“The greatest gift of photography is returning this new object to the world as a new possibility. A new hope or a completion of a cycle. Returning the image to the world from which it came. ”
– Dr. Les Walkling
It’s been a long time since I’ve written about the importance of the print and while I offer an amazing range of products, the print will always be my first love. When I first began my journey into printing in house, a colleague of mine pointed me in the direction of Dr. Les Walking, affectionately known as the Colour Doctor.
Dr. Walkling is an artist, educator and consultant. His works are in many public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and The National Gallery of Victoria. He also works as an imaging, printing and colour management consultant, lecturer, and mentor, regularly conducting digital photography courses and studio workshops, and presenting his research at industry conferences, seminars and festivals. He is the source of knowledge for me, the creator of my colour profiles and to be honest, I’ve actually done 90% of his workshops just to hear him speak about the world within a photograph. He changed the way I looked at a landscape by painting such beautiful pictures with his words. This had a roll-on effect to how I viewed my own portrait work too. These days, I’m just starting to find the words to describe my learning.
It’s not a portrait until it’s a print.
There’s something magical about watching a photograph emerge from the printer. Holding a print in your hands makes the subject come to life – it takes an idea and births a tangible object that becomes something external to us the can inhabit time and space. Holding it allows you to step back into the memory of it. There’s detail and colour in a print that you will never notice on a screen. It’s such a shame that so much of our attention is given to something so lacklustre. To me, a great portrait is something that almost dares you to walk by it in indifference as it hangs on your wall. It doesn’t have to be grandiose thing, but it needs to be genuine, meaningful thing.
This past week has seen me printing every day – I’ve been delightfully floating on a sea of ink. It’s reminded me of the simple belief I’ve always had in the power of printing – something I’ve pushed to the side during the past couple of years of trying to get by in business – and I’m very grateful for it.
If you’ve been to my studio, you will have no doubt seen this portrait of my daughter as you enter. She was 6 and I still remember placing all those flowers in her hair. I remember obsessing over the tilt of her little head and the expression in her eyes; getting her to relax her mouth and let go of tension. It was magical. Whenever I look at it, I see the truth in who she is and I never tire of look on people’s faces when they see it for the first time.
I don’t get the same feelings or memories when I look at it here on my monitor or scrolling back through my phone. Maybe it’s just me and this is all just food for thought.
