Outside The Box

My first collection of digitally manipulated photographs. The interest in manipulating photographs goes back to student days in 1969 to 1970. My interest in using computers goes back to primitive graphics created in 1974 to 1976. The practical combining of these two interests lay dormant until 1992, when I attended the Kodak Center of Creative Imaging in Camden, Maine. An intense week that reset my life and photographic directions. There were still a few roadblocks, the principal being the lack of a reasonably priced printing device and some archival component to the ink. Both of these disappeared in 1998 with the release of Lyson inks for the Epson 3000 wide format printer. This was the beginning of the practical side of the digital imaging revolution. I purchased my printer in 1998 and was then faced with the question, "What do I create?" I eventually decided to produce prints that emulated, or echoed the look of traditional printmaking techniques. Almost all the manipulation took place in Photoshop, where I created multi layered documents, 40 to 70 different layers, each contributing to the final look of the print. These layers were all based on digital content extracted from the original image. I had a good success submitting prints to juried group shows, particularly those calling for all media; conversely, a very low level of acceptance in Photography calls to exhibit. "Outside the Box" is a symbolic title; referring to being outside of traditional art creation, outside of accepted photographic creation, outside the confines and strictures of traditional darkroom technique, and finally outside of the circle of art that still places a premium on hand craft as opposed to image content. Color, 42 images, 54 pages.