Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing

by Graham Nash, R. Mac Holbert, Richard Benson, et al.

"This is the magnum opus on digital printing and the book to read before color calibrating your monitor or wondering about differences in pigmented and dye-based inks. With little in the way of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321316304
• ISBN13: 9780321316301
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 2.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 9.0" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

A history of inkjet printing

I found this book to be quite a good read, but it should looked at as a historical work first. However the amount of text in this book is a lot less than you might expect, probably less than 50% of the book is written material. The remainder consists of wonderful prints from many artists. I did enjoy it, but it should be purchased understanding the odd format, a few essays, all well written. With many prints, not all are photographs. The Wilhelm essay on history of print longevity is especially good.

history

The history of digital photography has twists and turns, and the Nash Editions book gives us a record of some of the key events. Worth reading, and the images are splendid.

Inspiration Through Examples and History

With respect to the nature of this book's content and message Eric Burrows' review title hit the nail on the bean: "Not how to do it but how it happened". Don't buy this book with the expectation of learning technical tricks for printing. Rather, "Nash Editions; Photography and the Art of Digital Printing" is a retrospective look at the pathfinding inkjet printing work of Mac Holbert and Graham Nash. The book actually consists of several essays by various authors, including Mr. Archival Permanence himself, Henry Wilhelm. I found this book to be a fascinating stroll down the relatively short (to-date) path of fine art inkjet printing. But I also found it strangely inspiring. After spending a couple of hours with this book I felt compelled to devote even more effort to my own printing.

High expectations

Just a few years ago the terms "art" and "inkjet print" weren't tolerated in communal context. Now, as with many media evolutions, sensibilities have to a large degree changed. One of the forces instrumental in altering the art community's entrenched mindset against the inkjet process has been a small digital fine-art inkjet photography studio by the name of Nash Editions. Through the collaborative pioneering of a handful of deep-pocketed, influential, and very determined artistic entrepreneurs, Nash Editions helped develop, refine, and establish broad acceptance for the digital fine-art inkjet printing. This is their story. At first blush this lavishly printed (and expensive) book promises a consuming elegance that sweeps you away. It has star power too, with one of the leading personalities none other than Graham Nash of Crosby, Still & Nash fame. It also includes rich and very personal histories of the birth and labored growth of the digital printing service company, of permanence in various photographic media, and of photography itself as a medium of expression. The book also includes images by a broad selection of visual artists spread throughout in an eclectic smorgasbord. But there are a few elements that detract somewhat from the book's rich objectives. With several authors contributing, certain parts of the story get repeated - several times in fact - and the tone at times begins to sound slightly obsequious and self-lauding, to the point that one is led to the impression that Nash Editions (the company) was pretty much the sole entity that dragged digital printing from practically nothing in the early 1990s to it's high level of sophistication and acceptance today. While Nash Editions can certainly claim historic "firsts" in several categories within the digital printing revolution, a thoughtful person might wonder if there weren't just a few other significant contemporaries working toward the same goals. And on a purely technical note, one of the sections of the book ends in the middle of a paragraph, leaving the reader guessing as to the intended conclusion; perhaps a little tighter editing would have been helpful. So, should you buy this book? Yes, if you're a photographic artist interested in the history of the digital printing process or the concept and science of photographic media permanence. And of course it will serve too as visual stimulation and a contemporary two-dimensional artwork study; one can learn a great deal by looking carefully at other artist's work.

A beautiful work...

Most of the time when you view photography, you think about the image and composition, not the process of how the image is put on paper. In Nash Editions: Photography and the Art of Digital Printing by Nash Editions, you'll think more about the printing process than usual. And there's some really stunning photography, to boot! Contents: Introduction - Graham Nash The History of Nash Editions - R. Mac Holbert The Four Stages of Photography - Richard Benson A History of Permanence in Traditional and Digital Color Photography: The Role of Nash Editions - Henry Wilhelm Selected Bibliography Acknowledgements Index This book consists of four essays centered around the process of image creation on paper. Nash Editions focuses on the creation of high-end digital image printing, and as such has learned a lot about the process and history of how photos are transferred to paper. From the chemical-heavy techniques of the early days of photography to the digital printing processes of today, you'll gain insights into issues such as color fidelity and permanence. I now know why all those pictures of the sixties faded out so badly... The more visually stunning part of the book consists of the large number of images throughout the book. From black-and-white landscapes to portraits to abstract compilations, each page turn gives the reader another treat to ponder and enjoy. Very beautiful compositions... If this were a hardbound book, it'd be a classic "coffee-table" book. As a paperback, it doesn't have quite the same outward impact as other books similar to this. But it definitely holds its own in terms of content. This is a book that any serious photographer would enjoy owning...