Reed Art & Imaging, Richo, and John Fielder Sponsor Picture Me Here Event

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Event: “Damak to Denver: A Picture Me Here Project” Exhibit Features Bhutanese Refugee’s Photographs and Stories of their last days in a refugee camp, their journey to the United States and their first days in Colorado. Location: John Fielder’s Colorado & the Denver Photo Art Gallery, 833 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204
Exhibit dates: March 6 – April 25, 2015 Opening reception: March 6, First Friday, 5-9pm Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday from 9am-5pm, with extended hours on First Fridays Project Partners: United Nations Refugee Agency, International Organization for Migration, Caritas Nepal, Reed Art and Imaging, Ricoh/Pentax, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Aurora Cultural Arts District, City Museum of Kathmandu, 258 Kickstarter Donors
Denver, CO (November 22, 2014) – Last Spring, Picture Me Here (PMH), a digital storytelling program for refugees based in Denver, provided cameras and training to Bhutanese youth living in a refugee camp in Eastern Nepal. The young refugees were scheduled to resettle in Aurora and most arrived by August. This training led by photographers and storytelling mentors empowered them to document their last days in the camp, their journey to Colorado and their first impressions of life in the US. Opening on March 6th, John Fielder’s Colorado & the Denver Photo Art Gallery will host an exhibit featuring a selection of these photographs by these individuals as they reflect on the past and start building new lives in America. Photographs and books will be available for purchase. Proceeds support the photographers, the PMH program and John Fielder’s Colorado & the Denver Photo Art Gallery.
PMH started in 2012 working with local refugees. The project in Nepal is their first international project and was made possible with help from the United Nations Refugee Agency. “PMH is committed to fostering communication, integration and connection among diverse groups of people. Participants document their lives and realize the value of their stories while learning new skills in leadership, technology and English” says Brigid McAuliffe, PMH director. Exhibit is open to the public and is free admission. More details about the exhibit can be found, when available, on www.denverphotoart.com
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“Everything about the photo says Nepal, from the posters on the wall to the men. It reminds me of how much I love Nepal.” – Keshavi Neupane
“Dhaka weaving is very important and a big part of life in Nepal. The women are like a second mother to me and hold a very special place in my heart.”  – Keshavi Neupane
“This is a photograph of my neighbor. She is sieving rice to make food. Though she’s extremely old, she has the power to see the very small pebbles. This is something she does twice a day, both early in the morning and again in the evening. By seeing this photograph, I realize that every person is capable to do work.” -Bhim Bahadur Bhattarai
“This woman is my aunt. She is cooking curry with some tomatoes in the bowl beside her. The sunlight scatters from the slats in the wall of her refugee hut.” -Bhim Bahadur Bhattarai
“This is the photograph that I took Bhadrapur Airport in Nepal. At this time, I am ready to take a flight from Bhadrapur to Kathmandu, which is the capital city of Nepal. At this moment, I am feeling amazing because this is the first time I am taking the airplane. I am excited.” -Bhim Bahadur Bhattarai
“The woman has to go to the husband’s parents house, when we resettle. I came with my husband to Colorado because that is our culture. My heart was broken to leave my parents. After the camp closes they will go some place far away called Pan Cha Me, in the mountains.  They have a brother they have to take care of in the camp. My step dad does not want to come to America. There was one women who knew my mom and my stepdad. She knew they had lost their partner and told them to marry. They met and fell in love. My step dad likes to hold things in his hands when he takes pictures.“ – Aita Rani Subba
“Mohan is taking water home from the well. The water is for doing laundry. In the camp, Mohan and I did laundry together, 5-6 times a day.  A big family will carry 7-8 times because they have a lot of clothes.” -Aita Rani Subba
“In the camp, we had to follow a schedule to get water in the morning and evening. This woman is getting water for cooking and drinking. We stand in line to get water. Sometimes we wait one hour. America is very different from Nepal. This country is very fast. Very easy.  When I arrived at the Los Angeles airport I went to restroom. I put my hands under the faucet and the water came. How is it? I felt like someone was giving from above! I was surprised! The air dryer also surprised me. At that time a stranger taught me to dry my hands. I used the hand dryer and it was loud. I was afraid.” – Mohan Rai
“We came to America to make life. For our kid’s life. There are lots of Nepali people in Grace Apartments and the park is nice.”   – Mohan Rai
“We put a ceremonial scarf called a khada over the shoulders of the relatives and friends who are departing as a sign of respect and remembrance.” – Mani Kumar
“I used a camera a lot in the refugee camp to capture the last moments of our relatives before they departed for their destination.” – Mani Kumar
Picture Me Here participants and instructors in the classroom
Picture Me Here students and instructors on the last day of class.
Some of the participants at a recent exhibit featuring their photographs and stories.
Portraits of the participants at their huts (taken by the instructors)
Participants learned how to use a camera and they selected images for an exhibit in the refugee camp.

