The week after our hectic New York field trip, we were rewarded with an entire week off, finally allowing time to start working on some of the homework for the class. In addition to actively participating in every meeting, providing visual documentation and keeping this blog, we are also being asked to do the following:
-Register at least 25 images with the US Copyright Office
-Write a personal thank-you letter to each person we’ve met during this course and include a print of our own work, and provide photographic proof of each one
-Prepare three copies of our portfolio: Print, a website, and a book of either our whole portfolio of a designated body of work
-Prepare a mailing list of everyone we’d like to keep updated about our work
-Keep a log of all photography-related expenses and earnings for an entire year.
-Make 22 13″x19″ prints of a single image, to be distributed to every member of the class as class portfolios. These portfolios will be archived at the RISD Museum, and even sent to the Smithsonian, according to Henry! Better do a good job on that one…
So far, the most time-consuming have been the thank-you cards and the book, both of which had so much potential to be really excellent that I couldn’t bare to let the opportunities go to waste. It was really a relief to have that free week to decompress a bit from our trip and let our experiences sink in again. By the time the next week rolled around, we were refreshed and ready for one of our last meetings, at Meridian Printing in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
Meridian focuses on traditional offset printing (i.e. not digital) and for the past 30 years has used only sheet-fed printing as opposed to roll paper. Meridian prints anywhere between 12.5″x19″ to 28″x40″ sheets, and does almost everything for the production of books besides the actual binding. As we were introduced to what Meridian does, some books were passed around the table for us to look at. Nick Brandt’s book of African wildlife photography, “On This Earth, A Shadow Falls,” was probably one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful photography books I have ever seen. I strongly advise anyone reading this to check it out, if they have not done so previously. As we were led around Meridian’s printing rooms, Brandt’s book pages laid in stacks surrounding almost every single machine.
Meridian employs 55 people, most of whom have been there for 15 years or more. Pete, who led us on our tour, had been there for 22 years – since before I was born, which was a slightly overwhelming thought. Although the printing facilities were absolutely state-of-the-art, I couldn’t help but dwell on the lives of the workers as we passed through the loud, windowless rooms full of chemical fumes and the roar of machinery. Who were these people who had worked in this same room every day for over 15 years? What were their lives like? What fulfillment did they get from operating printing machines all day?
In any case, we learned a lot about the printing process, perhaps the most important of which is consistent lighting, to make sure that wherever one views the product, it looks the same. Pete led us to a 10-color-press, a series of machines that produce first the blacks of an image, then the cyans, magentas, yellows, then varnish… and then all the previous colors, with blacks included. He also showed us a 7-stage pocket collator, responsible for trimming and stitching sheets of paper, which he explains works from the middle of the book to the outside. Of slightly morbid interest to us was the cutter, capable of making between 2 and 40 cuts per sheet with excessive programming, which lets down 6,000 pounds of pressure with its blade. Pete explained that ever sheet of paper is dusted in a light coating of powder to keep the sheets from sticking together during this process. Lastly, we had the chance to tour the ink kitchens, where specific shades of color are mixed when needed, as well as view the old, original printing machines Meridian used when they first started out.
All in all, it was great to have the opportunity to see the huge amount of work that goes into the making of a single book or printed publication. As digital printing becomes the norm, I think it was really valuable to understand the steps behind the traditional printing process.
Back at RISD later that afternoon, we were visited by designer Ernesto Aparicio, but unfortunately only moments before I needed to leave for work! I was only able to hear the very beginning of his life story before I was forced to leave, but managed to absorb the piece of advice that “you need to know your subject well to do a good job.”