I was aware of the ever improving quality of ink jet printers. Friends kept showing me prints of photographic quality made from their printers. The largest problem was that the prints faded in a few years.

All of this changed when Epson came out with pigmented inks. The previous inks were made from vegetable dies which are known to fade with time. Epson’s pigmented inks are mineral based instead of vegetable based. As an example, the sun shines on rocks for ages and the rocks maintain their colors without fading. Likewise the pigmented inks which are made from finely ground stone have excellent longevity properties. The latest accelerated life test by Henry Wilhelm (www.wilhelm-research.com) has shown images printed on Epson premium semi-gloss paper (my personal favorite) and using Epson’s pigmented inks when properly mounted and under glass will not show any fading for at least 77 years. Better yet, with proper color controls, Epson’s process produces brilliant well saturated prints that I actually prefer over the Cibachrome® prints I used to produce.

There was another benefit to the digital ink jet process. With Adobe’s photoshop® I can do the same things that I did in the darkroom: enhancing contrast, balancing colors, burning, dodging, etc. Only now I only have to do the process one time and then save it. This way I can produce a print of my image that beautifully matches what I saw in nature, and then exactly reproduce that print. This allows me to give you, the customer, a print that matches your expectations.

All of my images are taken using chrome film and then digitized. I use Fugi’s provia® and Fugi’s velvia® chrome films which give a rich, well saturated gamut of colors. The transparencies are then digitized using a Nikon LS-8000 scanner which produces a file with 4000 dpi resolution and a true 16 bit depth for each primary color. This file then is manipulated using photoshop® only to the extent that is needed to accurately reproduce what I saw through the viewfinder. These manipulations, as mentioned above, reproduce what has traditionally been done in the darkroom only easier and better. No further manipulation of the image is made.

All of my prints are produced on an Epson 2200® printer using only Epson products. While I prefer to use Epson’s premium semi-gloss© paper as that gives the most pleasing print to me, other Epson papers are available and prints can be ordered using these papers. All of my prints are made using only Epson’s pigmented inks. Through this process, I feel confident that I can produce a print that will be enjoyed for many, many years.