Okay, this is part two following on from yesterday’s article about the potential for shooting Stock Photography, which is one more post than I planned, but I am on a roll. As Gordon had reminded me off-line, beware of the fine print with a potential stock agency.

And the fine print includes, who takes on the copyright of your photography, do you keep it or do they get to “assign” it? (hint: you want to keep the copyright, unless they offer you a ton of money). There are all kinds of financial and legal aspects that you should keep in mind and read at least once before you sign up.

Also, make sure you understand the photographic technical requirments for you images.  As an example, hereare the digital photography requirements at alamy.com Thus, the Bavarian castle picture above is nicely composed, it does not meet the technical requirements for a submission. I was leading a small group from my day-job on a sight-seeing week-end day and was only carrying my Canon G-2 for “snap” shots. The G-2 is a 4 Megapixel compact. Alamy needs Pro-level camera platforms with a minimum of 6 Mp. Now a difference of 2Mp may not seem like much, but when you compare the sensor sizes, lens quality & resolution, pixel density (12 bit RAW vs 14 bit) and the list goes on, I have a very nice memento, not a stock photograph.

So there are some minimum equipment requirements for Stock that you need to be aware of. Even my Canon XTi at 10.2 Mp shooting RAW at 12 bits is very borderline, although I use the top end Canon L lens. I do not have any image capture issues when I use my Hasselblad and 120 film, but it does take an investment in time to spot those digital files after I scan the negative or transparency.

So read carefully, but if you think that this might be an opportunity, jump in. Just as I might.

Best regards, Doug

One of the things you are suppose to do, if you want to be noticed and eventually sell a print or book or get a gallery representation, is to promote yourself. And in a round about way, I have been. And then again, I have not been really diligent in this area. sigh

As I read other blogs & web-sites by photographers and painters, I realize that I could do a little bit more shameless self-promo stuff. Such as keeping an update on the side bar where I am providing a workshop, I’m in an exhibition or keep track of when someone has something nice to say about me. Okay, only when something nice  is said, eh, so we will try to ignore the occasional flaming.

So I have added some new sidebars to this blog  to help take care of that. And so on my to-do list is to add these same items to my information page to my web site. I have a couple of these items on my web site, but not all of them.

Best regards, Doug

At the moment, I am making plans for a day in Santa Monica and at photo l.a.  Laura Russell and I are meeting for morning coffee to put finishing touches on the workshop at her gallery in March.

Then I want to head over to Bergamont Station in Santa Monica for the rest of the morning to do some gallery walking and potentially collect some material and information to write a gallery exhibition reivew. And the momentum is building for the collaborative blog Photo Exhibit. We have someone covering London, Tokyo, SF, San Diego, Denver, Austin/Centeral Texas and now a reviewer pending for the Netherlands. Very nice.

Then over to photo l.a. for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. It will be a busy day, as I have a couple of books to read and prepare my reviews on site, as the Bruce Davison limited edition book by Verso Limited Editions is $12,500, so no review copies available for that one! And there are a bunch of folks that I have been in email contact that I now hope to put a face with the name.

I had really hoped to attend this local event last year, but as some of you might recall, I had a paying gig in Shanghia, so you just gotta follow the money trail, eh? And the personal photographic series that I had a chance to develop in China is pretty impressive (well, at least to me).

Anyhow, it will be a full day and hopefully I will see some of you there as I walk about. So give a shout if you spot me, eh?

Best regards, Doug

Okay, what to look for; blue jeans, tennies, Hawiian shirt, glasses, grayish hair & looking cool.

Update: Photo l.a. was photographic exhibitions on overload! What a great time. I met with Laura in the morning and did some brainstorming on why certain things occured in the second edition of the Sharpening book, such as some wierd typographic things. Overall, she really liked the use of the Blurb ICC color management when we compared images in the book to the actual print.

