"Off the Wall" - Fashion Photography in Black & White

August 30, 2009 (Winchester, MA) Inspired by portrait photographer Richard Avedon’s practice of shooting and editing for the wall versus the page, this group show features 12 New England-based photographers capturing fashion in classic black and white.

The photographers included in the show are Tracy Aiguier, Sadie Dayton, Conor Doherty, Cig Harvey, William Huber, Michael Khachadoorian, Kim Kennedy, Liz Linder, Jorg Meyer, Bob Packert, Phil Porcella and Francine Zaslow.

What constitutes a fashion image constantly evolves. Frivolous, glamorous, sumptuous, witty, painterly, and stark, fashion - and images of it - evoke emotion. Photography and fashion have moved to center stage during the past 50 years, as advertising simultaneously chronicles and shapes our visual culture.

The show runs from September 14 through November 1 at the satellite exhibition space: The Griffin Museum @ Digital Silver Imaging, 11 Brighton Street, Belmont MA. The gallery is the newest of the museum’s satellite locations. The opening reception is October 2, 6-8 PM, to coincide with Boston Fashion Week.

The show is juried and curated by Paula Tognarelli , executive director of the Griffin Museum; Jay Calderin, founder of Boston Fashion Week; and J. Sybylla Smith, wardrobe stylist and owner of GoTo Design Studio.

“Off The Wall” is the title of a book, a movie, and a record-breaking album. It is slang for unconventional, bizarre, manic, absurd, inappropriate, unpredictable, and eccentric,’’ says Smith. ``It aptly reflects the stylistic range of these large format true silver gelatin prints produced by Digital Silver Imaging.”

Smith gives a brief tour of the exhibit at the gallery in Belmont on October 4 at 4 PM, followed by an intimate behind-the-scenes discussion on style and fashion concepts in today's fashion photography. The talk is open to the public and free. .

The gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 5:30 PM, to mirror Digital Silver’s hours, or by appointment. Call 781-729-1158.

Digital Infrared Conversion Comparisons

Many of our customers who are thinking about converting one of their older digital cameras to shoot infrared ask what the differences are between 665nm and 715nm. We wrote about this earlier in another one of our blog posts, but this comparison chart is an excellent visual aid to help you see the differences.

The 665nm IR conversion allows less of the IR light to reach the camera's sensor, which yields better results for shooting color IR, but less of an effect for black and white infrared photography. Most of the conversions we have provided to our customers have been at 715nm. The dramatic affect is perfect for a more accurate black & white infrared effect.

As you can see, the file is still in RGB when you shoot it, so post processing is required. We are big proponents of the Nik Silver Efex Pro plugin for Photoshop for all of our black & white production work. It makes an excellent, non-destructive conversion and then provides many excellent tools to work on the file. We do offer a 15% discount on all of the NIK plugins, plus you will receive a special coupon when you order the software using our coupon code.

The files we have been printing for our clients have been outstanding. We still have the entire show of Ron Rosenstock's work that we produced here at the lab. All of his images were processed using Nik Silver Efex Pro and printed on our true gelatin silver fiber paper here at Digital Silver Imaging. You can click here to see his exhibit that we have on display through Sept 9th.

Visit our site to get your camera converted at a great price. Free Return shipping for the rest of August! Click HERE for details on our Infrared Conversion Program.

Polaroid 8x10 Black & White Film

My former employer and current black & white supplier, HARMAN technology, has teamed up with the Impossible Project to help breath life back into Polaroid films.

"Polaroid's 8x10 instant films to make a comeback"

"Investors behind the Impossible Project, designed to bring back Polaroid's popular products, have purchased machinery necessary to revive 8x10 instant films".

The news about the possibility that there may be black & white Polaroid films back on the market is exciting. Polaroid enthusiasts will read this news and expect miracles, but time will tell. At Digital Silver Imaging, we are also enthusiastic about any news that champions the black & white cause! We wish all parties involved continued success!

This article appeared in the British Journal of Photography. To read the entire text, click here.

Boston Globe Store - Photo of the Week - Revere Beach

This shot was taken in 1962 and has been another great black and white photo from the Boston Globe Store. This famous shot of Revere beach with cyclone roller coaster in the background can be purchased directly from the Boston Globe Store. Digital Silver Imaging will print the image on true black and white silver paper to give the print its true beautiful black and white quality and longevity. We can even frame it for you. Order your copy today from the Boston Globe Store.

