Anyone interested in a printing forum here?
Anyway, I do not own or operate my own photo inkjet printer because I do not want to allocate the time and energy for one right now, I don’t relish the idea of spending tons of money on ink cartridges, and I don’t print all that much. Further, I am interested in metal and other non-traditional media, which would not be feasible anyway. Also, I would have to print regularly to keep the print heads from clogging all the time (more of a problem for Epson than Canon?) What would I do with all those prints? I don’t have that much free wall space at home (my office is another story), I don’t intend to sell any at this point (have sold some in the past), and I’m certainly not going to burden relatives and acquaintences with gifts of my photos (they very likely don’t want them).
Nevertheless, I do want get back into printing more of my own work. Years ago, I had several printed by a local printer/framer guy who had a large format Canon. I would bring my drive down there, soft proof, and have a very nice print–later with mat and frame at a very reasonable price. Now I no longer live near him, so I have been investigating various web-based services. I recently made a nice calendar (France pics) made by BayPhoto and am looking at some other print media. I am especially interested in metal prints and various non-traditional media. I have some nice bare walls in my new (ish) office at work that I have not been able to use since March 2020, when my employer insisted we work remotely. I placed some framed prints and stuff on one of my walls, but apparently my other three walls are made of diamonds or something because I broke two nails (and nearly the hammer) trying to hang a calendar. So, I want something lightweight that can be put up with adhesive strips/tabs. Also, I don’t want glass, because I don’t need shards flying around if/when the adhesive dries up and/or fails.
I have had a number of museum/gallery exhibits of my work, but in every case, the museum insisted on printing the images from files I provided. Hence, having a printer would have done me no good in those cases either.
How much of your work do you print and display? What media do you favor? What media work best for what type of photo/subject matter in your opinion? How do you display?
Is it worth it to own a printer? (Yes I know darkroom photography was expensive too!)