Then I did a quick tour of Bergamont Station and saw the tail end of the Michael Kenna exhibit at the Craig Krull Gallery, the ongoing Lilian Bassman at the Peter Fetterman Gallery, the pre-opening of John Divola’s Dark Star exhibition at the Gallery Luisotti Gallery  (leverging my writing for Photo Exhibit) and then helping with the unwraping of the Malone Mills photographs for her Orb exhibit at Frank Pictures (also leveraging my writing for Photo Exhibit). So I have some exhibition reviews to write and publish on Photo Exhibit.

Then over to photo l.a. for at noon for the rest of the day. I ran into a bunch of friends from the Photo Exchange and we had a wonderful & teasing lunch together, but I ended up walking most of the show with my buddy Paul Mounce. Who seemed to be very patient (and wondered off to continue looking at photographs) when I stopped to review a book or interview a photographer for The Photo Book. Photo l.a. is a teaser show, with most galleries bringing and exhibiting only a couple of photographs for most photographers they represent. So a lot of photographs, but limited in number.

The rumor was that certain galleries were laying claim to specific photographers and letting other galleries that also represented the same photogrpher know that they were going to be the only ones who should exhibit that photographer at the show. Interesting back room stuff that I just did not want to get into.

Overall, a great experience, but the take away was that with some exceptions, most of the photographs that were exhibited were the classics, not a lot of which were pushing the contemporary edge, such as Chris McGaw at the Duncan Miller Gallery booth.

Most interesting experience for me was to meet,  interview and discuss the exhibited photographs with the Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko. His metaphoric photographs utilize longer exposures of people and places to provide a sense of time and experience. A shared concept and one that I have connection with, but a process that Alexey has been consitently using since 1992. I will be expounding more on this later this month when I review his book Alexey Titarenko: Photographs, published by Nailya Alexander Gallery, on The Photo Book.

Best regards, Doug

Urban Redevelopment #10, 2008, copyright of Douglas Stockdale

Well from the ashes of defeat, a really nice post-submission group exhibit.

I was “juried In” to the group exhibit, UnCritical Mass, by Liz Kuball, who also had an UnCritical Mass submission. And from a review of those of us that did not get pass the first cut, the judging must have been a really tough assignment, because just look at the awesome work by those who did not make it. You know what, I am equally honored to be in Liz’s group exhibit.

Since my project had developed into a series of triptychs, after not moving on in the Critical Mass process, my immediate reaction was to start down the path of self-doubt. Maybe I should have stayed with stand alone images, and then other “maybe’s” started to pop-up. From my previous experience of exhibiting a few of these triptychs, I realize that they are not an easy “read”.

I do understand that this is part of the process of creativity, developing work that may not be so easy to understand. To take a bold step forward, to pull something together that streches you, to not repeat past successes. Its emotional tough. And rejection is not fun. But that is also part of the creativity process, you may and most probably will get rejected. Especially if you are moving beyond your safety boundaries. Thus, I really enjoy Liz’s reaction, if you get lemons, make some lemonade!

And so, the triptychs are going to stay just like they are, and I will continue to search for an audience, and meanwhile I will keep working on new material. And continue to take chances;- )

Best regards, Doug

BTW, my photograph above was of two images that I sent the to Liz that she did not select for her group exhibit;- )

I wrote the following as an updated note to an earlier entry, but it probably needs a seperate published manisfesto:

I have been trying to reconcile the writing I do for this blog versus The Photo Exchange, were I am the current Managing Editor, so for this subject (The Business of Fine Art Phtograph) and similar topics regarding the business of (Fine Art) photography, I will be posting those on The Photo Exchange. Thus, this journal will be more about my development of my photographic projects, series, singular images, photographs and the like.

Unless I have some technical glitch I want to crab about or want to extrol the benefits of some equipment, I defer to the ton of other blogs who think that this is more important than I do.

I realize that this declariation will probably reduce my readership to a mere pitance, but in am writing  to fete my thoughts and feelings about the work I do, so be it.