Boston Globe Store Photo "Pic of the Week" - Julia Childs

The new movie, Julie & Julia, about our famous local chef, Julia Childs, has sparked renewed interest in her cookbooks and photos. This great image of her in her kitchen in Cambridge was taken in her home in October 1975. I love the pegboard on the wall that her husband put up for her to make it easier to find all of her cooking utensils and accessories. You can tell this was way before Williams Sonoma got a hold of the American kitchen!



So, you too can own a classic image of one of our most beloved chefs. Just go to the Boston Globe Store and order your own copy of this image. We'll even frame the black and white print for you!

Click here to order your true black and white print.

IR conversion on a Canon G7

I replaced my Canon G7 with a G10. Both are great cameras, excellent in manual and do great video. I didn't want the G7 to sit around doing nothing so I had the 715 nm IR conversion done by our partner Precision Camera.





The 715 nm conversion I had done is a typical infrared Conversion. It blocks wavelengths shorter than 715nm and allows those longer than 715nm to go through. It is a true infrared filter that should primarily be used for B&W photos, although very limited color infrared pictures are possible. Conversions performed with the 715nm filter are capable of rendering beautiful & rich B&W images with a dramatic infrared look to them.

The other conversion - 665nm - is a specialized Infrared Conversion. It blocks Wavelengths shorter than 665nm and allows those longer than 665nm to go through. This conversion is especially well suited for color infrared photography because of its broader transmittance properties. With this conversion a more saturated color infrared image is possible. B&W infrared is also possible with the 665nm although the results will not be as dramatic as the 715nm.

I really like the skin tone with the 715 nm conversion. It gives a smooth gray/silver tone.








Of course foliage looks great in IR.









If you're considering what to do with your older digital camera, consider converting it to Infrared. Digital Silver Imaging is offering IR conversions through our partner, Precision Camera. They have chosen Digital Silver Imaging as their preferred lab partner to provide true black & white gelatin silver printing from the IR files.

For more information and pricing about digital camera infrared conversions, please click here.

Photo Pic of the week from The Boston Globe

We just received an order for this wonderful image from Boston Globe photographer, Bill Greene. Many of the images we print for the Boston Globe are of sports and other historical images. This one caught our eye for its classic black & white beauty. Greene captured this moment with natural light coming in from the window on the left. It's images like these that remind us of how classic and timeless good black & white prints can be.

Brothers- 62 year old twins Greg and Gordon Stafford at their deer camp with Gordon's 4 year old grandson Tristan. "If you couldn't go to hunting camp there would have to be something drastically wrong," says Gordon. "For Vermonters, deer camp is almost a necessity. It's a vacation a family thing. Island Pond, VT.
To view this image, and other images at the Globe Store, click here and order your copy today.

Another successful opening reception at the Griffin/DSI Gallery

Thanks to everyone that came out last night to our gallery reception with photographer Ron Rosenstock. Despite the heavy rain that started around 4:30, we had a great turnout for the event. This is our second opening and I am pleased with how successful the response has been for our gallery. We had well over 75 people during the evening. Dave's Fresh Pasta of Sommerville provided us with some excellent hors d'hoeuvres and wines.


Ron spoke with many of the guests and had an opportunity to discuss his new work in digital infrared photography. The 11 gelatin silver fiber prints represent a new direction for Ron. He was a student of Minor White's at MIT from 1967 - 1973. White did a lot of his work using Kodak 4x5 infrared film, but Ron did not start working with infrared until he converted a Canon digital camera to shoot in IR. "The ability to shoot IR digitally, without all the hassles of shooting it on film, gives me a new found freedom", say Rosenstock. "The fact that I can then have them printed on one of my favorite black & white silver papers at DSI is a perfect match."

To view all of the images in our gallery show, please click here. Images are all 17" x 22" and can be purchased for $650 matted or $750 framed. Please contact the gallery at info@digitalsilverimaging.com

For more information about digital camera infrared conversions, please click here

New sign for Griffin Museum Gallery at Digital Silver Imaging.

Our building is on a busy street, but our first banner sign didn't make it easy for people to find us or know anything about what we're doing. So, we went through the small town bureaucracy of applying for a sign permit for the town of Belmont. Keith Gaffney, Jay's brother, helped us design and construct a large sign that now hangs perpendicularly off the front of our building. The sign features the new Griffin Museum Gallery at Digital Silver Imaging.
Keith started to hang the sign just as the storm blew through the area. The high winds slowed him down for a few minutes, but he finished hanging it in the pouring rain just 30 mins before our gallery reception started at 6:00 PM!