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Archive for July, 2009

New Tim Handfield Digital Photography Seminars Announced!

Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Sojourn, Tim Handfield, 2009

Sojourn, Tim Handfield, 2009

August 29 – Understanding Digital Colour (Intermediate)

As promised, Tim Handfield’s ‘Understanding Digital Colour’ workshop is back!

Workshop Details

Date          29th August, 2009
Time         10.00 am to 4.00 pm
Location TBA
Price        $175.00 (inc GST)

‘Understanding Digital Colour’ provides visual artists with the foundation knowledge to use digital photography in an expressive way to control digital colour from conception through to the final print or multimedia presentation of their work.

The workshop aims to increase your ability to pre-visualise, control and manipulate digital colour through the use of experiential techniques to engage with colour on a sensory level.

You as an artist can then relate that knowledge back to practical digital tools to produce compelling results in print or projection.

The course is divided into 4 one-hour sessions addressing different aspects of the topic.

Topics covered:
- What is colour?
- How does the eye work?
- Working with digital colour
- The digital colour print

Comprehensive course notes will be provided.

October 31 – Creating Photoshop Masters (Intermediate)

Gain ultimate control over Photoshop’s most advanced features to produce compelling prints from your digital files. This workshop provides a step-by-step introduction to the concept of non-destructive image editing using Photoshop’s layers and transfer modes.

Details

Date          31st October, 2009
Time         10.00 am to 4.00 pm
Location  The Colour Factory
Price         $175.00 (inc GST)

Topics covered:
- Digital image evaluation and pre-visualisation
- Photoshop transfer modes and layer adjustments
- Layer masking techniques
- Putting it all together: the Photoshop Master file

Comprehensive course notes will be provided.

The overall objective of the workshop is to be able to start with a basic digital image, either scanned from film or from a digital camera, and visualise how that image may be fine tuned or altered to achieve your aesthetic aims, and then to apply those changes as a series of layers.

The result is a master file that is optimised for your chosen print process and able to be output to a variety of sizes and uses. All this is achieved without changing the original image that is always available for immediate comparison by switching on its layer visibility.

This is more than a series of techniques but rather the foundation for a sophisticated approach to digital photography that will open up new horizons for creative expression. Your ability to work with images in a completely intuitive way will feed back into the choices you make when photographing.

‘Introduction to Photoshop Masters’ will be held at the  Colour Factory, allowing prints to be produced during the day based on demonstration files, to illustrate the benefits of the techniques being taught.

Who Should Attend?
Both the above workshops are perfect for photographic artists and creative professionals. Some basic Photoshop knowledge is required to get the most from the workshops.

‘Understanding Digital Colour’ provides an excellent conceptual framework for getting the most out of ‘Introduction to Photoshop Masters’ so attendance at both is recommended but not a pre-requisite.

‘Introduction to Photoshop Masters’ will be followed by and ‘Advanced Photoshop Masters’ workshop in early 2010.

Find out more about the Colour Factory digital photography seminars or download a registration form here.

Fine Art Awards Winner Announced

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Colour Factory Award is Clare Rae.

Clare has recently completed her BFA (Honours) at RMIT. Her work will be on show at the Centre for Contemporary Photography from August 7 – September 27, 2009. We are currently working with Clare to produce her series of fine art photographs.

fine_art_awards
‘Climbing the Walls and Other Actions’ is primarily concerned with visually representing my experience of femininity, whilst also exploring aspects of representation that relate to feminism. The project considers the relationship between the body and space by including formal elements within each frame such as windows and corners. Through a sequence of precarious poses I explore my relationship with femininity, an approach born of frustration.

I use the body to promote ideas of discomfort and awkwardness, resisting the passivity inherent in traditional representations of femininity. The images attempt to de-stabilize the figure, drawing tension from the potential dangers the body faces in these positions.

Whilst the actions taking place are not in themselves particularly dangerous, the work demonstrates a gentle testing of physical boundaries and limitations via a child-like exploration of the physical environment.’

Analogue Projection Prints

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Recently at the Colour Factory we have been working on a remarkable and exciting project with artist STELARC, in conjunction with Scott Livesey Galleries.

Interestingly this project started with digital and has ended in analogue. The outcome is a mural chromogenic print of overwhelming proportions. STELARC commissioned Graham Baring to take his portrait and assist in creating the image below. Scott Livesey on behalf of STELARC, came to us with a high resolution file, which we wrote to an 8 x 10 inch negative in order to produce an analogue projection print.

Projection printing has become a unique area of expertise and still produces the highest value print in terms of archival and aesthetic quality and collectability.

artist_prints
Colour Factory Director, Phill Virgo, has 30 years experience in mural printing, including over 30,000 black and white photographic enlargements, and 120,000 plus colour photographic enlargements.

Inside the Colour Factory darkroom, several massive Durst enlargers are on tracks, moving back and forth to create the enlargement size that is projected onto the wall.

STELARC’s work, printed by Colour Factory, will be on exhibition at Scott Livesey Galleries from August 5 – August 29, 2009. The artwork is a three-part panel; the entire size is 4.2m wide x 2.7m high. It was a pleasure working with STELARC and the staff of Scott Livesey Galleries, who shared with us their knowledge and expertise in the field of fine art.