But I will probably change my mind about this again tomorrow;- )

Best regarsds, Doug

I continue to contemplate the use of Limited Editions for my photographs after my lengthly discussion with Hal Gould while in Denver last week. There really is a lengthly list of pros and cons on this issue, but I guess it does come down to individual philosphy and creative intent.

In reality, there is no limit to the amount of photographic prints that can be made from a negative or electronic file, especially if you allow others to make your prints for you. If you complete your own printing, it is limited to your own life span, eh?

So there is a limit after all. Practically, how boring to keep making the same print, not much adventure there. No personal growth, just sitting on your laurals, eh?

Granted, I am not going to print a ton of prints. Way too expensive and as I said, boring. Very boring. To me the interesting stuff is looking, seeing, discovering, understanding our society, who we are, what we do and all of the photographic series and project implications that arise from these investigations and inquiries.

Secondarily, I enjoy the process of creating a final image from the raw materials, the original photographic capture. It is much like problem solving. To understand what my point of view is, to get the head and heart connection, and the best way to express that point, using the phtographic medium.

The first question then, am I concerned about the print collector and what value my prints have in the market place? Do I want to make a living from my interest? In a sense, yes, because I want to get enough funds to support my photographic habit. Which means buying or replacing equipment, supplies, books, producing prints, framing for exhibits, etc. At some point, I will not have a day job and I’ll be trying to live on a fixed income (dread).

As Hal was quick to point out, in the photographic market place right now, there is an expectation by collectors that the photographs will be produced in limited quantities, otherwise they, the collector, do not have any immediate incentive to purchase a print. Which provides limits on when and what the gallery will sell and when the photographer will receive some cash.

So like it or not, if you want to start or continue selling in most galleries, you will have to move to the Limited Edition standard. You may be selling now in a gallery without limiting your editions, but I believe the opportunities are going to be dwindling as time passes.

Thus, if I am not going to make unlimited prints, then I need to decide how many to make, eh? Thus could be a win-win. But what are the “rules” for Limited Edition photographs?? I just tried to see if there was anything at AIPAD (Association of International Photograhic Art Dealers) who ought to be the best voice for the collector and I would suspect, their own best interest. But the best I could find is their code of ethics which means that all they have to provide is:

So what do we mean by a Limited Edition?? Per Hal Gould, a Limited Edition is limiting the amount of times you print any given image, with no limits over the time of the printing, and the method of printing. You just have to say, I will print this image only X times, and that is it, and keep track of when and how you printed to provide to the buyer.

But I am guessing that there are ways to expand on this number, as there are also artist proofs (A/P) which are not included in the Limited Edition. And those need to be declared. And it seems that the rules for an artist proof vary as well. As a photographer, we usually do make a number of test prints, varying the contrast, color, etc, so what do you do with those you keep and don’t round file??

Then you have the “publicity” images, when the photograph prints had to be prepared and sent to galleries, newspapers, magazines, submissions, etc or pubished as a poster. These usually represent the image but are not printed archivally and are not meant to be collected. And usually have a minimal amount of documentation, and not signed.

So if you know of any established guidelines on Limited Edition photographs, could you please provide a link?

Thanks!!

Best regards, Doug

Update: I have been trying to reconcile the writing I do for this blog versus The Photo Exchange, were I am the current Managing Editor, so for this subject and similar topics regarding the business of (Fine Art) photography, I will be posting those on The Photo Exchange. Thus, this journal will be more about my development of my photographic projects, series, singular images, photographs and the like. Unless I have some technical glitch or want to extrol the benefits of some equipment, I defer to the ton of other blogs who think that this is more important than I do.

I recently received an update from Photolucida (Portland, OR) that they are hosting a Nortwest Summer Portfolio Review. My article about the phtoto review that I participated at in Palms Springs received a lot of attention, thus I want to provide another opportunity, but regretfully it is already sold out! Bummer and I was giving this some intense consideration.

