Most photographers I speak to want to make better prints. It seems to be an area that causes the much frustration for photographers, with many gaps in knowledge that have few clear paths to solving. And I think at least part of the problem is that what we see in our minds eye when we think about our photograph rarely looks like what ends up on paper.
I can completely relate. From the first time I made a print in my friends’ basement with a laundry detergent bottle for a safelight, I’ve been on a quest to learn how to make better prints. The more I discovered photography was capable of, the more I developed my vision, the more I wanted my prints to express what I saw and what I knew was possible.
I want to help others take this same journey I have, so I’ve created a new website MakeBetterPrints.com. My goal for this site is reflected in it’s name: Make Better Prints. That’s what I want to help you do. Regardless your skill level, there is another step you can take, another thing you can learn that will help you improve your work. It’s about learning, growing, and most of all enjoying photography and the printmaking process.
In twenty years of teaching digital printing, I’ve helped countless people learn to make better prints, from beginners to seasoned professionals. I know from those experiences that it’s possible for you to learn the skills necessary to become a better printmaker. I want to help make straight paths through the wilderness so you can avoid the pitfalls and trials I’ve been through.
I’ve been printing long enough to know that no one knows all the answers, but my twenty years running a fine art photo printing studio, building up teams of master printmakers, working with tense of thousands of photographers, and helping make hundreds of thousands of prints, have given me a unique knowledge of how to make better prints.
MakeBetterPrints.com gives me a place to share that knowledge with you; What has worked for me, what hasn’t, and what produces the look and feel that I think expresses the art of printmaking.
All you have to do is be willing to come along for the journey, to try new things, and to focus on making one more step forward.
I can’t wait to see where this takes us!
With Great Expectations,
Rich Seiling