 

 

 

 

Picking the right colorspace based on image content

An often overlooked aspect of color-spaces is the ability to use them to affect the overall “look” of the image. This 3D model represents 4 color spaces:

Pro RGB (in red), Adobe1998 (translucent white), sRGB (white wire-frame) and in yellow; a professional giclee printer – the Epson 9900 on Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper.

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Top view of these gamuts shows their maximum saturation limits. The yellow wire-frame in the center is the available gamut of Epson’s 9900 Inkjet Printer.

The top view shows the saturation boundaries of the colorspaces. The larger the space appears here, the more saturation the color space will support.

 

 

Gamut brightness limits of ProPhotoRGB, Adobe1998, sRGB and the Epson 9900

Gamut brightness limits of ProPhotoRGB, Adobe1998, sRGB and the Epson 9900

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The side view shows the brightness levels available in the various color spaces. White is represented at the top and black at the bottom.

 

 

Color-spaces with larger hulls allow for greater saturation limits. This means a red with an RGB build of 255, 120, 120 will appear more saturated in ProPhotoRGB than it does in Adobe 1998.  Neutral colors will appear identical for hue across the color spaces, though the density (brightness) of those neutrals may differ.

How this affects the look of the image is quite dramatic. A side effect of saturation limits is it’s affect on the visual difference between two neighboring color values.  The examples below are screen grabs of the same color build across the three most popular working color-spaces. The left side of the boxes are a build of 255R 255G 126B, and the right sides are 255R 255G 112B

The color variation is barely perceptible in sRGB, but noticeable in the slightly larger Adobe1998 and more so in the much larger ProPhotoRGB. You can also see that as the size of the colorspace increased, the saturation increased.

Images with subtle variations in tone may be adversely affected from the use of a larger colorspace such as ProPhotoRGB, however if an increased separation is what you are looking for, tagging your file as ProPhotoRGB may benefit.

These samples, like the ones above contained all identical Photoshop builds, but were assigned different spaces. As the size of the color space increased you can see that the color separation also increases resulting in a loss of subtlety.  This loss means in increase of color noise, and in 8 bit files: a potential for banding. Real 16 bit files (not files converted from 8bit to 16) have a small likelihood of banding as long as they remain in 16bit. However, large portion of professional printing devices will eventually convert your 16bit file to 8bit for printing, and this could result in banding issues. Regardless of bit-depth, saturation will be higher in the larger spaces, so it’s something to be aware of and use to your advantage when needed.

This image is in the sRGB color-space. Notice the presence of subtle tones

The variations in tones in this image are pleasant yet still fairly subtle.

The variations in tones in this Adobe1998 image are pleasant yet still fairly subtle.

The subtleties in the lilly pad are nearly lost. A visible increase in color noise is also present in the water.

The subtleties in the lilly pad are nearly lost. A visible increase in color noise is also present in the water.

You will notice in the examples that as file is moved into spaces of increasing size, subtleties in the colors can be lost.  You can see larger views by clicking on the sample images.