They accepted only 80 photograhers for the reviews, which will take place over two days, July 25 and 26 in Portland, OR at the Blue Sky Gallery. Of note, on their web site they do have a PDF regarding their How-to Guidebook for a Photo review, worth reading.

Also while gettng caught up on my reading back-log, I came across an article about Karen Irvine, the Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Columbia College, Chicago, IL) (aka MoCP) and she made the following comment as being a portfolio reviewer:

Well, successful in terms of it a productive exchange and twenty mintues well spent I thingk would mean that either the photographer or myself, or ideally both of us, walk away having learned something. Of course the obvious answer from my side would be to day that success means finding an artist I would like to work with. But to be honest, it rarely happens. Not to be too vague or trite, but to discuss art ina limited, closed context is often a learning experience. There have been times when the art is absolutely not interested in, but the artist is smart or insightful and we have had a good discussion.

Best regards, Doug

Having completed a day of portfolio reviews the day before at the Palm Springs Photo Festival, I would like to share my thoughts about the entire process, especially for those who have not been through one, but are considering it.

The portfolio review concept is based on you being able to meet with someone who’s opinion might mean something to you.  You would like to show your work and then received some great (valuable) feedback about it. And of course be invited to exhibit or be represented or get a book contract.

And the reality is very different, but for some, it may happen. The trick is, if you don’t go and participate, for sure it will not happen.  Kinda of like winning the lottery, you have to at least buy a ticket. And I believe and subsequently found out, that your success at a portfolio review is also related to your preparation. Previously I had read an article by Mary Virgina Swanson about preparing for a portfolio review, but I am unable to provide the link (anyone?) to the excellent article. But her bottom line: be prepared. So I will now elaborate on my preparation process and what happened.

First a warning, I also happen to be a professional project manager for over twenty years, so I can get very detailed and anal, especially since I am also an engineer, but I will try to keep to the highlights and summarize versus the gritty nick picky details. But for some of you, this may seem like overkill. Probably is, but then again as you read, it did get results;- )

So here is the portfolio context: I have one day to attend out of the 4-1/2 available, I want to hear the afternoon panel discussion on the state of the Art, and its going to cost (all USD) me $60 to just attend, plus $250 for 5 reviews. That breaks down to $50 per review, which lasts 20 minutes. I think of this as buying part of a consultant’s hour, who charges $150 per hour. Pricey, eh?

So for me, the go or no-go on doing this review was my question: For Monday, can I talk with at least 5 individuals who I think will be of help to me and in the future? But even first, what did I want to accomplish?? I needed to understand my end game in order to make my choices, other wise it’s Alice and the Cheshire Cat all over again.

So my take-away goals, in order: 1. Networking and referrals, because in my day job, I don’t see the gallery owners, directors and those who make the exhibition decisions. 2. Book publisher referrals, those who make the decisions as what to publish. 3. Gallery representation referrals for non-exclusive representation.

And for Monday, I identified at least 9 or 10 individuals who I thought could help me reach my goals.  Thus time to move on to the next step; research on the galleries, museums and individuals in order to establish my priority (aka force ranking) of who I want to see most (first) to how I would like to meet with least. And I chose a mix of magazine publishers, gallery owners and museum directors/curators. So Monday did look like it could meet my needs and so I made the decision to go and sign up for the portfolio reviews.

So the question of who to see was addressed, but now, what to show?? Again, preparation. I knew that I was going to provide a nice take-away for each reviewer, a signed copy of my recent publication in LensWork #74. So I did not need to show them the prints from the Bad Trip – Sad Trip (In Passing) series. BUT just in case, I brought with me the A/P prints from that series that I was working with for my Bad Trip – Sad Trip Edition Folio, which turned out to be a very smart move as you will see later. I did not want to show my Foundations Edition Folio either, but likewise, I kept my A/P of that in my backup bag as well, and that also turned out to be a very smart move.

