

I decided to reduce the wear and tear on the mount board by simply gluing a strip of thin plastic sheet to the back of the mount board. This provides a place to tape the entry label and when you retrieve the photograph you can simply pull off the tape with no issues whatsoever.

I prepared three prints for the East Hawaii Cultural Center‘s Fall Arts Fest contest and exhibition. This is a mixed media show and this year there were a large number of entries: 224, of which 87 were selected. With such a small selection I felt glad to get one print in the show. The Frankfurter made it in, but Two Turtles, Two Ladies did not, nor did Remains of the Day. This is mildly interesting (but hardly surprising anymore), because Turtles and Remains were my first choices for entering, and the third was a toss-up between Frankfurter and Meanwhile, Outside the Crumpet Shop. Glad I went with Frankfurter.

During the Juror’s talk, I asked him if he thought titles were important. He said he thought that titles can be very important. I asked him if he reads the titles when judging the pieces. He said he usually does, but didn’t so much this time around because there were so many pieces and not very much time for selection. I found that interesting, because I have often wondered about the importance of titles. I think I agree that they are important. And yet I don’t really want to spend too much time thinking about it, because I feel that I can over analyze it too much sometimes and end up with a worse title than the one that came up first from the gut instinct. It seems best to think about it just a little bit longer than when the first title presents itself to my mind. If a better one comes to me in the next minute or two I’ll consider it, but that’s all the time I’ll give it. And I rarely change the title after it has been bestowed.

What do you think about the importance of titles?

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October 28, 2011

Mounting for Exhibitions

Filed under: archiving, exhibits, framing, process, products — Tags: art savers, mounting — Eric Jeschke @ 1:30 am

Mounting a print using Art Savers strips

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I’d like to share a technique I’ve picked up for mounting prints. I enter a lot of local exhibitions and art contests. A lot of these require that you mount, mat and frame your artwork. This would get prohibitively expensive after a while, so I’ve come up with methods for quick mounting and reusing frames.

As I have explained before, I tend to standardize on certain aspect ratios and sizes of prints. This allows me to purchase a number of high quality frames with matching archival quality mount and mat board. While I used to use hinging, it always left residue (or worse) on the prints when I removed them after the show.

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I have now settled on using Art Saver mounting strips. These are pH-neutral, 100% cotton strips with a crease and adhesive strip on one side.

The beauty of these guys is that you apply them to a mount board and then you can freely swap identically-sized prints in and out of these frames without any major hassle.

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Place the image on the mount board and position to taste. Notice how I place a small ink dot in each corner to mark the position for the print accurately. I place a small strip of hinge tape to anchor the print to the mount board for the initial mounting of the strips. For subsequent prints this is not necessary.

For smaller sized prints you can get away with 2 strips per side of the print. For larger prints you may need 3-4 per side. You simply fold the strips on the crease, burnish the crease, peel off the adhesive, and adhere the strip into position around the print, with the adhesive strip side down on the mount board and the crease folding over onto the top of the print, as shown.

The bottom strips should be flush with the print in the crease. For the side and top strips you should leave approximately 1/16″ of expansion room for the print in case it swells due to humidity or other factors.

Lay the mat over the top of the print and slide it into the frame. I use the bendable metal pins to hold the mount board into place (as shown here), so it is simply a matter of bending them back into position after the mount/mat combo is slipped back into the frame.

Although I live in a very humid climate, I’m not inclined to dry-mount or adhesive-mount my prints to mount board. For one thing it is time consuming. For another thing it gets to be expensive to buy all that mount board. This technique allows me to store the prints very compactly until I want to put one in a frame for viewing. It is interesting to note that art museums and other places that really care about the longevity of art work also do not recommend destructive mounting. They prefer hinging or techniques like this that allow the print to be remounted later without having to damage the print trying to remove it from a decayed mount board.

