Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Artisan State Books

Back in the day (when I took an intro photo class with Louis Stettner at the local community college), one of "the darkroom guys" devised a way of presenting prints that involved dry mounting a double weight print unto yet another. This rather straightforward, ingenious method gave the prints a unique tactile quality that was both durable and aesthetically appealing. I was duly impressed (to this day)...

The description Artisan State provided of their book products was very reminiscent of that approach, with their stiff, sturdy pages; and for the going price ($20 for a 20p 5X7 book), I was definitely game for a certain project I had recently undertaken (and more than a tad dubious)... 

Well, I'm quite happy to report it was well worth the "investment," and came out every bit as good as better than I could have possibly hoped! The B&W printing on lustre "Fuji silver halide photographic paper" is light years beyond what I got on Blurb a coupla years back- richer, deeper tonal values with full, continuous gradations. Hell, I've seen many a commercially produced monograph by name photographers where the reproductions aren't as good.

Really, can't say enough- what I got is absolutely amazing for a mere... $21 ($1 for an extra sheet- 2p). In other words you can get quality 5X7 prints (you're gonna have to test the waters yourself with color- but if they're doing B&W right...) for a dollar a piece! Five bucks for shipping, and next time I'll spring for the handsome $5 box to store it in!

I printed one portrait on the right hand side with the subject's name centered on the white page to the left. Makes for one classy kinda presentation- and it sure is (damn!) nice not having to make excuses for the quality you can afford! Each rigid, durable page comes off as a stand alone presentation in and of itself; and I just love the portable size, portrait or landscape (bigger sizes and cover materials available). And double truck lays out flat- double nice!

Now, I wish I could show ya's the actual images, but gonna have to put that on the backburner, least for now...

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