Happy, Happy, HAPPY First Birthday, Digital!

Woohoo! June marks the one year anniversary of our conversion to digital technology from our beloved film. Like I have previously said, this is something that I thought our little company would never do. I have also said that I would never turn my back on a superior technology. I just never thought that digital would ever surpass good old film. That is where I was wrong! Oh, so wrong…….

Digital has allowed us to make our images into fabulous new large sizes. With 35 mm film, we maxed out for quality reasons at 16 x 20, and that was pushing it. Now we are making the most glorious 20 x 30’s and 40 x 60’s, and all with cameras no heavier or more complicated than our old 35 mm film cameras. You just cannot imagine the beauty of the prints we are now able to make!

Our lab master & head digital artist preparing a custom canvas for stretching.

We are now making more beautiful coffee table art books than ever before. Because we no longer have to scan film to make the books, the images are “first generation” and flawless. We are also able to provide a custom photo app for smartphones containing every single image ordered by every client. This would have been impossibly expensive if we were still shooting film, again due to scanning issues.

Most retouching is now a breeze and something we do not have to charge extra for! Retouching used be done painstakingly by hand and was very expensive for our customers.

Really though, the very best things about going digital have been:

We did not use 10,000 rolls of film last year! That means we did not use 10,000 metal casings, 10,000 chemical laden plastic strips or 10,000 plastic containers and boxes for the containers!

We did not use the usual BUCKET LOAD of chemicals (film developer, stop bath and fixer) that we needed a toxic waste company to dispose of properly. We did not use the tons of clean water needed to wash the film after processing.

We did not use the 10,000 plastic sleeves or the 1,000 film storage boxes.

We did not make 10,000 contact prints from the negatives.

We cut in half the number of proof prints we printed from 500,000 to about 250,000, because we are now able to see and choose which images are printed before printing.

We did not use 30,000 sheets of wood based fiber paper to make our custom prints and all the chemicals necessary to make those prints. Instead we made 30,000 prints out of the part of the cotton plant that would otherwise be thrown away. No trees were consumed in making our prints this year and the prints are still 100% archival, warm and exhibit a beautiful tonal range.

We are so excited about our digital conversion and are thrilled that our customers see it exactly like we do. We have IMPROVED the quality and range of the products we offer and have done all of this while radically decreasing the environmental footprint of our business. This is a big win for us, our customers and the planet!

– Julie

Finished custom canvases (sized 40×60!) hanging in one of our newly renovated studios.