Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Anne MacDonald Interview (Part Two)


You have recently switched from production of C-type photographs to using a digital camera for shooting and printing works as fine art digital prints. Can you talk about the reason for this switch and the equipment and processes you use?

Digital photography allows for far more sophisticated technical control of the image, especially in terms of colour balance, tonality and resolution. Also, when working in the studio, you can see the recorded image on screen at the time of the shoot. That instant feedback means you can make a lot of key decisions during the shoot. It’s a very exciting and rewarding way to work.

Despite the high level of technical manipulation and control possible with digital photography, I think we still inherently believe in the photographic image as evidential and documentary, and therefore it carries with it the power of the real.

I wanted the objects in “Cherish” to be photographed with the technical perfection found in the very best advertising product photographs, even when enlarged to life size; so tangible you think you could reach out and pick them up. In the world of fantasy and imaginative play, toys and accessories take on a monumental and magical presence for the children engaging with them. I wanted the objects in “Cherish” to have some of that presence for the viewer. To achieve this I hired a commercial photographic studio, large format digital camera and professional studio lighting set up. I then worked with two really outstanding photographic technicians on the digital finishing and printing. I chose an ink-jet printing process and a Canson cotton rag paper for the beautiful quality of the prints as well as their excellent archival properties.

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