Why not SmugMug (or other online sites for printing) for me?

First off, I know that there are a lot of photographers who love SmugMug, it allows them to remove themselves from worrying about printing and shipping needs.  BayPhoto, the lab they use for printing, also has a good reputation for quality.  This blog is more about ME and MY ART not an attack on anyone else.  For ME, this is the right path as it lets me tell my stories through prints that I want to tell.

I started off working in a darkroom.  I plan on shooting some b/w film while at the Badlands National Park during my residency.  It is a process from beginning to end with film as I do it all myself.  I load up the cartridges from a bulk loader. I shoot the film.  I process the film to give me negatives.  I develop the final prints in a wet darkroom and I do all the finish work after that, including the selenium toning to help preserve the pictures making them an archival quality print.  I get to know my images intimately during this process, they are mine entirely, including how that final product looks.

Piece of canvas coming out of my printer.

I think a lot of that is lost in this modern age.  I used to use a lab for my digital portrait work.  I sent some images to a professional lab, one with a national reputation.  I paid to have them to do the final color correction and one print I got back from a shoot was yellow, really yellow.  I called them  up, they said they would reprint it and it came back just as yellow.  Supposedly their computer did everything it could to correct the color and it made it yellow.  I told them to print it again without correction and it came back almost perfect. It really made it clear how little the human element is a part of the printing process, another large change from the past.  Printmakers would do everything by hand and visually inspect the print along the way.

Texturing a canvas print, image from a video.

Personally, I like the hands on process. I like having the control of every step of the process to the final output. Yes, this takes more of my time, but then again, I can't get a textured print from a lab, I need to do it myself.  With my limited edition textured canvas prints I couldn't list them on SmugMug as the print would need to come to me to texture by hand, like above. There are a few labs that do the aluminum and acrylic prints, but again, I don't seem to get what I want unless I greatly raise my prices.  My finished pieces, right now, don't cost a lot more than the print from the places I know would do the 16bit quality I insist on using. To find a place that does the wood veneer, copper, brass, leather, etc. I might have to go over seas, if I can even find them.  These are rare processes, but I use them as they help me tell my stories.

Rolling on UV coating, image from video

So, for me, to get the quality I want for my pieces, to use the materials I want and to reduce prices I do the work all myself.  I know right away during the process if something has gone wrong so I need to start again. I can add a UV protective coating to all my prints.  I know perfection doesn't exist, but I can evaluate everything as I work to decide if a flaw or mistake is acceptable or not.  Everything is created by me, it truly is MY ART.