Digital Prints

Introduction
I remember very clearly how it happened.
I had just entered the art gallery on South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach on an extended trip to
Florida. The local newspaper had promised new photographic work by artist John Paul Caponigro, son of
famous landscape photographer Paul Caponigro. John Paul's digital composites of landscape elements and
images of floating rocks were fascinating, but it was the style of the limited-edition prints that really caught
my eye. They were rich and velvety, not like the cold and hard photographic prints I was used to. There was
something special about these prints, although I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
When I found myself standing next to the artist, I asked him how he produced them, and he explained that
they were digital prints or "giclées." I only followed about half of what he was saying, but the memory of
those vivid and luscious prints stayed with me. Soon, I started seeing more of digital printing. I went to
outdoor art festivals, and there were artists and photographers selling their digital prints. I went to galleries,
and there they were again. Ads in magazines mentioned them; the art websites had them. The signs were
clear enough: I had to find out more about digital printing.
In addition to photographing South Florida's beaches—one of my favorite subjects—that winter, I started
my research. During a trip to the West Coast, I got in some more exploring. In Los Angeles, I visited photo
galleries and saw wonderful inkjet panoramas by German filmmaker Wim Wenders and gorgeous flower
blowups by Harold Feinstein. I also visited the print studio of Jack Duganne, who first used the term giclée
in this context (see Chapter 1 for more details). In Seattle and Vancouver I saw even more examples. The
range of subjects and artistic techniques was all over the board, but the common thread was the digital
imaging and printing process. I was hooked.
Now back in Virginia, where I normally live, I got busy. I had a group of my best 35mm transparencies
scanned (this was before I bought my first digital camera) and started printing my images with different
printmakers around the U.S. I also bought a desktop inkjet printer and started doing my own prints.
I now regularly produce a wide range of digital prints that I've sold, exhibited, and just printed for the heck
of it. In general, I've absorbed digital printing into my creative life.
Through my interest in learning about and printing my own imagery in this digital way, I discovered that I
was not alone. There are literally tens of thousands of photographers, artists, and printmakers who are
looking for the answers to the same questions I had. They want to know how to create and produce their
images and their art by using the new digital technologies that are changing our lives. If you're one of those
people, you've come to the right place!
—Harald Johnson