The Father of Digital Image Printing
- Thread starter bgerber
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A shame that he went from being a decent photographer to someone that simply "plays" with digital imaging. Many of his earlier photographs were quite good. Now it seems that he simply "plays" with a computer and prints digital images. Unfortunately I find a lot of it uninspiring and rather shallow. I personally would have been a little more critical as publishing a lot of mediocre work devalues the cream-of-the-crop as it were.
You can see a lot more at : http://www.grahamnash.com/
Regarding the use of the term " fine art printing", remember that this article is about digital imaging and shouldn't be construed with photography. Perhaps the term " fine art of digital printing" would be appropriate. Also I wish it had waxed more on the technical details of printing high quality digital prints however I doubt those involved were really capable of addressing the technical details of digital imaging in any meaningful way. It is commonly understood that there are numerous serious short-comings in digital printing which have yet to be overcome even by 6 figure printers. This all makes me wonder (and hope) if Nash still prints real photographs ?
You can see a lot more at : http://www.grahamnash.com/
Regarding the use of the term " fine art printing", remember that this article is about digital imaging and shouldn't be construed with photography. Perhaps the term " fine art of digital printing" would be appropriate. Also I wish it had waxed more on the technical details of printing high quality digital prints however I doubt those involved were really capable of addressing the technical details of digital imaging in any meaningful way. It is commonly understood that there are numerous serious short-comings in digital printing which have yet to be overcome even by 6 figure printers. This all makes me wonder (and hope) if Nash still prints real photographs ?
Graham Nash and his partner were definitely early adapters of digital Inkjet.
Their work has allowed the "fine art market" to accept a digital print as a piece of fine art. They have run a successful studio, one that has produced some beautiful work over the years.
Nash Editions is important, however I would like to respectfully point out that they were not the first commercial digital printing venture... that was Bowers Imaging Technologies (BIT). BIT began selling their digital graphic output in 1987. One job that comes to mind was giant digital murals for the Smithsonian Institute used for a traveling show on the Amazon rain forest.
I am happy to provide you with Harry's informal, abbreviated biography.
First it is important that you understand Harry is both an artist and an engineer... not simply one or the other.
His education credit include:
1974 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
M.F.A., specializing in photography
1965 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Graduate work in Nuclear Engineering
1964 University of California, Berkeley, CA
B.S. in Engineering Physics
Harry received two "National Endowment for the Arts Photographer's Fellowship" one in 1978 ($7,000.00) and the other in 1980 ($10,000.00) for his photography work while simultaneously functioning as the chairman of the renowned SF Art Institute "photography department". Harry has also had the honor to received a National Science Foundation Fellowship (1965). This rare combination has allowed him to do and create what he did.
Harry photography has been acquired by some of the most prestigious museums and collections in the US. (Graham Nash himself owns one of Harry's photographs from this period.)
Harry remains a well-respected artist who modified his art career to work on what he called a "good idea".
Harry has always been interested in large formats. From 1977-1980 his color photography, at that time represented by Hansen Fuller Goldeen gallery in SF, became increasingly larger.
To accommodate this vision, Harry fabricated and built all the equipment for his outsized work; from the camera, which shot 11x 14 negatives, to the corresponding enlarger needed to create the oversized prints, to the customized printing and developing, generating a series of 30x40 and 40 x 50 color photographs.
It was an expensive and laborious process, leading him toward the idea of using a computer to make an image. With a degree from UC Berkeley in engineering, Harry had already years of work experience on computers and writing programs.
In early 1984, prior to their commercial release, Steve Jobs gave Harry a Mac computer. Harry did all his early experiments with this machine.
Utilizing this early digital format, he understood that could finally realize his dreams of a still larger format. He also immediately understood the commercial potential for translating this format into billboards.
Commercially, Harry made the first digital print in 1983 on a Versatec (electrostatic machine), and wrote the code for producing the print. On the basis of this first color digital print, investors placed half a million dollars in seed money in his new company.
Harry began with the (electrostatic) Versactec machine, because they were quick and reliable. They printed vector data in CMYK. It was an easy leap for him to imagine breaking up the vector information into x, y points to use this machine to print color pictures. During his first meeting with executives at Versatec, he was introduced as the "Lunatic fringe from Berkeley," as he explained what he wanted to do with their machines.
This industry has evolved into a 20 billion dollar a year industry. Much of this revenue is derived from commercial businesses using systems and models built on or from, the initial prototypes and algorithms that Harry created.