At the Colour Factory we enjoy a challenge and take pleasure in collaborating with artists and galleries to achieve their creative vision.

Photographic Exhibition: Seeing Is Not Understanding

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Ponch Hawkes

Seeing Is Not Understanding

Horsham Regional Gallery

July 4 – 24 August 2009

The Colour Factory printed the photographic images in this exhibition.

The photographs in this exhibition bring together a series of banal yet arresting moments as experienced by the photographer Ponch Hawkes. Although these photographs are all reconstructions of Hawkes’ memories, they remain firmly grounded in the documentary tradition with which she has long been identified. Hawkes’ current embrace of the more fluid characteristics of storytelling reflects broader shifts within her field.

Seeing Is Not Understanding encourages us to question assumptions about the relationships between history, seeing, knowing and documentary photography. These patterns of reinvention and renewal must not be seen as a corruption of an inherent but inaccessible truth that belongs in the past. Rather, Hawkes dramatizes the way in which we constantly restage the past and retell its stories in order to integrate then into out own lives.

Source: Dr Melissa Miles, Seeing Is not Understanding, exhibition catalogue, 2009.

Louis Porter

Australian Colour

Monash Gallery of Art

August 5 – September 13, 2009

Opening Saturday 8 August, 3pmphotographic_prints

The Colour Factory printed the photographic images in this exhibition.

These stunning and colourful photographs capture the banal yet beautiful moments occurring everyday on our familiar streets. Colour Factory worked with Louis to create the artist’s prints for what is sure to be a great photographic exhibition.

Artists’ Work on Display in Melbourne

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

The best of the best – there will be a whole range of artists’ work on show this week as the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) kicks off!

melbourne_international_film_festival
July 24 – August 9 2009

The 2009 festival will screen almost 300 films from world-class festivals, including Cannes, Sundance, Rotterdam, Berlin and Toronto Festivals. The program will feature the work of world-renowned filmmakers, and more than a couple of unknown gems, in its popular Homegrown, and Neighbourhood Watch, International Panorama, Backbeat, Animation Gallery, Next Gen and Documentaries series. MIFF also hosts the most highly regarded short film competition in the Asia Pacific – Best MIFF Shorts screens approximately 100 short films.

Tacita Dean at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA)

artist_prints
Last Days! June 6 – August 2 2009.

If you haven’t yet seen this major survey of new and recent works by celebrated British contemporary artist Tacita Dean I suggest you get down to ACCA before it closes.

Dean is fascinated with the materiality of her works; the grainy veracity of film, the emotional warmth of the projector’s yellowish lamp. Pictured, is a still from her 16mm film tilted ‘Kodak’ which documents the manufacturing of Kodak film with reverence and a hint of sadness for this almost lost technology. Running through all her work is an obsession with time, with perception, with the nature of seeing: with things that lie outside of time or on the verge of disappearance.

Thought provoking photographic images & artists works

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

This week in ‘Art – What’s On’, two exhibitions with thought provoking photographic images and artists works.

Just Can’t Get Enough
Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts

Troy-Anthony Baylis, Bindi Cole, Clinton Nain, Duncan Robinson
Curated by Ben McKeown


27 June – 2 August 2009

“The rise in popularity of contemporary Indigenous art, combined with the risk taking attitudes of many Indigenous artists, has forged a pathway that has helped shape a new popular culture in this country – one that embraces all artforms. The artists in this exhibition have been chosen for their proactive engagement with urban discourse, all celebrating identity while exploring individual interests”.

Sutton Gallery – Project Space
Linda Tegg & Sanja Pahoki

16 July 2009 – 15 August 2009

“Exhibiting together, Tegg and Pahoki present an intelligent and thought-provoking representation of issues surrounding the psyche and the physical. In Dancer, a two channel video work, Tegg mesmerizes the viewer, circling the contemplation subject and simultaneously alerting one to the importance of our position as audience. By engaging with Pahoki’s photographs, complex issues of our psychological well-being are challenged. These works provoke reaction to and reflection into ourselves in the context of our environment”.

Photographic Fine Art and Inkjet Printing Terminology

Friday, July 10th, 2009

At the Colour Factory we have found that there is often confusion surrounding the terminology used to describe photographic and inkjet fine art printing processes as brand names have become commonplace.

Currently there are many printing alternatives and an abundance of print media, often with a variation of names. It is no wonder the artists may be unsure how to correctly request a specific process or what to call their medium of choice when it comes to cataloging or exhibiting.

The Colour Factory has put together a glossary of terms associated with these types of printing to provide some clarity amongst the confusion.

Projection printing (Analogue) - a method of exposing photographic paper by means of an enlarger. “Projecting the image” onto photographic paper.

Emulsion - light sensitive material which consists of a suspension of silver halides in gelatin.

