There are those projects that don’t come around too often but when they do, the stoke meter is high. In the past, I have had many companies commission me to license images from my travels that included Vietnam, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Canada and sometimes even creating original work. These projects include the work to be printed on a large scale, on various surfaces, and typically installed in a downtown building lobby, boardrooms, and even integrating the imagery into a clever design for aesthetic and function. This time, I was asked to create an original piece for a client where they wanted elements of both abstract, trees and nature. The client had seen my work in another space but wanted something completely different as to not replicate something that had already been produced.
Once all the details were hashed out and after a site visit, we decided on a size of 60”x90” (5’x7’) that would best to suit the space. Because of the size we would be printing, I decided to use a medium format digital camera (Phase IQ3 100mp) from my friends at Glean Productions, that way we had the dynamic range and file size so we knew this piece would print effortlessly compared to a DSLR sensor size.
The day we created the work was spent traveling through southern Alberta with my assistant Trevor LaLonde, shooting in several locations with a variety of trees and vegetation just so we had options. We started at 5am to catch morning light and shot for 13 hours to take advantage of the changing light throughout the summer's day.
When it came to delivering photographs to the client, sometimes I choose the final piece and other times the client likes to make the decision. For this piece, the client requested they chose and I delivered just over 50 selected photographs and from that group, I gave them my top five recommendations. It turns out the client did a team-building exercise with the selection process where employees voted on their favourite and even tried to guess on the price with the winner closest, taking home a nice bottle of wine. I really liked that they did that as everyone has their own opinion on what Art is and should be. This way, everyone had a chance to vote and from what I heard, the vote was unanimous.
The work was printed on dibond metal with a clear coat finish to protect it from the elements at the only place I trust, Resolve Photo. The goal now is to do more of this type of work as it’s a nice change of pace, the process is very different from the other work I do and I like the challenge of how many different ways you can photograph and capture something (this time it was trees). Also, let's be honest, who doesn't enjoy looking at artwork when it’s printed really really big?
I hope you enjoy the photos and behind the scenes (BTS) look at what went into the creation of this piece.