So then it was down to the various series in progress and I decided it would be one of those from China and the series Open During Construction(Zhao Chang Ying Ye) was the most developed of the three series and I had the corresponding images up on my web site. From the images for this series, I had decided to narrow the selection down to 12 prints, but keep the other images in my backup bag, but I did not end up needing these. I selected the 12 images that I felt provided a broad interpretation of my series. And I kept the images to 12 because 1. I did not want to spend too much of the 20 minutes having someone look at the prints, versus discuss the images and my interests, and 2. they see lots of images and will probably make a very quick assessment of where I am and what they are interested in with just 12 (also confirmed by the Virgina Swanson article I mentioned earlier).

Last, the presentation of the images, how printed, what size and how presented. I have a folio cover that I use as the proof for my Edition Folios that could carry the images and make the prints presentable. Which means that the prints were going to be 8-1/2 x 11″ with an approximate 7 x 9″ image. Nice to hold and look at (thank you Minor White!). And since they could get beat up, I printed the images on my proof paper, Epson Professional Presentation Matte, which I think was another good choice. Each reviewer gave a sign of relief when told that these were review prints that did not need special handling (e.g. white gloves, etc). Their emphasis was on the images.

Oh, and time management, as 20 minutes will haul ass if it was not carefully thought about. So here was my plan, 3 minutes for personal introduction, figuring 5 – 7  minutes to have them look at the prints (I want them to handle the print and stop were they wanted to provide comments) and 10 minutes to discuss my work, their thoughts and ask for referrals. Looked good on paper!

Okay, so what happen?? Here is my summary of the reviewers in the order they occurred;

Houssein Farmani, Director of Farmani Gallery (LA), Lucie Awards, my first priority and first choice (I was early in the sign up process, another preparation item, eh?). Most remembered comments; he had stopped immediately to continue looking at the image with this post, and then quietly said that this was very beautiful and that I had a sense of space that was very Japanese. And that I he sees how I handle space in a similar way with the diverse images within this set of 12. That my series of industrial (his emphasis) urban landscapes was excellent and unique. Takeaway: gave me a personal referral to a book publisher to consider this series for publication. very nice. At this point, I felt the portfolio reviews had paid for themselves.

Laurie Frank, owner/director Frank Pictures Gallery (LA), second priority and second choice. So far, so good. Remembered comment: She thought the urban landscapes were very beautiful and she also stopped to look longer at this same image in this post. hmmmm. But I was not a good fit for her gallery as she felt that my images required a more sophisticated photography buyer, her artists was more figurative and Hollywood oriented and she was not as comfortable with landscape work. And she recommended that I meet with Houssein Farmani. Wow, that confirmed my first choice was right on. Take away; good feedback on my images and continued networking. Oh, and since Laurie was running late and almost did not make it, Holly Hughes, Editor of Photo District News also did the review with us. Holly wanted to talk to me more about China later. nice.

Tim Anderson, publisher/editor CameraArtsmagazine, my third choice and third review, not bad. Prologue, while waiting for some of the reviews to start, Tim came early and sat down next to me. So we spent about 20 minutes just casually talking shop before the reviews began. A very nice thing about the relatively small and casual conference, accessibility. Featured comments: Very much liked the China urban landscape photographs and commented on my consistent and distinct use of space within the photographs, much like a fingerprint, such as you almost can’t help yourself. hmmm.

As we had talked earlier about LensWork coming off the retail shelves, he then did a quick look at my LensWork #74 copy I gave him and remarked that my sense of space was evident in this series as well. When he gave me a copy of his current CameraArts magazine, I asked him to sign it. He stated that his personal signature was almost a symbol and I told him about my personal chops (stamps) that I had made in Shanghai, which he asked to see. So I pulled out my Foundations Edition Folio and showed him my red chop that I use. He then did a quick fan of the Edition images and then the take away, he requested that I send the Foundations Folio as submission to his magazine. Oh wow. Now this is not a sure thing, but means I was at first base and rounding to second. very nice.

