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.

Don was one of our first photographic contributors and has a large selection of images on the Fotoviva Art Store. He has just developed his new website to showcase the exceptional work he has made so we thought it a good time to have a chat with him and see what’s going on.

How long have you been taking photos and what is your camera history?
I have been taking photographs since my early twenties after winning a camera in a sales competition (I was in the motor trade), it was my first ‘proper’ camera a Yashica 35mm GSN rangefinder. I was severely lacking in technique but was very impressed with the quality images the camera was capable of and I set out to improve my picture taking ability.

Over the years I progressed to 35mm film SLR’s & medium format too, my images were nearly always slides and I still have a collection of several thousand that I periodically get out, dust down my projector & have a slideshow session!

I have a collection of vintage cameras (all working) from box Brownies, folders, medium format & of course I still own a Yashica 35mm GSN rangefinder which I last used a week ago. Some of the older stuff I have been trying out lately too (75+ year old cameras) as I have found a supplier of film for these in New York, it really does test your skills! Currently Don mostly uses a Fuji S3 & S5 with a range of lenses, as he likes the amazing latitude the sensor gives with regards to it’s dynamic range & low noise levels.

What is your favourite type of image and where in the world do you like shooting best?
My favourite images have to be landscapes, as I have a strong bond with the great outdoors & love hill walking & cycle touring (always with a camera to hand), I do however enjoy most types of photography & I do a fair amount of portrait work too.

My favourite place to be with a camera is without doubt Scotland, my dad is a Scot & although he has resided in England since the war I have visited north of the border many hundreds of times since being a small child & I love the place (and the people). Nothing for me compares with the grandness of Scotland’s wild scenery & constantly changing moods & light, it is a veritable photographer’s dream.

Tell us about your new website www.dontiffney.com
My new website, although in its infancy is coming along nicely & the Clikpic system makes everything so easy, even for a technophobe like me! My previous site was built for me & not at all as user friendly so I am glad I have made the switch & look forward to building it up over the coming months.

Do you have any tips for budding photographers who want to make some money from their shots?
For any new photographers wishing to start selling images I recommend working hard on firstly capturing the best shots they can & then start off by getting them shown to the public on one of the many stock sites where you can upload them for free & have them sold on your behalf, as skills progress a move to a website of your own will be a natural progression.

Have you tried selling your work elsewhere on the web or offline?
I have sold images through various outlets (small local shops etc.) & of course my old website & hopefully I will have gallery space for the coming year on Skye & a link up with one of the islands promotional websites, so exciting times lie ahead! I also do well with the Fotoviva Art site but by far my most lucrative work however has been private commissions for portraiture & most of this work, in fact nearly all, has been by recommendation from previous customers, which is very satisfying.

Which other photographers do you admire?
The photographers I most admire are Charlie Waite & David Noton, I never tire of looking & learning from the way they both capture the light & the ‘feeling’ of the landscapes they photograph.

So after thirty odd years of fairly consistent photography I still class myself as a learner & hope I will continue to learn new methods & skills to add to those I already have, photography & the places & things I photograph still give me such a ‘buzz’ & I hope they always will!

Many thanks to Don for this interview and we look forward to seeing his website develop and seeing more images on Fotoviva over the coming weeks.

Our specialist flower photographer Jacky Parker has just had her wonderful ‘Rain Bells’ image awarded 1st prize in the Plant Portrait category of the prestigous Royal Hoticultural Society Photography Competition. It took the panel of judges two days to decide on the 19 winning photographs in the six competition categories but Jacky’s beautiful shot deservedly came through on top.

The competition is sponsored by the Medici Gallery in London, where it will be on display in the middle of January 2008 for one week and also in the RHS gardens Wisley spring through to autumn next year.

You can find the winning photo in our Floral Category and it is available to buy as a gallery wrapped canvas picture or ready to frame fine art poster print.

Congratulations to Jacky!

Today (1st December) is the first anniversary of the Fotoviva launch last year. Since those humble beginnings we have grown incredibly with nearly 200 images for sale now and many more site improvements such as gift vouchers and Triptych canvas art now available.