Technology has marched on. Electrostatic technology and Iris Inkjet are both dead; replaced by the friendlier Epson, HP, Canon large formats. Making a good print is not has hard as it once was as in the early days.
But in the early days it took a lot of skill, and a creative view to make anything happen. At the time Nash started his business we were aware for his work. It was never perceived it as competition, because what Nash was doing was so specialized and focused on a tiny niche market. During that same time frame, Harry was taking on the large commercial printing companies and traditional photo labs.
Harry remains a very private person, who has not held his hand up for attention. He is not a household name, yet the true details of his little known, ground breaking story is truly incredible -- his transformation from artist, to inventor, conceiving a new technique that has become a process that is now taken for granted. He originated this industry and should be recognized for it.
I am hoping you find this story as interesting, for more information or to see some of Harry photography, please visit Harry's website at http://www.harrybowers.com
Thank you
Their work has allowed the "fine art market" to accept a digital print as a piece of fine art. They have run a successful studio, one that has produced some beautiful work over the years.
Nash Editions is important, however I would like to respectfully point out that they were not the first commercial digital printing venture... that was Bowers Imaging Technologies (BIT). BIT began selling their digital graphic output in 1987. One job that comes to mind was giant digital murals for the Smithsonian Institute used for a traveling show on the Amazon rain forest.
I am happy to provide you with Harry's informal, abbreviated biography.
First it is important that you understand Harry is both an artist and an engineer... not simply one or the other.
His education credit include:
1974 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
M.F.A., specializing in photography
1965 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Graduate work in Nuclear Engineering
1964 University of California, Berkeley, CA
B.S. in Engineering Physics
Harry received two "National Endowment for the Arts Photographer's Fellowship" one in 1978 ($7,000.00) and the other in 1980 ($10,000.00) for his photography work while simultaneously functioning as the chairman of the renowned SF Art Institute "photography department". Harry has also had the honor to received a National Science Foundation Fellowship (1965). This rare combination has allowed him to do and create what he did.
Harry photography has been acquired by some of the most prestigious museums and collections in the US. (Graham Nash himself owns one of Harry's photographs from this period.)
Harry remains a well-respected artist who modified his art career to work on what he called a "good idea".
Harry has always been interested in large formats. From 1977-1980 his color photography, at that time represented by Hansen Fuller Goldeen gallery in SF, became increasingly larger.
To accommodate this vision, Harry fabricated and built all the equipment for his outsized work; from the camera, which shot 11x 14 negatives, to the corresponding enlarger needed to create the oversized prints, to the customized printing and developing, generating a series of 30x40 and 40 x 50 color photographs.
It was an expensive and laborious process, leading him toward the idea of using a computer to make an image. With a degree from UC Berkeley in engineering, Harry had already years of work experience on computers and writing programs.
In early 1984, prior to their commercial release, Steve Jobs gave Harry a Mac computer. Harry did all his early experiments with this machine.
Utilizing this early digital format, he understood that could finally realize his dreams of a still larger format. He also immediately understood the commercial potential for translating this format into billboards.
Commercially, Harry made the first digital print in 1983 on a Versatec (electrostatic machine), and wrote the code for producing the print. On the basis of this first color digital print, investors placed half a million dollars in seed money in his new company.
Harry began with the (electrostatic) Versactec machine, because they were quick and reliable. They printed vector data in CMYK. It was an easy leap for him to imagine breaking up the vector information into x, y points to use this machine to print color pictures. During his first meeting with executives at Versatec, he was introduced as the "Lunatic fringe from Berkeley," as he explained what he wanted to do with their machines.
This industry has evolved into a 20 billion dollar a year industry. Much of this revenue is derived from commercial businesses using systems and models built on or from, the initial prototypes and algorithms that Harry created.
Technology has marched on. Electrostatic technology and Iris Inkjet are both dead; replaced by the friendlier Epson, HP, Canon large formats. Making a good print is not has hard as it once was as in the early days.
But in the early days it took a lot of skill, and a creative view to make anything happen. At the time Nash started his business we were aware for his work. It was never perceived it as competition, because what Nash was doing was so specialized and focused on a tiny niche market. During that same time frame, Harry was taking on the large commercial printing companies and traditional photo labs.
Harry remains a very private person, who has not held his hand up for attention. He is not a household name, yet the true details of his little known, ground breaking story is truly incredible -- his transformation from artist, to inventor, conceiving a new technique that has become a process that is now taken for granted. He originated this industry and should be recognized for it.
I am hoping you find this story as interesting, for more information or to see some of Harry photography, please visit Harry's website at http://www.harrybowers.com
Thank you
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