Kevin R. Miller, Director of the Southeast Museum of Photography (Florida), my fifth choice and fourth review. In preparation, I could not find the SouthwestMuseum of Photography, but I figured, Southwest, that’s still relevant. But I had been sucked in my a typo, he was the Southeastnot Southwest. But networking is networking, it was all good for me. Now Kevin was the third person to stop on his own accord for the image with this post. hmmmm, a trend. He also noticed that I have a unique sense of space, almost Oriental. hmmmm, a second trend is occurring. But then since I had mentioned my series in LensWork from my intro, he wanted to look at those images. So after a quick look at the magazine, he thought that these were very interesting images. When I asked if he would like to look at my actual prints, he jumped at the opportunity, so we spent as much time with the Bad Trip – Sad Trip series images. Take away: he requested a few images of my China series for his reference files as well as using the copy of LensWork I had provided. He also commented that the bigger museums work on a five year planning horizon, so this was a long term relationship. Okay with me!

Tim B. Wride, independent curator, prior curator of photography for Los Angeles Museum of Art, Director of the No-Strings Foundation, and my sixth choice, fifth review. Featured comment was the first question he asked me, that was yesterdays post. And he stopped at the image with yesterday’s post as well. He thought that the image from yesterday should be the basis of my on-going project about Chinese industrialization and industrial urban landscape. That term industrial urban landscape again. And again about my use of space in my photographs reflecting my Chinese landscapes and how that seemed to carry through my series. Was this term about use of space a cliche or really evident in my work?? I will go with the later opinion, that there is something intrinsic about my use of a camera in capturing my images. My take away, to continue working on this series.

Okay, final thoughts, eh? This was a big investment in time and resources for me. I did not come into this with high expectations and would have been very satisfied in achieving the introductions, conversations and some referrals. I had expected to hear some conflicting advice about what I was doing and how I was doing it, which did not occur. And in fact there was conscensus on my use of space within the form of the picture, as well as favorable reaction to my series. No comments that the paper was on matte, the size or that it was in color.

And I did receive a referral to a publisher, request for a magazine submission, and a request for reference prints for a Museum and some really nice and thoughtful feedback. And I found out that I was not a good fit for a specific gallery and that I should continue on with this series. All great information. Beyond my expectations, so it was very nice indeed. 

Best regards, Doug

Follow up note: Planning was a good idea and I think having a reviewing strategy paid off very well, 12 images was about right, and using good quality work prints was not a stated issue, so I think that was a good decision as well.

Just a quick note that Miguel Garcia-Guzman (Exposure Compensation) and I are looking at our options for attending Connect 08, aka the Palm Springs Photo Festival, at the end of this Month. Were both thinking that we can squeeze in one day, but which? Monday is starting to look good to me at the moment.

Anyone else heading out there and want to meet up?? Let us know….

Best regards, Doug

I recently published and started distributing my first Edition Folio, Foundations, as a retrospective collection of my landscape photographs from 1975 to 1985. I want to reflect on what I have learned during the development of this Editioned Folio.

First was my intent for what I wanted to accomplish by completing the Edition Folio of prints. I have a body of natural landscape photographic work that I had completed between 1975 to 1985 that were singular images. At that time that I made these, I did not work on any specific themes or subjects per se other than my strong interest in making natural landscape images and working with the black & white photographic medium. After my interview with Brooks Jensen last November, I realized that a Folio, also called a portfolio, would be an ideal way to assemble and create a unfied body of work that would represent my photographs from this period of time.

Much like the portfolios of Adams, Caponigro and other photographers. I have not felt like this earlier body of work needed to go into print as a book, as my landscape photographs did not bring anything really new to the world. They were my collection of wonderful landscape photographs and they represented my early developmental period for me, both technically and creatively. So that was my intent, to create a collection of Singular Images from a specific period of time, which I have explained in more detail in the Folio Introduction, which you can find here.

