Fotoviva Art Prints

This month we are showcasing a wonderful black and white photograph by Andrew Gibson entitled ‘La Recoleta Angel‘. It was taken in the Cementerio de Recoleta (Recoleta Cemetery in English) in Buenos Aires. It’s one of the cities main attractions and the cemetery is special because only the richest and most famous Argentines are buried there. It’s very expensive and they say it’s cheaper to live the high life in Buenos Aires than to be buried in Recoleta. One of its most famous inhabitants is Evita, otherwise known as Eva Perón, second wife to the Argentine President Juan Perón.

Andrew’s monochromatic high contrast post processing has produced a gritty, gothic styled finish which really stands out. This angel is one of our favourite art prints and it can be seen in the black and white photography section of the website, where it is available in various sizes as either canvas or poster art print.

Here at Fotoviva we are keen to help save the environment as much as we can. We are consuming the Earth’s resources 20% faster than they can be sustained, so we all have to do what we can - and as soon as we can. We now have our canvases made from wood which comes from sustainable forests, which means the trees are replaced by new ones and the forests, and their wildlife, are preserved as much as possible. We also use low vapour emitting sealant for the canvases which is better for the environment and your health. This sealant is used to protect the canvas surface and enhance the colour fidelity of the print.

The next stage would be to use vegetable based inks but at present we have not found any that provide the colour range and longevity to match the normal inks. If you have any ideas of how we can reduce our carbon footprint and become even greener please let us know.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of UK born Jonathan Chritchley to the Fotoviva Team. His black and white photography is simply astounding and we have a nice selection of his work in the monochrome art section of the online store.

Passionate about photography since receiving his first camera as a small boy, Jonathan studied photography in the UK in the mid-1990’s. Having assisted several fashion, commercial and marine photographers, he uprooted and moved to the south of France 9 years ago, finally fulfilling his dream of photographing the ocean and the people whose lives revolve around it.

Jonathan is based in south west France, where the formidable Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic swell provide a dramatic backdrop to his photographs. He also spends much of his time travelling to some of the best water locations in the world for a growing list of clients, working in and around the ocean to create his trademark dramatic images. Emphasizing an ethereal, atmospheric quality is imperative to him in reaching the more emotional as opposed to the literal and for this he mostly chooses to make photographs during bad weather and challenging lighting situations - dawn and dusk for example.

In early 2007, Jonathan started running photography workshops on the coast in south west France and in other locations. In december he signed a deal with a UK company who have licensed 30 specially commissioned images for distribution across the UK, Ireland and northern Europe for 2008 and beyond. The photographs will be available in selected Athena and Next stores as well as galleries and home furnishing stores from early in the new year.

Jonathan uses Nikon digital camera bodies, Nikkor lenses & Fantasea underwater camera housings. A keen diver, surfer and swimmer, he lives in a converted fisherman’s cottage at the beach in south west France, 40km north of Biarritz, with his wife Belinda and children, Jack and Olivia.

We have a large selection of Jonathan’s inspiring photography available at Fotoviva and there is more to follow. You can see more of his work at OceanCapture.com but in the meantime see some of the images we have, which can also be purchased in our new Triptych Canvas Art format which is proving very popular.