When the site first launched it only had around 20 of my images available. Around April last year I decided to help other photographers sell their work on the site and since then the offers have come flooding in. The whole ethos of Fotoviva is to sell the best photographic prints so only a very selective few are invited to join. These photographers are chosen because their portfolios are of a very high quality and offer images that we at Fotoviva feel people will want to hang on their walls.

If you have any suggestions for improving the site please write it down in a comment under this post - we love to hear from you!

At the Fotoviva online store we now have a special page which shows all the latest uploaded photographic prints which are available to buy as poster art or canvas prints. This is a flash-based gallery which we think is rather funky with its animated resizing and ease of use. If you want to keep up to date with all the latest images to our art store this is the page to visit if you’re in a hurry!

And if you are thinking about buying a picture for Christmas we will need your order by the 14th December to ensure it reaches you in time. Gift Vouchers are also now available if you are looking for gift ideas.

Pedro Bento is the latest recruit we would like to welcome to the Fotoviva photography team. Pedro is from Portugal and we are happy to have some of his great work available which includes some truly stunning landscape and seascape photography. He loves to take photographs in the extremes of the day, at dawn and dusk, when the ‘golden light’ appears for brief moments and shows the true beauty of a place. Pedro uses professional equipment by the likes of Canon and Manfrotto but always has in mind that cameras and lenses are simple tools and it isn’t the top gear equipment that captures the spirit of a place, but your knowledge and dedication.

Pedro says “I have been in love with nature since I was a kid, and I started taking photographs simply as records of my outdoor adventures. However, when a friend introduced me to some books of American Landscape Photographers I felt awed by the way they played with light in their images. After that day I decided, my images would never be just registers of places rather than registers of those places souls.”

We have a nice selection of Pedro’s work available on the Fotoviva store and all are available in a range of sizes as either canvas art pictures or poster prints. You can also visit his own website at www.pedrobento.com for more information.

A 16 billion pixel image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper has been posted on the internet, giving art lovers a detailed view of the 15th Century work. The image is 1,600 times more detailed than those taken with a typical 10 million pixel digital camera. Experts will be able to see segments as though just centimetres away and examine otherwise unavailable details.

The posting comes amid claims a new system aimed at protecting the piece from Milan’s pollution is not working. The original work is displayed in the Italian city’s Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Art curator Alberto Artioli told Associated Press news agency the new resolution avoided the graininess when zooming in to regular photographs.

You can see this work of art in all its 16bn pixel glory at www.haltadefinizione.com

“You can see how Leonardo made the cups transparent, something you can’t ordinarily see,” he said. “You can also note the state of degradation the painting is in.” That degradation has been the subject of controversy this week. An Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reported that a sophisticated monitoring and filtration system introduced during a restoration of the chapel in the late 1990s was not preventing particles or substances that could damage the work being brought in by visitors.

The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci at the end of the 15th Century and, because of the experimental techniques he used, parts of the masterpiece subsequently peeled off and were badly damaged. The BBC’s Frances Kennedy says the paper reported that equipment monitoring air quality inside the refectory showed that levels of fine particle pollution had tripled in the past two years. It quoted experts suggesting these particles could settle on the work, eventually creating a dark misty layer.

More than 350,000 people visit the painting each year, and together with pollution levels rising year by year, this monster of an image may well be recorded now forever thanks to digital imaging.

Our Photo of the Month is a new feature where we showcase photographs of outstanding quality and beauty. For October we are presenting an incredible image by Tim Wallace called ‘Northern Tide’. This is such a dramatic photograph with wonderfully vivid colours. Tim says “Northern Tide is part of a set of images that I’m working on to produce contemporary photography using an old weathered chair, basically in places that you would not expect to find a chair.”

“This shot was taken just next to the pier at Saltburn on the North East coast at the very early hours of 4:50am as the sun was rising. The chair was placed in approx 3 inches of water as the tide started to wash in as I wanted a soft flow of water coming through the chair towards the viewer. It’s one of my favourite shots in the series and I think its quite peaceful overall with a gentle feeling of space.”

You can purchase this photographic art piece on canvas or as a poster from the Fotoviva store at www.fotoviva.co.uk. We also have more of Tim’s contemporary and landscape photographs available and you can check out his new photoblog here.