The Printing's On The Wall

The Fujifilm/PPLA Colour Printer Awards 2004 deadline has passed and the judging is complete - so the final countdown to the 10th Awards has begun!

Michael Mardon, MPD Laboratories - People & Occasions 2003 / Steve Barnes, Steve Barnes printing & Processing - Buildings & Industry 2003 / Tamsie Barttar, Tapestry MM - Butterfly Girl 2003 / Morgan Sendall, London - Hero Tyres 2003

Profile readers are invited to view the crème de la crème of printing and retouching talent at the Association Of Photograpers (AOP) Gallery from 24-29 May. Winning entries from the hand printing categories will be displayed alongside their machine prints so that visitors to the exhibition can debate exactly how the printers achieved their end result. Digital retouching finalists' work will also be on display, next to the full brief.

The success of last year's exhibition (also held at the AOP Gallery) confirmed the choice of venue for the 2004 Awards.

"We were really impressed with the interest from all areas of the photographic industry," said Fujifilm's Jerry Deeney. "By exhibiting the winning prints at such a high profile venue, we attracted even more entrants for the 2004 Awards - printers were keen to have a chance of their work being displayed!"

But the exhibition also benefits another group of people involved in the Awards - the photographers. As Dave Lucken of Metro Imaging explains:

"Displaying the winning prints at the AOP Gallery provides excellent exposure for the owners of the images, especially since many photographers are unknown and may not have displayed their work to the public before. But this, in turn, benefits the hand printers who are planning to enter the next Awards. If photographers know that there is a chance their image will be exhibited at the AOP Gallery, they are more likely to give permission for the printers to use it."

Now in their tenth year, the Fujifilm/PPLA Colour Printer Awards are attracting more and more entrants from different areas of the photographic industry and are now open to freelance digital retouchers as well as those working for a pro-lab. Entrants can be confident in the judging process, since the panel comprises more and more past winners of the Awards who also still work as hand printers in pro-labs. This year, Michael Mardon of MPD Digital Laboratories, whose print was awarded first prize in the 2003 People & Occasions category, has joined the panel, alongside 2002 Colour Printer of the Year, Andy Fisher of Ceta.

"Once printers get involved in the Awards, they enter year after year," said Jerry Deeney. "So it's great to welcome some of our past winners to the judging panel because they really know what it takes to create the perfect print."