Printing

Last tuesday, in lab class, we finally started printing. We had been printing proofs using the Phaser printer, but the inkjet system finally became operational last week. The lab for first year students is outfitted with a (very very nice) Epson Stylus Pro 4800. Teacher had told us the week before that if we wanted to print this week, to buy our paper and bring it to class asap. When I went to the store, they were out of said paper. So I resigned getting it then and went to class paperless.

I was just working on my pictures, turning them to black and white, arranging my weekly contact sheet when I noticed that three pictures I had taken would work perfectly as a triptych. I arranged them and asked the teacher for his opinion. I wasn't certain of the validity of printing that. He asked me what I thought and I confessed that since school started I felt like I didn't know anything anymore. He told me that yes, there is validity in doing that and that I HAD to print it. That questions always come and that we can get carried away by them, but the idea is to keep shooting.

Because of the fact that most students could not get their box of photo paper on time (Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl 11x17), the department gave a couple of pro 13x19 sheets to the class for printing. The idea is that the sheets would have two pictures printed on them, so we could maximise the ressources. My triptych needed a whole sheet to work. So when I said to my teacher that I would wait to print it because I would be using a whole sheet, he told me to do it anyways.

So I printed it and it was an amazing feeling. To actually have something come out, something that I worked on. Something that I shot, processed, arranged and then printed.

I came out of lab class with a glow (and a triptych printed on 13x19 pro photo paper).

(See the triptych here.)