Case Study - Scot Miller

Photographer: Scot Miller - Dallas, Texas

Project: Scans for the illustrated edition of Henry David Thoreau's "Cape Cod"

Camera/Film: Bronica GS-1 6x7 with a wide variety of lenses from 50mm to 500mm. Also a Fuji 617 fixed-lens panorama camera. Fuji Velvia 100, Velvia 50 and Provia 100F are my films of choice.

Goal: Miller wanted to produce the highest quality reproductions from his original images. He also wanted to use a "scan once, many purposes" workflow, so he could use the scans for gallery exhibitions in support of the book.

Solution:
High resolution Tango Drum Scans by West Coast Imaging's scanning experts. Miller then used the scans to create files for his book, and his fine art exhibition.

In Miller's Words:
"I’ve been working with WCI for many years now because, in my opinion, they are simply the best at what they do. They have always given me consistently excellent quality, at reasonable prices with superb customer service.

I experimented with doing my own scanning several years ago but quickly came to the conclusion that it took a lot of time, my results were inconsistent and it frustrated the heck out of me! For me, WCI is the only way to go and they have been doing my scans exclusively for over ten years now.

My experience has been that Jeff Grandy will capture every ounce of detail in a given image, (which) gives me the greatest flexibility as an artist when it comes to preparing images for printing. I have made display prints as large as six feet by seven feet from my 6x7cm transparencies, with great result. Without scans of the absolute best quality, this would not be possible.

For my fine art prints, I use the "scan once, many purposes" workflow taught to me years ago by WCI’s Rich Seiling. I usually work with an approximately 10” x 12” 360 ppi work file for proofing and this size also works for most editorial uses without the need to create a larger file. Once an image has gone through the proofing stage and I’m ready to make a larger print, I create a flattened, unsharpened master file at the maximum size. I can then make exhibition prints at whatever size I choose.

When I think of WCI, I think of: Great people. Honest. Dependable. Superb quality in all aspects of their business. I also like the fact that many of the practitioners at WCI are talented artists in their own right, so they understand the more “esoteric” aspects of photography in addition to the purely technical aspects.

From day one, I’ve been appreciative of the willingness of everyone at WCI to share knowledge and information. A recent example is when I was preparing the CMYK files for “Cape Cod: Illustrated Edition of the American Classic,” both Rich Seiling and Terrance Reimer offered insight into their experiences creating the best possible print files and I have no doubt that many of the photographs in the book look a little better because of tips they gave me.

Both the Walden and Cape Cod books were published in collaboration with the Walden Woods Project, a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect land of ecological and historic significance surrounding Walden Pond, the famous retreat of author/philosopher Henry David Thoreau, and to support the Thoreau Institute and its educational initiatives related to the study of the environment and the humanities. For each copy of sold, Houghton Mifflin and Scot Miller are making a donation to the Walden Woods Project."

Other projects Miller has trusted WCI to be a part of:

“Thoreau’s Walden: A Journey in Photographs by Scot Miller” - a traveling exhibition created in collaboration with the Harvard Museum of Natural History that is currently on a national museum tour through 2011 (next stop: North Carolina Arboretum from October 8, 2008 to January 11, 2009). All scans for this exhibition were done by WCI.

Images prepared from WCI scans have also been used in many more places, such as the National Park Service’s Yosemite Valley Plan, Yosemite Fund annual reports and in America West Magazine, Cape Cod Life Magazine, D Magazine, National Wildlife, Steinway & Sons Magazine, Yosemite Magazine, Weekly Reader and other publications. Miller has also incorporated stills created from WCI scan files into numerous video documentaries in support of his books and environmental causes.

To learn more about Scot and his photography, visit his website.