Why I Offer Limited Edition Prints
The endgame for any great image should be a print.
I’ve recently rebooted my website and I wanted to offer something special to those interested in my fine art photography prints. I thought there would be no better way than to offer custom prints that are signed, limited, and authenticated by a recognized brand.
Why Print At All?
I can speak to this question as a photographer who used to do his own black and white prints back when such an activity was the only option to see one’s prints beyond a film negative. But more interestingly, the reason for me to offer my work as prints in the Digital Age is that you shouldn’t have to rely on powering on a device, like a smartphone, laptop or desktop, or a tablet, and then perhaps connecting to the Internet, and maybe even having to access a file storage service or a social media page — just to see and appreciate art.
That’s just ridiculous, isn’t it?
What can we say about a society that relies on many different layers of technology simply to access art? Unfortunately, life in the Digital Age is about convenience and sheer laziness. We’ve normalized listening to music digitally. Just about any art form, really, has been rendered to an image file, a sound file, or a video file. Again, devices and multiple third parties may be necessary to experience art in all its guises. In effect, as a society, we’ve cashed out of the physical world of experience in exchange for an endless parade of zeros and ones.
But who am I to criticize “progress”?
While I too enjoy the convenience and all the benefits of a digitally-rich life, and shamelessly so, I recognize the limitations. We need to experience art in the real world too. We need to hold objects in our hands, whenever possible. We need to hold them up into the light to scrutinize details, to fall in love with colors, textures, and light. We need to print our images so that we can continue to legitimize the word photograph.
Limited Editions Are Special
“Emergence” out of the printer and on the table before I sign and authenticate it.
I offer limited edition prints because I want to create something that’s special and rare. The above picture was the First Edition print of Emergence that I had shipped to a client. It’s a limited edition run of ten 16 x 20 inch prints, meaning I’ll only print nine more of these. Then no more of these will ever be printed for sale.
In the fine art world, such a concept is traditionally recognized and understood. But even for myself, I find it a new thrill because I’ve never been a part of that world; I’ve never considered, even as a photographer who’s actively been shooting for several years, that I should hunker down and figure out what I’m going to do about printing.
It’s not good enough, in my book at least, to leave printing to any of the print-on-demand companies out there, who just take my digital file, print it some lab I’ll never visit nor see, and then ship it robotically to my client without it ever passing through my hands to see whether or not it’s worthy of delivery. Even an unlimited open edition print doesn’t deserve such an unspecial fate.
Authentication Is Necessary
A Hahnemühle certificate of authentication for “Emergence”.
Authentication is necessary for limited edition prints, in my opinion. Apart from the artist’s word, registering a limited edition print with a recognized brand like Hahnemühle adds another layer of assurance that a limited edition series remains limited.
Every limited edition print that I sell will be signed and authenticated by Hahnemühle. This means that anyone can go to the appropriate website to verify the details. If you’re a collector, this piece of paper with a hologram is a necessary feature in the limited edition world.
Here’s how it works, in case you missed this on my Prints page.
I Don’t Choose My Audience, Only My Clients
In terms of my business of fine art photography, I’ve chosen my clientele. My print buyers, first and foremost, hold quality as sacred. All of my prints, regardless of whether they’re limited editions or open editions, are printed on archival paper. My images go to a print lab that I’ve personally visited and have a relationship with. My prints guy guides me when I need answers and makes sure that anything I print is on the right kind of paper. Sometimes, it’s the subject that determines the kind of paper to use. Such are the tidbits of wisdom that are passed down from master craftsmen.
If you’re interested in any of my work, please contact me for a chat. If you’re interested in any of my listings, I’ll answer your queries. Also, if there’s an image that I don’t have listed in Prints, I’ll walk you through the process of either establishing a limited edition series that you set the parameters for or I could possibly create an open edition run tailored to the paper and dimensions you prefer.