Chromogenic - film or paper contains one, or in the case of colour, three layers of silver halide emulsion. Exposing this light sensitive emulsion coated paper or film generates a latent image. The image is then created via a chemical reaction when liquid chemical is introduced to the light affected silver bearing emulsion. Often referred to as a C Type print or Silver Gelatin, the chromogenic print is unique, created specifically by the photographic process, hence it cannot be used to describe ink jet.

Continuous tone - term applied to the photographic process.

Digital capture - the use of a digital camera to replace film (Be careful of your megapixel size to ensure you capture enough information to achieve your final print size).

Digital laser exposing enlarger – a means of exposing photographic material to create a chromogenic print. Often referred to as a “Light Jet” or “Lambda”. NB these are brand names and when requesting quality digital photographic prints the light source (”Light Laser”) is what you need to be aware of.

As opposed to…

Digital LED exposing enlarger - a means of exposing photographic material to create a chromogenic print. Brands such as Pegasus and Chromira use these light sources.

Light jet - is a brand name for a digital light laser photographic enlarger

Lambda - is a brand name for a digital light laser photographic enlarger

Pegasus - is a brand name for a digital LED photographic enlarger

Chromira - is a brand name for a digital LED photographic enlarger

Ink jet - is a printing process that uses liquid inks sprayed onto paper to create images. Sometimes referred to as Giclee

Giclee - (pronounced ‘zhee-clay’) is French for ‘to spray’ and is a registered trademark. Giclee prints are produced by ink jet printers. The term, however, offers no standard for quality or print longevity.

Pigment Ink - is used in combination with ink jet printers. The newest archival ink is made from 100% pigment, and offers the best combined longevity and color gamut. Pigment inks are not affected by color enhancement papers in the way that dye inks are. However, they are not very compatible with gloss.

Dye Ink – was first used in ink jet printing. They have a good range and accuracy of colour, however are less fade resistant than pigment ink.

RGB – The way that the colours are recorded in Digital imaging. A large percentage of the visible spectrum can be represented by mixing Red, Green and Blue coloured light in various proportions and intensities. All Digital cameras & scanners are RGB devices.

CMYK - A colour system based on the four colours used in printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and BlacK. CMYK is primarily used when preparing digital images that will be printed using the process colours by a printer or publisher on a four colour printing press.

Profiles - A mathematical formula made by taking readings of up to a thousand colour swatches generated by a computer. Readings of all squares are measured by means of a spectrophotometer and are returned to the computer which then compares the information. A mathematical correction formula is made and applied to print files to ensure a more correct result is achieved

Colour Space – A colour space is a means of uniquely specifying a colour. There are a number of colour spaces in common usage depending on the particular industry and/or application involved. Computers use RGB, the printing industry may use CMYK. Color spaces, along with device profiling, allow reproducible representations of color, in both analogue and digital representations

Fitting the Photographic Mould

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

This week in ‘Art – What’s On’ the following exciting photographic exhibitions are being launched in Melbourne.

The Family Mould

Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn

Ilona Nelson

artists_work

8 July- 2 August 2009

“The Family Mould continues photographer Ilona Nelson’s current exploration of self identity. Prompted by the birth of her first child, Nelson uses her artistic practice to focus on her family history, demonstrating that the deeply personal is in many cases the universal. Her selectively hand coloured photographs reinterpret images from her family album by re-photographing them in a contemporary context”.

Unfixing the Feminine
SHIFTED- Richmond
Meg Andrew, Justine Barlow, Kotoe Ishii & Jade Venus

photographic_images
8 to 25 July, 2009

Unfixing The Feminine presents four Melbourne-based female artists exploring concepts of the female body through their own image. Throughout history, the female body has been conflated with multiple and often conflicting meanings – from sexuality and desire, to innocence and reproduction, and even, other and difference. However, these four artists reverse, change, overlap and confuse this tradition of female representation.

Photographic exhibition opening in Melbourne tomorrow – Representation/Presentation

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Presentation/Representation: Photography from Germany

Monash Gallery of Art

Various Artists

Karin Geiger - Leipzig (Heiterblick) 2005

Opening: 3.00pm Saturday 4 July 2009
Exhibition runs from 2 July – 30 August, 2009

Presentation/representation: photography from Germany brings to Melbourne the work of ten of Germany’s best contemporary fine art photographers. Curated by Thomas Weski (also curator of the survey of Thomas Gursky recently seen at the National Gallery of Victoria), Presentation/representation covers the artists work of the generation of German photographers that has followed the now-legendary Kunstakademie Düsseldorf generation of Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth and Candida Höfer. The exhibition shows that, in the wake of the highly formal serialism of the Düsseldorf generation, new German photography is defined by the diversity of its style and interests.

c3 Contemporary Art

Last week C3 celebrated its 1st anniversary at the Abbotsford Convent with a great exhibition including photographic images by Greg Spiller, printed by the Colour Factory. Photographic fine art printing is just one of the Colour Factory’s many services.

Even the Abyss has a Silver Lining
C3 – Space B
Greg Spiller

Greg Spiller’s large-scale, submersive photographic images are visually sophisticated and deeply emotional. This exhibition continues his investigation towards subtle perfection within abstraction and narrative based installations.