As saturation increases, the the visible difference between neighboring colors increases. One artifact of this is an increase in color noise. This becomes quite apparent when comparing the reflections between the sRGB and the ProPhotoRGB files.   Also worth noting is how the “sky” colors in the reflection actually lose saturation with the larger ProPhotoRGB space. This is due to Adobe1998 and sRGB having greater saturation in a significant range of values in this region of color. So if sky saturation is of critical importance in your print, do a bit of testing before you commit to ProPhotoRGB and compensate when possible. Sometimes we get to accept some benefits at the expense of others, and working color-spaces are no exception.

sRGBLillyPadsToPrintSpace

sRGB color-space file converted to the Epson 9900 print space using perceptual intent.

Adobe1998RGBLillyPadsToPrintSpace

Adobe 1998 RGB color-space file converted to the Epson 9900 print space using perceptual intent.

ProPhotoRGBLillyPadsToPrintSpace

ProPhotoRGB color-space file converted to the Epson 9900 print space using perceptual intent.

So use your colorspace selection as a tool to further optimize your print results. Be conscious that you aren’t losing or gaining numbers of colors by using a different space, you are merely matching image type to saturation limits and distance between colors. And as always, should you have any questions, reach out in the comment section below!

GRAYS, Curated by Sarah LaVigne and Printed by Reed Art & Imaging

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Sarah LaVigne inspects mounted prints in the Reed finishing department

 The Curator

Sarah LaVigne curates ‘Grays’, a gathering of images that explores the world through the eyes of photographers, Annie Marie Musselman, Michael Lewis, Acacia Johnson and Mandy Barker. Reed had the honor of printing and mounting these images for Sarah’s exhibition at SPACE Gallery. The show is sponsored by Picture Society and runs February 12 through March 21. It’s just one of many exciting events scheduled for Month of Photography Denver.

 

Reed finishing tech cleans a print mounting board

Keeping the print clean and dust free is priority one at Reed Art & Imaging

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Reed printer, Dan Walters collects a print off the spooler

 


The Artists 

 

 

 

"Penalty" By Mandy Barker

“Penalty”

Mandy Barker
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Mandy with a barnacle encrusted soccer ball

“769 marine debris footballs, plus 223 other types of balls were collected from 41 different countries and islands around the World. They were recovered from 144 different beaches by 89 members of the public after an online appeal over 4 months.”

 ~ Mandy Barker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

"Caedus & Ladyhawk"

“Caedus & Ladyhawk”

Annie Marie Musselman

Annie Marie Mussleman

“I photograph through very small holes, in an incredibly strong fence which protects me, but barely keeps me from falling in love with these highly intelligent, beautiful beings.”

~ Annie Marie Musselman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Michael Lewis in Boat

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Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis

 

“Self-portraiture allows me to experience empathy for the people I photograph.  I feel an obligation to my subjects to remain in touch with how it feels to be in front of the camera.

The images shown here originally started off as a series of still-lifes photographed in domestic settings, showing situations which address the repercussions and catastrophes of a common life.  Slowly the ideas drifted into the outside world.  The themes are less literal and more fantastical.  The work evolved and eventually split into two separate bodies of work.  Loosely entitled “Tales,” this new project drifts away from images anchored by reality.   They are constructed open-ended narratives which rely on symbolism and metaphor; as well as mystery.  With intension, often nothing is revealed.”

~ Michael Lewis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Acacia Johnson

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“These have been, without question, the radiant highlights of my time in Arctic Bay. I absolutely love it. I try to photograph it, and often I have to resort to digital, because what else are you going to shoot in the dark on the back of a moving Skidoo or dogsled at thirty degrees below zero? At first I perceived this as a failure of some sort, on my behalf. Now I can see it is actually a miracle. That the ISOs of digital allow us to capture images that never could have existed. The best camera is the one you have with you. There will be photographs.”

~ Acacia Johnson