It’s been a week since the premier of our film, Warbirds and the Men Who Flew Them and one question keeps flying in (sorry, bad pun, had to use it). During the broadcast Scott brought up the one thing I think so important for photographers to do wanting to get into aviation photographers, prints. I’ve had an outpouring of folks asking basically, “Really?”
The answer is so brief but it conveys so much. I guess we should have defined “The Print” better but then, it’s the pinnacle of the whole photographic endeavor. Printing, sadly, is often resigned to $2 print establishments which, while they do a fine job for those memories we attach to the refrigerator with magnets, don’t tend to do justice to our stories. “The Print” I was referring to is more than a quick click but rather, an image that one might consider worthy of a gallery wall, and a whole lot more. Putting into words the difference between a print and “The Print” for me is very difficult because the level of quality is expressed in content and print quality. It is also expressed in a personal commitment of passion, an attachment with the subject and the story. This shot of a P-47 for example shot handheld at sunrise with a Df / 18-35 is a prime example. What you see here is not what I saw standing next to the P-47. It’s what I felt from the moment mixed with the history I know and then translated into what you see.
When it’s all done correctly, when the print is delivered the recipient says what they feel in their eyes, not with so many words. So when I said, a print, I didn’t mean just some print. “The Print” when it rolls out of that Epson 4900 has a whole lot more put into it. I wish that the web, this blog could faithfully represent what it is I’m trying to say, but the print I present plane owners and pilots is a whole lot more than ink on paper. It is a commitment to the story, a part of the heart.