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May 8, 2010

Exhibition framing 2010

Filed under: framing, photos, process — Tags: 2010 — Eric Jeschke @ 5:22 pm

(Link to larger image)

Since I just went through the process yet again of having two prints framed for an upcoming show (disclosure: pictured example is not one of them), I thought I would pass on my current thinking about framing. This has evolved over the years and thus I’m tagging this with 2010 since I’m sure my thoughts will change on this topic in the future. Overall I’m very happy with where the process is now. I’m not going to describe the printing process, which I’ve gone over before, and may revisit in a future posting.

My current framing process is to print smaller than the mat opening by a few mm with the paper size being larger than the opening by a “reasonable amount”. This is so that the mat actually presses down on the print paper, but outside the printed area. If I’m hinge mounting this provides some pressure to keep the print flat. When I dry mount, sometimes the edges of the paper will come loose a bit over the years, so this helps keep some pressure on the paper to ameliorate that and hides any unsightly separation from the print from the mount board. In both cases, since the mat does not actually contact the image, there is no danger to the image from long-term exposure to the mat. So many old photographs are ruined by exposure to the mat material. Finally, doing this also provides added space around the image to help “frame” the image and emphasize it, and provides a natural space for signing the print.

Although I employ both mount techniques, I’m tending toward dry mounts these days, especially for larger prints. This has mostly to do with my environment, which is very humid and rainy at times. I just cannot in good conscience place a piece in an exhibit with a price tag on it hinge-mounted in this climate, where it likely to buckle over time. If dry mounting I select archival 100% rag (acid free) sturdy mount board. Dry mounted prints are also easier to store without damage due to bending, and can be quickly reinserted into a frame if needed. I will occasionally still hinge mount if I’m really pressed for time or I know that I won’t be offering an image for sale. In a drier climate I suspect that I would hinge mount everything since it is more archival with regards to the print.

For matting, I prefer a double mat primarily for separating and protecting the print from the glazing, but also because I think it looks better. I almost never choose any kind of colored mat, but just go with some form of white. Colored mats just invite trouble if you are ever trying to put different pictures together for a solo exhibit. Better to stick with white, which is a classic look. Some people like really huge mats, but I guess I prefer them on the thinner side. Slightly over 2 inches is standard for me, although it entirely depends on print dimensions: I’ll go to near 3 inches for a 20 inch print and so on up.

I do not attach the mat to the mount board with any sort of adhesive. Although this allows for a slight shifting of the image within the mat outline, I can live with that. If both mat and mount board fit rather snugly within the frame it can be minimized. Doing it this way allows the mat to be easily changed out without damage to the print or mount board. It also allows me to easily pop out the mounted image and substitute another image for a different show later, reusing the mats, frame, glazing and foam core backing.

For the frame, I prefer wood frames only. I like a classic black, because it complements the white mats and is very versatile as far as pairing and grouping photographs together. I eschew ornate frames–a simple frame does not compete with the image for the viewer’s attention. I tend to go with wider frames for larger pictures, but overall I like them thin. Kind of like thin neckties–classy, and eternal. A sealing tape around the inside frame edge is sometimes used to protect the contents from acids in the wood frame.

(larger)

For the back I use a piece of archival foam core to sandwich the mounted print against the mat. I use simple, bendable tacks to hold the contents into the frame. Although not the most permanent solution, it allows me great flexibility to swap prints in and out of frames, so long as they are the same aspect ratio and print size. I tend to standardize on print sizes and aspect ratios (i.e. if I’m going to crop it will be in one of the preferred aspect ratios), doing so allows me to easily reuse any of the frames from my collection for that size. For the same reason I do not seal the back, unless I am planning to house the print rather more permanently in the frame. It’s probably the greatest omission for longevity for pieces I exhibit, but it can be easily done at any frame shop by the buyer if they decide to purchase the piece. If not, then I can repurpose the frame for the next show.

For glazing, I’m tending toward plain glass these days. I find that for most exhibit lighting it doesn’t make that much difference for viewing over the more expensive UV or antireflective glass. Many people don’t realize that regular glass does offer a fair degree of UV protection for a print, and also protects against the harmful ozone and airborne pollution attacks on the print. For true archival quality of course UV glass is preferred and I will select it for work that I seal and hang on my walls as part of my own “permanent” collection. I’m tending away from acrylic these days. It’s more easily scuffed when cleaning it and just doesn’t have the quality “feel” that I am looking for.

