Case Study - Sean Bagshaw

Photographer: Sean Bagshaw - Ashland, Oregon

Project: Making gallery-quality prints of his adventure and landscape photographs

Camera/Film: Canon Digital dSLR; Canon Lenses

Goal: Making great prints, without the frustrations involved with printing on his own Epson Stylus PRO 7600 inkjet printer.

Synopsis:
Bagshaw used to print with his own Epson 7600.

• He liked having control over the entire printmaking process.
  
  

• He could print his images on demand, and could easily test-print new images.
  
  

• It seemed like the most cost-effective way to make prints.

As time went on, he realized a few critical problems with making his own Epson prints:

• Clogged inkjet nozzles resulted in hours of lost time, wasted paper, and considerable headaches, as he attempted to clear the nozzles so he could make the high-quality prints he needed.
  
  

• Inkjet prints on glossy and semiglossy papers can fog the glass if they are framed too soon after printing.

The solution:
Use WCI's Print Lab, and print on Fuji Crystal Archive Glossy paper.

Bagshaw maintains artistic control over his images, since he does all of the "digital darkroom" work himself. West Coast Imaging makes sure his images print flawlessly. Clogged nozzles, and banding on prints aren't his problem anymore. Fuji Crystal Archive prints do not fog glass, and inkjet prints on fine art papers and canvas are sufficiently aged, so they can be framed right away.

The Result:
"The combination of the two problems drove me crazy enough that I began having West Coast Imaging produce all my prints. They cost a bit more than doing my own printing, but the quality is amazing, and they deal with maintaining the equipment and stocking paper and ink... In the end, I think that wet printing on glossy paper gives superior results in color and contrast, and it eliminates the strange reflections [on glossy inkjet papers] created by different ink densities when viewing ink jet prints at an angle..."

Read more about Bagshaw's conversion from printing at home, to printing with West Coast Imaging, on his blog.

Visit Bagshaw's website to learn more about him, and his photography.