A new stage

Now that BHS has all the portrait files. I have been working on the next stage of the project. For me this is a chance to create something new from the hundreds of images I created during the Face of Brooklyn.

With so much material, it became very difficult to keep track of all the images. I selected over 100 of the most promising portraits and had them made into small prints.

Using the small prints I created a really fun and endless game of matching and arranging. After selecting a few groups that interested me I began to test out different methods of arranging the groups. I had to make decisions about scale, paper type, distance between each portrait and if I was going to create a separation between each image. In order to determine these things I really need to be able to see them. Even though I am a visual artist, I can't just imagine it in my mind's eye and have to make many images that won't ever be shown to anyone else.

Having solved some of these questions I can move on to making the large prints. I have selected 24" as the dimension of the height of all the prints. This works well, as I can buy 24" x 100 feet rolls of paper to print on. I have a very large printer that can print 48" by 90." It is very fast, but uses 12 colors of ink. When the giant ink cartridges need to be replaced it is a tremendous expense. It is believed that the inks are archival for over 100 years. I traditional chemical color print is archival for less than 25 years. This is evident if you recall family photos from the seventies and eighties that are turning orange.