Archival Fine Prints

Fine Prints of any image in our photo galleries may be ordered.

Although known primarily for our published photography and writing, for over 40 years we have also been making Fine Prints that reflect the uniqueness and beauty of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Printed on high-end printers with archival wide-gamut pigmented inks and our own custom profiles, these prints have detail, tonality, color accuracy, and improved gamut beyond anything previously available to us.

Our prints decorate homes, libraries, hospitals, schools, universities, businesses. They also hang in the U.S. Senate and in permanent collections of the U.S. Embassy in Bujumbura, Burundi and the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal.

Each print is created individually — one at a time, by us in our own “digital darkroom.” In this sense, each print is an original.

We strive to faithfully and accurately represent what we saw and experienced when the original photograph was made. No special effects, trick filters, or other unfaithful alterations have been used, in either the original photograph or the digital post processing.

Quality

These are archival quality prints using fade-resistant wide-gamut pigmented inks and matched archival quality papers. Their life expectancy (before noticeable fading) is 80-100 years or more when mounted under glass, in average indoor lighting. This is better than the best widely available conventional photographic print life by 20-40 or more years. (Prolonged direct sunlight and atmospheric pollution accelerates the aging of all art prints, including oil and watercolor.)

Our current papers have semi-matte and luster surfaces, which give the color depth of a glossy high-end paper without the objectionable glare.

Ethics

We believe in walking our talk. Or, in Gandhi's words: "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." To that end, our prints are created in a Zero Discharge process. That means no persistent toxic substances are used, created, or discharged from our studio. In fact, except for a very small amount of paper scraps and ink residue in spent cartridges, there is very little waste of any kind from our digital darkroom. (We shut down our conventional darkroom years ago due to its polluting nature.)

Unique, Open Edition, Signed Prints

These are Open Edition, signed (in the white margin or on the digital mat), original prints. The artifice and questionable value of limited editions, with their inflated prices, doesn't interest us. But our prints are limited by virtue of the fact that each one is created slowly and carefully by us.

From scanning on our own drum scanner, correcting and improving digital files, creating our own custom profiles (for scanner, camera, monitor and printer/ink/paper), to making the actual print, every esthetic decision and every procedure is done by us in our own studio. No service bureaus, contract printers, or other "outside" talent is used.

Because of this careful and time-consuming process, our prints are not produced in large numbers. One of our prints represents a piece of us, as well as all of the adventures and learning that went into that image.

Information about your Print

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are happy to discuss possibilities and needs with you. Also, if you have questions about a print (where and how it was taken, any stories or adventures connected with it), feel free to contact us — before or after purchase.

To Preserve Your Print's Archival Quality

(These recommendations apply to all art prints in any medium.)

1) Handle only with clean cotton gloves.
2) Store/display in moderate temperature and humidity.
3) Use archival/acid-free products for mounting, matting, and framing.
4) Display under glass, and avoid direct sunlight.

Custom Digital Matting

Our fine prints can be ordered with custom digital mats — digitally created double mats printed directly on the paper along with the original image. These highly detailed, visually textured mats are amazingly realistic and make possible a far superior color-coordination with the image. Once mounted and framed, they are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing — an improvement from warped, bowed, and separated mats. We use custom digital mats when we exhibit our prints. .

By printing the mat on the paper with the image:

the financial cost of matting a print is drastically reduced
the ecological costs of making and shipping conventional mat board is eliminated
all archival and handling risks of conventional matting are completely eliminated.

Each mat is titled and signed.

With each custom digitally matted print, at no extra charge we provide 4 EconoSpace strips (with instructions) to hold the print away from the glass when framing the photo.

Scroll down to view samples of digital mats and color choices. For more examples of digitally matted photos, see Great Lakes Exhibit.

Prices

Although the finest materials, equipment, and techniques are used to create our prints, we want them to be affordable to anyone looking for top end Fine Prints. We have been able to price them below comparable quality Open Edition prints, but above casual quality, short-lived prints.

Purchase

Archival Fine Prints
without Mat

White space surrounds the image, with the title and signature in white space below the image. Prices:

12x17 Outer Dimension
10x15 Image Size
Price = $84.00

18x24 Outer Dimension
15x22 Image Size
Price = $160.00

24x32-36 Outer Dimension
20x27-32 Image Size
(Longer dimension depends on amount of image cropped.)
Price = $260.00

Archival Fine Prints
with Digital Mat

Title and signature are displayed on the mat below the image. Included are 4 Econospace strips to hold the print away from the glass when framing the photo. Prices:

11x14 Mat Outer Dimensions
Price = $69.00

18x24 Mat Outer Dimensions
Price = $184.00

24x32 Mat Outer Dimensions
Price = $299.00

Corner Mat Samples to Show more Detail:

Digital Mat Color Choices

We offer 3 choices in color for custom digital mats:

Darker Near-Neutral
Lighter Near-Neutral
"Mahans' Discretion"

If you choose a darker or lighter near-neutral mat, we may adjust the tone slightly to better match colors in the image, but always tending toward neutral tones. If you wish to leave it up to our discretion, we will choose mat colors that, in our opinion, best feature the image.