At the photography department of my art-academy, I was the only one who used the black and white darkroom. Which was perfect, because I always had the whole room and all the equipment to myself.
I printed mostly on small paper. I can’t see the importance of big prints. I print on barite paper, because of its high detail. If a print is bigger than 70 centimeters, you have to take a look from a distance and you miss out on the details.
For my final exams I decided to print on a huge format to try out the difference. The prints where about 1 by 2 meters. It was nice to walk through the pictures. People felt more confronted with the work, they said.
I liked to see the different of presentation but I still prefer the small prints. I think printing on big paper is overrated, it’s a trend. Now that its possible to print big pictures with no effort, everybody is jumping on the train.
Most large prints I have seen are boring. The thing is this: If you walk through a gallery with big prints, when they are bad prints, you are confronted with the bad prints even if you don’t want to be.
They block the view to the important art work.
