Accounts payable, Vol. 1

Just back from a brisk walk around my neighborhood on an unusually crisp and cool Miami morning, I've found the energy to finally churn out a post about the various vendors that I've done business with good and bad over the years. Hopefully many of you will chime in about your own experiences and we'll all not only learn a little bit but also support the companies who deserve our hard-fought dollars.

Printing, portfolios, promos

With the "digital revolution" (isn't that phrase annoying) a lot of us have removed printing from our workflows to a large degree which has sucked a bit of the magic out of photography. Even seasoned pros need to feel a buzz about seeing their images large and tactile, and so I've put forth an effort recently to do a quarterly little show for myself and have my favorite new selects printed up just because.

Having given up running and stocking ink for an in-office Epson wide inket a couple of years ago, digital printing now means that I am usually ordering online for a C-print, and my vendor of choice is actually Adorama Pix, a division of the 2nd most famous photographic supply store in NYC. Though I'm aware that some people have had problems working with Adorama, I've experienced nothing but good service and solid results from the lab which is very competitively priced. (Some caution is in order for Adorama's b/w option however, which I've had zero luck with... however ordering b/w images printed in regular color paper has worked just fine, and there is not much or any cast). In addition to these quarterly little office photo shows, I've also relied on Adorama for 4 generation of portfolio prints (with quite a few oohs and ahhs from editors).

My second runner-up for digital C-prints is WHCC (White House Custom Color) based in Minnesota. WHCC gets top marks for great customer service (wow, how strange that a firm not based in NYC is better for service), but I've had inconsistent results using them for prints, mostly due to their practice of enlarging your digital files by a few percent before printing (very common), ensuring that they don't have an off-set print because of misalignment or cutting. The problem is that my prints are usually edge-to-edge critical (important elements at or near the edges, which I can adjust if I'm planning on using WHCC to some degree), or even more difficult they include consistent border or a logo dead center in the middle for a cover page. Those needs make WHCC harder to work with on my end, especially for portfolio printing, though the print quality is good, they are incredibly nice and helpful, the price is cheap, and the shipping is fast and efficient.

Both Adorama and WHCC can be relied upon to receive a medium-sized order (40 different 11x14 prints) early in the morning, and have it printed and shipped same-day for overnight delivery (a critical factor to me for digital C-prints vendors) outside of NYC (which is where most of us live).

The shinier side of the printing coin is of course the archival gallery printing and I don't have a clear favorite or winner in this camp. In the past (the Epson days) I would have just printed images myself using the archival pigment inks and a nice 300 gram cotton rag paper, and occasionally I have dangerous thoughts of buying one of the new Epson or Canon monsters. Currently I'm in talks with another Minnesota-based printer (Grey Matter Studio - site under construction) that my man WTJ hooked me up with about doing some archival 8x10 prints for an online gallery thing I'm cooking up (replete with print giveaways as well, of course), and also a new double-sided portfolio; but its still too early to give any review.

Which segues us over to portfolios... and here I'm really all about flexibility. I've relied on some version of the screw-post portfolio for the last 8 years, and have been a big supporter of the Pina Zangaro covers (11x14 portrait-orientation Vista in black and white, if you must know). They look good and modern, feel solid, have pretty decent build materials (though I know that there has been some trouble with the quality of the metals they use for the screw-post extender packs), and are very easy to use, ship, and keep relatively clean (though the black is of course a finger print magnet, so pack a little cloth) for presentation, plus, and probably most importantly, they cost about a third less than the Lost Luggage books (which they resemble (I'm not sure who was first). My favorite place to buy Pina Zangaro portfolios is from FastPortfolio.com, who seem to have consistently low prices and good service. (Good hint: keep an eye on their "specials" page for clearance items).

Previously I've also used Prat rod binder portfolios because they also allow you to have pages that lay pretty flat, but those fall apart a lot easier. The big sticking point with both brands in my opinion is that as a default they rely upon using polypropylene pages to hold your prints, which of course are too reflective and glaring. I don't like them, some editors and art buyers hate them, but its by far the easiest way to go if you are doing double-sided images. My next step will be working with a printer to print beautiful double-sided 11x14 images to spec, and using adhesive henge stripes to mount my images, but that's a complicated route.

Lastly in the portfolio department, you need to protect that portfolio when its en route to a client (which is the whole point, right!), and why not arrive in style at the same time. My favorite portfolio air case is Lost Luggage's "self-shipper" which they throw on sale about once a year. Even after getting beaten up, it still looks a bit slicker than the other options.

And to wrap up volume one, already reaching into novel-length, lets move on to all things promotion. First off, the lowly but important business card. Here I probably believe in a different sort of tactic that many photographers, wherein I'm perfectly OK paying ~$150 per 500 cards, if the cards make an impression. Seriously folks, put down the Moo cards, you look like an amateur. For several years I used 4by6.com for my BC card needs (but only BCs, not anything larger) and got hundreds of "wow, that's really nice!" in exchange. The secret to 4by6 is using their Satin finish on the 4/4 cards... it makes a huge difference, and gives the cards a very nice hand feel that people immediately notice. However, and this is a big however, 4by6 has terrible customer service and can not be relied upon for deadline printing in anyway. So I had to divorce them and move on to Henley Printing, a much smaller shop with a hard to decipher website and only average printing quality (though they also feature thick cards and satin coating). Ultimately I wasn't satistfied at Henley either, so I'm still looking.

My other main promo printing category is of course the 6x8 mailer and I've been a happy customer of Modern Postcard for about 4 years. MP is definitely not the cheapest solution but they are professional and have high quality and very good documentation. I understand their color standards and get the results I'm looking for from them, plus their mailing services are great because no one wants to mail several hundred promos by hand, right? MP also offers pretty regular discounts which I try to take advantage of (usually in the ballpark of 30%). Their "deluxe" 6x8.5 size is my favorite, but they offer a ton of other options.

Lastly, if you are in need of a cool way to send/present CD/DVDs, then you might want to consider the Jewelboxing line of packaging from those Coudal dudes. I'm not sure that many of us actually ship them very often anymore, but style points count. And with that I'll close out Vol. 1... please leave your favorite printing, portfolio, and promo vendors in the comments.

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Comments (4)

Thanks, a good resource for my never ending wish to print portfolios.... :)

I use prodpi.com for prints. Great quality and a fast upload interface thing. Easy drop-shipping. Not as cheap as Adorama, but I've never had a problem with any order.

I've been telling everybody I know about Adorama for a long time...I've had great success with them for portfolios, one-offs, and other printing needs. A lot of people are put off by the price; hard to imagine photographers being scared of something because it seems too cheap, but that seems to be the case.

It is funny how people get suspicious when you offer a cheaper solution to common need, ie, portfolio prints. Adorama works for me and with latest profiles I have had no problems. I have told many, esp. In NY, but they almost always go for a "fancier" company, read expensive, any get no better prints.
Overnight prints is a good postcard and business card choice. Color conversions are a little harder than MP, no custom profiles, but I have had very good results. And the price and quantities are more flexible.

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