The Giant Economy Size

We sell lots of things in Camera Electronic that are intended to be small; Olympus cameras, Gitzo traveller's tripods, Metz LED lights. But we also sometimes lash out and get the Giant Economy Size. Case in point: The Premier Eco Print Shield cans.

These are a liquid coating for your inkjet paper and canvas prints that will stop the UV rays from messing with the colours - they also stop airborne pollutants and moisture from ruining the surface of the print. This may not seem important if all your pictures are on your iPhone or 6 x 4 postcards in a shoe box...but the big boys and girls who print out on large format printers and frame their exhibition work know different.

Now the statement that something stops UV damage completely is a difficult one to make - particularly in Western Australia where we manufacture ultraviolet radiation for export. You have only to listen to the weather reports every day to realise that our WA UV index scale starts at " Extreme " and goes up from there. About the only complete UV protection for anything is to put it inside the turret of a Sherman tank and close the hatch...

But the Premier Eco Print Shield does help. It can make the difference for an interior display between a year's safety and 5 years. If you are selling your work, that is important...it gives you time to get away.

Two finishes in stock - Matte and Satin, and you can spread it with bush, roller, or spray gun. If you choose the last mode of delivery you will need a gun with a wide throat to get this solution out...and make sure that you clear and clean your gun between applications. This is thick stuff.

If your needs are more modest, there is also the Hahnemühle spray in aerosol cans - some pros rely on this exclusively.

Note to those people whose entire portfolio is on their iPhones, iPads, or the 8-year old computer that seems to be a little slower at booting up these days...Start to print out some of your best work. The thrill of seeing it in the hand and on the wall is reward enough for your trouble. And people will think of your output in more concrete terms when it is hanging off the concrete.

Plus...for those with the entire portfolio on the Fisher-Price My First Hard Drive...remember the old Bond's underwear ad slogan..." One day, you're gonna get caught..".

And Now For Something Completely Different...

The advent of the new shop in Murray Street - near the corner of Queen Street and apparently Open All Hours* - has meant some fresh thinking about items to be stocked. I am delighted to see the return of albums and frames.

They once existed in the Stirling Street shop - I remember seeing some in 2008 when I started to work behind the counter there - but the stocks ran down and were never replenished. The business moved to catering for different parts of the market and these humble products were left to other retail shops.

But now they are back - and as a focused offering that might just hit the mark for many city people -particularly with the advent of another new service that you'll see in another weblog column.

Now, let's imagine that you are working in the city and you've got a packet of 6 x 4 pictures of a wedding or birthday that you have just shot. There they are in the paper envelope, but you need to present them to the family in something better...

Think Camera Electronic. We've now got a mini-bar selection of mini albums and frames at the Murray St store that will save the day.

Been travelling? Got the holiday snaps? Got a particularly good one of the landscape where you waited up for hours and captured the last of the sunset? Proud of it? Well, frame it up and put it on the wall and drive your work-mates mad.

How about a travel diary that you make as you go along. How about a travel diary that you can give to your hosts as a thank-you? How about getting your life off your mobile phone and into a book on the shelf - that phone will be tossed in 5 years but your albums will be with you forever.

You've got the camera. You've got the holiday booked. Now plan ahead and make a place for all the good memories to come home to.

Buy a photo album from Camera Electronic. We're Open All Hours*...

Visit the new Camera Electronic store at 2/324 Murray St, Perth
*For opening hours, click here

The Frame Up Job

At the risk of sounding like a Me-Too blogger, I wish to draw attention to a course being run by the Shoot Workshops next door. It is a workshop on Picture Framing and will be run by Aaron McPolin on Sunday, the 4th of September - not that far into the future.

The workshop costs $139, but this is the sort of thing that just does not come along every day. In fact, I would be prepared to say that in Perth this does not come along ANY day. It is the chance of a lifetime for some of us.

We all make files. We all make images. Some of us make pictures. Few of us make pictures that hang on walls. And damned few of us make pictures that deserve to hang on the walls.

Part of this is the files, part of it is the images. After that a great deal of it is the aesthetic that either supports or condemns the image. Here is where Aaron may be able to offer the insight to help us improve our pictures.

The blurb for the workshop speaks of colour theory, printing for longevity, placement, glazing, and matting. Also lighting, placement, exhibition design, and pricing. Even if you are not trying for " Family Of Man " and would settle for the relatives spread out over the lounge room wall in reasonable order, this workshop is going to help.

I freely admit to not being an artist, and have had this firmly attested to by Perth Artists on Facebook, but I think that this sort of thing will help me to improve my taste and present my work better. I have an ambition to be rejected by a better class of gallery than Facebook, and this may help.

Studio 281
281 Guildford Road, Maylands
Sunday, 4th of September
10AM - 4PM

Contact Shannon at Shoot Photography Workshops to make a booking:

T. 08 9228 8232
E. shannon@shootworkshops.com.au
W. www.shootworkshops.com.au

Choose Your Audience Wisely - Pick Your Time Well

Did goe to a photographic exhibition on Saturday night as was greatley entertained. The photographer was handsome, debonair, and charming. I could not have admired him more.

The subject of the photographs was the work of another artist - Chelsea Bunz. She sculpts, paints, dances, and poses - quite the renaissance woman. While she could also exhibit some of her smaller sculptures or flatt-work on the walls, many of the things that she  makes, does, or is could only be captured in photographs and framed up.

The framing was cutesy of Mr. IKEA. in addition to meatballs and plywood desks, this firm makes a very useful range of small wooden frames at inexpensive prices. The walls of Saturday night's venue held 5 x 7 and A4 examples of the RIBBA frame. It is white and plain, with either glass or acrylic window to display the prints. No great skill needed to frame up small work.

The venue? Bar 399 in William Street. Nestled in a little food village that has arrangements to send plates into the bar, it is a particularly welcoming little watering hole. The cocktails contain more liquor than water ( As opposed to the recipes used in Melbourne...) and are reasonably priced. The staff is cheerful, and probably pretty resilient. And the walls are covered in Chelsea's artwork - at least for the next two months.

Point of this post? Well, primarily, go to the 399, order a Blue Blazer or a Dark and Stormy and look at the pictures Buy one if you wish, or commission your own idea. You'll also be impressed with how handsome the photographer is when you see him.

And if you too have a bunch of pics that would go into IKEA frames and make up a story, why not scout around in your own neighbourhood for a public venue to display them in. Library? Cafe? Bar? Petrol Station. Doctor's Surgery? Come to some arrangement with he owner of the premises to let your work hang on the walls with a contact advertisement and take pride in it. Point your friends to the collection and maybe they will patronise the venue.

Note: Bar exhibitions are great. By 8:30 on Saturday night the drunks are all in place and switched on and they like bright colours. When they are happy, they are buying and that keeps the bar owner happy too.

Cheers.