There you have it. Although I do frame my work myself still quite often, I have most of my frames made for me by Brian Tanimoto and company down at Tanimoto Gallery and Framing in downtown Hilo. They do outstanding work. If I’m pressed for time I have them frame it to these specifications.

April 22, 2010

Two more to go on display

Filed under: competitions, exhibits, framing, photography, photos — Tags: expo — Eric Jeschke @ 11:39 pm

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(best viewed large)

In my last post on the topic, I mentioned that I was waiting to hear the results of a third local photo contest I’ve entered this year, the Hawaii Photo Expo. I’m pleased to report that I have two photographs out of three accepted into the show. The juror made the initial selections for the exhibition from digital submissions, and will award prizes upon viewing the show at the end of May.

I’m kind of excited because one of these prints will be in a 16:9 wide aspect format that I am just starting to work in more frequently. The other is 3:2, which is a aspect ratio I tend not to use too much since the old 35mm days. I really like the 16:9 format, and will have to experiment a bit to see how large I want to print and frame these. I have one B&W and one color in the show.

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The juror will have a workshop, which should be interesting.

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January 4, 2010

Turn of the Year Thoughts

Filed under: books, business, cameras, exhibits, framing, inspiration, life, linux, photographers, photos, POD, printing, process, products, scanning, small cameras, tools, web, workflow, workshops — Eric Jeschke @ 12:05 am

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As we pass from one year/decade into the next it seems natural to reflect on the year left behind and the year ahead. I certainly have been doing my fair share of that, especially since the last week of the year has had a few vacation days attached and I’ve had calmer days to let thoughts wander and reorganize themselves. I’ve noticed that a lot of bloggers are sharing their thoughts, so I will too. But I’ll try not to ramble too much!

2009 was a typical year of photography for me in that I didn’t have enough time for it. The pressing needs of husband, father and provider came first, as they should, and everything else was catch as catch can. Nevertheless, there were some interesting developments for me.

On the picturing side, opportunities were largely made around weekends, holidays, vacation days, business trips to other cities and the occasional outing with the local photo club. I continue my trend away from nature photography (present picture excepted!) toward more candid, portrait, “street” and still life picturing. I produced my second book (thanks again, SoFoBoMo!) and along the way found a very interesting new process for making the book that saved me a ton of computer face time. This led to a further exploration of the technique for producing folios. And although I didn’t make massive headway on it, I have spent a lot more time thinking about sets and series of images, themes and more intentional picturing, and it is beginning to have an impact on my work that is leading me in good directions, artistically.

On the equipment side, I found myself largely making the switch from serious compacts with 1/1.8 sensors to the m4/3 format with a much larger sensor. This really only happened after I acquired a 20mm pancake lens, which made the larger camera small enough to meet my carry along cut-off weight/size. The new sensor and lens made for some different picturing possibilities than I had been making, and I found myself returning to familiar 50mm SLR type photography, albeit not with a Pentax MX, but a tiny computer with a lens attached. And it wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. New equipment can be an enabler of sorts, and I certainly enjoyed exploring with the new gear. I also managed to scan a fair number of old slides and via the learning process established a powerful and consistent scanning workflow.

On the technical/photo processing side, I continue to use the Linux and Mac environments for photo developing and organization. I discovered a couple of really great apps for the Linux environment for developing (jpeg/raw) and photo viewing and organizing. On the Mac side I’ve been playing with DNG profiles, raw conversion, LightRoom 3beta and of course printing (I still print from Photoshop). I got a new wide-gamut monitor with a profiling device and finally moved away from manufacturer’s canned profiles to my own. I haven’t blogged about too many of these things yet (mostly because I don’t find technical posts as interesting as other aspects of photography), but I may talk about some of these developments in the weeks ahead.

