driving south through rural pennsylvania you quickly cross over the maryland border and at some point there is a small blue roadside sign that simply says Mason/Dixon line. there’s a bit of historical significance to that sign and i assume it is there to serve as a reference to those interested in the history of the civil war. but i always humorously think of it as, “you’re in the south now, boy!”
the end of my journey brought me to the small town of frederick, md where a small group of photographers specializing in fine art figure work gathered to share portfolios, swap prints, and share techniques. and its funny how certain things happen at certain times and you really feel your connection to this group growing deeper. as i was looking through the various prints and portfolios left out on the table, two struck my eye immediately. they were not tradition inkjet or silver prints. one was printed on foil and another was printed on… well, i wasn’t sure what it was.
one of the photographers i’ve met before named linda carlson claimed ownership of the prints. i asked her how she’d made these and when she started to say, “well, there’s a product called inkAid…” i had to cut her off. during my recent trip to photo plus expo in new york city, i’d spent a bit of time at the inkAid booth talking to them about their products. it is a liquid emulsion that you can brush onto almost any type of paper or substrate and when its dry, you can feed it through your inkjet printer and get really wonderful results. you can find the most delicate japanese papers and when you print the right images on it, its just magical.
when i engaged linda and another woman named carol who was also working with inkAid, the conversation just came alive. i was throwing out problems that i had with making the prints and getting the papers through the printer. and they were right there with solutions and they so eager to share them!
so now i’m armed with so much of the right information to accomplish a vision i’ve got for the show i plan to do in january! all the prints for this show will be printed on a wonderful japanese okawara paper. and as the warm tones of the pennsylvania fall fade to a winter grey, i see a lot of long nights huddled around the printer watching love and warmth spill out the front of the paper feed.
So Many Stars 