The Folio structure essential came from the Brooks Jensen Folio design, best discribed by him here and my short take is here. I really liked the idea of the loose prints inside a soft Folio cover, rather than having the prints mounted and matted. It seemed that the loose prints would have more flexiblity for handling and use by a collector. And I did not have to worry about the binding, mounting and matting options and the whole collection would be smaller to carry, hold and store. Nice.

I did implement some changes to Brooks concept, first being the heavier and more durable archival folio cover that I purchased from Light Impressions. I was having some issues with the lighter folio cover that Brooks designed and I was concerned about the durability of this cover design over time. I spent time developing the die cut design for my own cover, but then the die cost and minimum order quantities started making the more expensive Light Impressions archival folio cover a lot more economical for the small quantities I wanted to work with, e.g. 10 to 15 at a time.

Second, I designed one page in Word as a pictorial index, which are thumbnails of the images, that I then printed on the reverse side of the Cover page. Since I wanted to keep all of the Folio contents as archival as possible, I used a double-sided 190 gm Moab Entrada, Bright White, a archival rag medium. A little more expensive ‘paper’, but it provides a very nice appearance for the image index.

The Folio is Editioned, and again, using Brooks idea on Editioning versus Limitied Edtions, which he explains here, and my short take is here. Bottom line for me in making this decision; what is possible tomorrow may be much better than what we have today. My digital prints from film that are in my folio are much, much better than what I could achieve in my earlier wet darkroom. And when I purchased my Epson 4800 printer over a couple of years ago, the matte rag medium was the best in class and the newer ‘near photographic’ F luster medium was not available yet. Thus I had dedicated my Epson printer to the matter papers, but today I would want a printer that could instantaneously switch between matte and gloss/luster, like the Canon and HP printers can. Likewise, what I can do now with Photoshop CS3 is amazing compared to the limitations of the previous Photoshop 7 and even earlier when I worked with the very first Photoshop in the 90’s. So what does the future hold? I don’t know, but if it is like anything that has developed over the last five years, it could be pretty exciting. And why not take advantage of those improvements to perhaps create even better images and more exciting prints? Thus I have chosen to go the route of Editioning.

Regarding Editioning, I have chosen a first Printing of 10 Folios and one Artist Proof to begin with. I will retain the Artist Proof (A/P) as my reference as I continue to reprint this Folio, as well as using it to show perspective buyers or reviewers. I felt that 10 was a good number to start and as I had only a few buyers on my waiting list for this Folio and I would still have a small inventory of Folios after I completed the shippments.

As to the production of the Folio, it turned out pretty much what I suspected. The only glich was the slow rate of printing the 308 gm Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. Since I was using cut sheets and when I tried to make multiple consecutive prints on the Epson 4800, the medium would mis-feed. So I had to resort to printing one sheet per command. That made the Folio printing go a lot slooooower. Grrrr. So next time, I will look at going with roll stock, which should resolve the feeding issue and reduce the cost per print.

The archive Folio covers from Light Impressions were nicely constructed and nice to hold and use. The prints are very accessible and easy to handle with this folio cover. The 12 loose prints, with tissue interweaving along with the Cover sheet, Introduction, Colophon and the Certificate of Authencity are just about right quantity for this Folio cover, with just a little room to spare. I found that I could increase the quantity of loose prints to 15 with the 308 gm PhotoRag, and perhaps up to 20 prints if I were to downsize the prints to a 190 gm PhotoRag.

Bottom line, I like this Edition Folio a lot for what I intended it for. It does the job very well and provides an excellent presentation and should be great for archival storage and handling. The cost is reasonable and the process of completing it is not overly complex and entirely within my control. And I can forsee many occasions to use this Edition Folio design in the future for the other series that I have in progress. Very nice!

Best regards, Doug