On the inspiration side, I visited the Yousef Karsh exhibit at the Art Institute in Chicago, entered two local photo/art show call-for-entries and got pieces accepted, attended a critique, sat on the board of another photo contest, attended several art show openings, and attended about half of the photo shoots and meetings of the local photography club. I tried to read a couple of books on the creative process, but got bored. I read a (probably) unhealthy number of photographers blog posts and browsed a lot of online work. I posted a lot of photos and a few words now and then on my own blog and enjoyed some very pleasant exchanges with other bloggers (you know who you are!). I had a print swap with another blogger (Thanks, Kjell!). I participated in a small invitation-only online photography critique group (which I liked a lot), until the owner decided to shut it down. Oh, and I sold exactly one photo on the internet.

Wow, looking back it sounds like I accomplished a lot, but somehow I always want more photography!

Looking ahead, here’s what I see for 2010 in Eric’s photographic journey:

Picturing: I want to really put a concerted effort into themed work. I’ll probably still be posting a fair bit of come-what-may, but there is going to be more intentional picturing making. This could be bad, if it makes me feel forced, but I’m going to try to do it in clever ways that don’t get me into that corner. And I’m going to schedule some days for pure photography. I’m also planning to dabble in a little video (courtesy of the GH1), but nothing too serious. Expect some more “formal” portraits. I’ll make another book. I’d like to produce at least one good folio on interesting paper.

Equipment: I’ll be continuing to explore the GH1 and the normal prime as my main photo machine. I may try some more iPhone photos as a kind of explicit toy-camera like effect, but I don’t expect too much here, I found the lack of any basic exposure controls somewhat frustrating. I don’t expect any major new camera purchases (never say never!), but perhaps a new lens may show up some day. I’ll continue my scanning of old material and hope to make some good progress on completing it.

Processing/Technical: more experimentation along the vectors I’m currently exploring as described above. I’m currently into a fairly minimalist processing regime, and I don’t expect too much change there, although I’ve been playing with raw development a bit more and may try to settle into some custom raw processing profiles (tone curves, etc). I want to print and frame more work this year. I’ll be ordering a bunch of new papers and testing them out. On the blogging side, I’m pretty happy with the outsourced WordPress blog (after years of maintaining my own web sites) and will probably stick with that. I renewed my Flickr Pro membership for two more years, but I also signed up with SmugMug (and transferred the Flickr sets over with SmuggLr) because I’ve grown tired of Flickr stagnating; it seems that integration into Yahoo sucked all the creative life out of it, and there has been almost no new development on it. After the dust settles I’ll be with one or the other. I’ll probably drop my Imagekind Pro account as it hasn’t been much use for any of the uses I originally envisioned it for (and that includes a few things that SmugMug does); it also appears to be languishing after absorption by CafePress. I may blog about a couple of these decisions if there is interest.

Inspiration: I will be entering more photo contests/shows this year. It would be interesting to attend a workshop if I can spare the time. I’ll continue to try and attend as many openings as I can because I find viewing art of any kind inspirational, and photographs take a whole new aura in print. I’m going to pay more attention to the cinematography in the few films I will see. I’ll continue to blog and post work (of course!) as well as try to keep up with a reasonable core set of blogs. I’d like to do more print swaps with other photographers, if I can find any willing participants. And I’d like to participate again in a small, private, online critique group (anyone know of any openings?)

Whew!

Well, maybe I didn’t succeed on the avoidance of rambling. Nevertheless, a fairly decent summary of what was and what is likely, vis-a-vis Eric. I sincerely hope that you, Dear Reader, will continue to enjoy and prosper in your photographic journey in 2010. I look forward to another year of contact, learning, ideas and inspiration. Cheers!

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July 10, 2008

CafePress acquires Imagekind

Filed under: business, framing, noted, printing — Eric Jeschke @ 11:31 pm

Today I received an email notification that Imagekind (the site where I host some of my work for sale) has been acquired by CafePress (whom I’ve also used on occasion). It’s an interesting acquisition, and one that I hope does not change Imagekind too much. They are really a pretty nice outfit for fine art printing. Details here.

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