CandyStore - Wooden Boat Center Photographic Studio
The Wooden Boat Center has a fabulous newly-renovated studio facility in Kotka designed for photo enthusiasts: 100 sq. meters of space specifically for the production of photographs. Maintaining the Finnish tradition of wooden boats, building of new boats, and restoring them need the support of high-quality image-based communication. Although the primary function of this photographic studio is to serve the needs of the Wooden Boat Center, it also offers photographers with well-appointed facilities for making prints, for working on their own exhibitions, and for organizing workshops. Indeed, various presentations and training sessions are in store beginning in September.
Fine Art printing equipment is on hand for users. EPSON STYLUS PRO 3880 is a printer, which became commercially available in the fall of 2009, and it can handle all sheet sizes between A4 and A2. For large images, there is an EPSON STYLUS PRO 9900 large-image printer hooked up with Spectroproofer for ensuring faultless color reproduction. Both printers have been selected as the best in their class in several independent tests, and they employ innovative Ultrachrome HDR colors, including orange and green.
The maximum width of images that can be printed using the large-image printer is 111.8 cm. The available reel size and the software used in printing determine the maximum length of the print.The photographic studio works in partnership with Aveka Ltd, a Finnish importer of high-quality materials. (www.aveka.fi)
In addition, the studio is also equipped with Flextight, Nikon, and Epson Perfection V750 Pro equipment for digitizing large-size images and images captured on traditional 36 mm film. Photographic equipment includes professional cameras by Leica and Nikon plus a large-size (4x5”) Linhof Technika with the BetterLight Super 6K scanning digital back.
A common problem encountered in connection with printing services is that files sent from the user’s computer in more or less finished format print out differently. This is mostly due to differences between the user’s display and that in use when producing the print. The Epson printers used at Wooden Boat Center are connected to an Eizo ColorEdge CG221K (22.2”) LCD wide-screen display.
The market-leader display from Eizo is capable of displaying the full AdobeRGB color space when set to a pixel resolution of 1920x1
200. All of the ink colors are shown directly on the display. This results in the very best color and grayscale fidelity on the print, especially as regards the darker hues, which have always been particularly challenging in printing. The capacities of the Mac Pro computers are adequate for speedy processing of extremely large files.
Customers can send their files over the Internet or bring them in person to the studio; there any adjustments can be implemented and then we can proceed to printing them out in the desired size. The studio stocks twenty or so of the most commonly used printing materials and more can be acquired as necessary. The costs of these services are based on the size of the prints.
The printing workshop is an attractive audio-visual facility designed to accommodate 1+18 persons. It is very well suited for lectures, presentations and meetings. The users have at their disposal a wireless local area network enabling seamless interaction between the participants via their laptop computers.
Next to the audio-visual studio there is a conference room seating 14 people for group work. Reasonably-priced hotel accommodation is available within easy walking distance. At the end of the day, visitors can enjoy the laid-back atmosphere and services of the renown seamen's tavern Kairo.
A further objective in these activities is to get networked with schools and businesses active in this field as well as with domestic and international organizations. We have gained valuable experience in this regard from hosting Kotka and Helsinki Photo Centers' five-day "Three to Seven" workshop led by the well known American photographer Arno Minkkinen.
Contact: Candy Store Lebak Charters Oy (0500-552 725) leo.skogstrom@gmail.com
info@puuvenekeskus.fi