Print Crit: Jim Arthur's Owl

Jim Arthur's owl

Are you one of those who feel that cards—greeting cards, Christmas cards, etc.—are not suitable or prestigious enough as a medium for fine prints? If so I'm pretty sure I don't agree. I like photographs, and I like them whether I see them in books or magazines, prints on the wall, or even—gasp!—on the internet. I think I like nicely printed books and nicely printed prints the best. Into that select company I might also admit handmade greeting cards. More demotic, more democratic, sure, but that's nothing against them.

Jim Arthur didn't mean this as a "Print Crit" submission when he sent it to me—I had to ask him after the fact if he minded me writing about it. He graciously consented. Inside the card, he had tried to convince me to not throw it away for two days by repeating an exchange from "Seinfeld":

Jerry: It was a 'thank you' card from Kristin because I'm doing the PBS drive. I mean, how long am I supposed to keep it?
George: The rule is a minimum of two days.
Jerry: You making that up or do you know what you're talking about?
George: I'm making it up.

On the contrary, I actually wish I had a box full of the best cards I've gotten over the years. There have been some beauts. Sally Mann used to write letters in pencil on the back of 8x10 contact prints that she would then fold and stuff into an envelope. David Vestal made Christmas card prints every year, tiny three-inch enlargements from 35mm negatives on gelatin silver paper inside a folder of translucent tissue paper; Oren Grad followed David's lead and did the same for a number of years. Kent Phelan used to send beautiful cards, and Nick Hartmann did too. Ansel Adams and Helen Levitt wrote on printed postcards made of their own photographs. I've gotten so many nice cards from readers over the years. Many of them are extremely nice homemade prints.

Not all images work small, and here I think Jim has excelled—his detail of an owlish scowling visage is perfect for a card, giving a "big" impression in a small space. That, at least, is something you can see perfectly well in the snap of it above. The image is beautifully printed, with strong detail and great clarity and no artifacts. It's maybe a bit more contrasty than you might make it as a more sober wall piece, but that just makes it jump out at you properly as a card.

I think the things I like best about it are the implied humor—those startling owl eyes glaring at you in apparent fury—and that trick of seeming big even though it's small. It was taken with a Canon 6D and EF 100–400mm ƒ/4.5–5.6L IS II lens at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, "a 98-acre zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, natural history museum, publisher, and art gallery founded in 1952. Located just west of Tucson, Arizona, it features two miles of walking paths traversing 21 acres of desert landscape" (Wikipedia). It's a Great Horned Owl. Jim didn't supply any of the printing details.

A well-judged image choice for a card, and perfectly nicely printed for purposes. Strong job all in. George Costanza was wrong—I'll probably keep it a minimum of six months, just to enjoy, and it might hang around here for two years before it goes the way of all cards and gets lost in the shuffle.

I like cards!

Mike
(Thanks to Jim)

ADDENDUM Thursday a.m. (it's October!) from Jim Arthur: After a long and stressful day preparing my Dad for a move to memory care I plopped down at the computer looking for a distraction and found your kind words. Thanks Mike, you really made my day.

The card was printed on a PRO-100 which uses Canon’s ChromaLife 100+ inks. The paper is Canon's inexpensive MP-101 matte paper. While I like the look of the prints, the 45 lbs. weight of this paper is a little thin for anything but greeting cards.

I never pass up an opportunity to make a greeting card. It's quick and fun and the recipients always appreciate finding a handmade treat among the bills and advertising choking their mailbox.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Frank Gorga: "Jim's owl photo is great! After having read, here at TOP some years ago, about David Vestal's tradition of sending small prints to friends at the holidays, I began a similar tradition. This year will make the ninth year I have done this, so I think it really has become a tradition! The recipients are always appreciative and there are at least two mini-galleries of my photos out there in the world. One friend has all of the prints pinned up on a cork board in his home office. A neighbor keeps three or four of the prints on a shelf in her kitchen. It is gratifying to know that a few people like them enough to want to keep looking at them. In years past, I have sent a 5x7 inkjet print, usually black and white, printed on half of a letter-sized sheet of paper. These fit in a readily-available 6x9-inch envelope with a piece of cardboard for stiffening. This year, having pandemic-induced time on my hands, I have taken to making cyanotypes again after a twelve year hiatus. Thus, I am toying with the idea of sending 4x5 inch cyanotypes this December. I'll need to get my you-know-what in gear soon if that is going to happen!"

John: "I maintain the David Vestal tradition, which he got from Sid Grossman at the Photo League. Four small analogue prints on an 8x10 sheet, then whack 'em through the guillotine. Many end up stuck to fridge doors or on pinboards for surprisingly long periods. What is really interesting is how many get carefully kept for years. Last year, at a motorway service station, I noticed a stranger intently peering at me for no apparent reason. Once past the a newly grown beard, I recognised someone not seen for seventeen years. After the catch-up stuff, he and his wife told me they have box reserved for the accumulating cards, as do others. Confirming the German phrase, 'Papier ist geduldig,' paper is patient. (Has an alternative meaning, paper doesn’t blush.)"

John Krumm: "I've long used greeting card photo paper from Red River. It's good quality and comes with a crease for easy folding. They also have printing templates for Lightroom (and I think Photoshop) that makes for easy printing."

Kristine Hinrichs: "Over the years I’ve made a few $$ selling my photo cards. What has really been fun is printing a card for birthday, wedding, sympathy that I hope will have special meaning to the recipient. About a month into the pandemic lock-down I looked at my substantial card inventory and decided to send a card, with a personal message, to every single person in my contact list for whom I had an address—friends, An old boyfriend, ex-husband, business associates—everyone. In the end I sent 96 cards. I had no expectations. I was overwhelmed by the response, many cards in return. Several said that theirs arrived at a particularly lonely time, a friend’s son sent me a letter on origami paper, several were framed. It was quite an experience."

Jamie Pillers: "Over at the Rangefinder Forum website, there's a bunch of us that do a card exchange roughly once a year (I think we're about to embark on the 12th exchange). There are usually 30 to 40 participants. Everyone picks a favorite photo for their card and sends one to all the other participants. Its great fun then to wait for cards arriving over the next couple of months from all over the world."

Comments

[Steve Rosenblum]

The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is a truly incredible and wonderful place. Despite the "museum" in the name, it is mostly set outside. If any of you travel anywhere near Tuscon, it is a must see.

[Malcolm Leader]

Ho boy! Are you going to get cards!

[Speed]

I saw the headline and thought, "Good. Another Print Crit ... Why did Mike lay it down on the stairs? Maybe the light was good. It nicely frames the picture."

Then, "Why is he talking about a card? Maybe Jim sent a small card version along with the large print."

I'm still laughing. At me.

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

You threw away photo cards from Sally Mann???

Eolake

[No, but if you put a gun to my head and told me I have an hour to find them, I'd probably be dead. (Seinfeld "Newman" voice: Moves!) --Mike]

[JoeB]

I remember visiting the Sonora Desert Museum back in the late 70's. Why would I remember? Being a city boy it amazed me to see a scorpion walking next to me on one of the gravel paths. I started to watch closely where I walked!

[Peter]

Ilford used to make their double weight Pearl RC paper as postcards in 4x6 size. Made a fun way to send your pictures to someone, and taught me that some shots really work well in small format.

I wonder if they make an inkjet equivalent now.

[scott kirkpatrick]

David Vestal sent out cards to all of his finity subscribers, from 2005 until his death in 2013, and at some point he put together a selection from the 30 years of cards before that. I'll send you a tantalizing shot of the cover of the collection. My copy has the subsequent cards all tucked into the back. 2 day rule? nonsense!

[Jeroen Pulles]

Excellent photo, brilliant frame!

[David Lee]

Mike, would you be interested in getting a postcard? If you don’t mind, please share your address.

David

[Stuart]

I do this sometimes but struggle with the etiquette. For example, I always feel obliviged to send a snowy scene at Christmas, but I don't always have a "good one" to print - not before Christmas anyway!
Would it be OK to send any picture you like, or think they'll like? Or should it fit the season / celebration?

[Leland Davis]

Some of the best cards are old photos of the recipient doing something silly with a good caption.
I have made a calendar from my photos for the past 19 years with 12 images in a 5x7 size and a calendar grid overlay and give them to about 25 of my friends each year. Usually with a different theme.

[Jeff in Colorado]

I like the photo too!

BTW Mike, did you deliberately paint your steps in 18% grey?

[vbsoto]

I've started sending photo postcards to my son since he is away from college as a way to give him some connections to home and family. It has been alot of fun. They are of family and friends and I mix in old with current. I write little reflections on them as well. Its a head start on getting my work out to my kids.

[Ernest J. Zarate]

Eight years ago as part of the annual Foto Fest, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, put on an exhibition titled "Snail Mail," of which I was part, along with some notable others:

https://www.artslant.com/ew/events/show/202370-snail-mail?tab=EVENT

The curator, Anne Tucker, discussed in a three part interview the vitality of photographs mailed from one point to another.

Part One: https://www.mfah.org/blogs/inside-mfah/eastman-kodak-files-bankruptcy-conversation-anne-tucker

Part Two: https://www.mfah.org/blogs/inside-mfah/kodak-snapshot-conversation-anne-tucker

Part Three: https://www.mfah.org/blogs/inside-mfah/kodak-snapshot-conversation-anne-tucker

This was back in the day when a "hard copy" was an actual GSP thing. Anne's comments were prescient.

[Ernest J. Zarate]

My bad on the first part of the Anne Tucker interview:

https://www.mfah.org/blogs/inside-mfah/eastman-kodak-files-bankruptcy-conversation-anne-t

[Keith Mallett]

I'm a bit late on commenting on this post Mike, but wanted to add my bit. I usually make my own cards as well, either using Museo card blanks on my Epson 3880 or sticking prints to card blanks. However, when I'm traveling or away from home I use the Touchnote app, on my Mac usually, to create the card which they print and post. The quality is not as good as a HQ inkjet, but not bad either. It's a very useful facility. You can also send them to yourself to give personally or write in and send yourself.