I’ve mentioned here and also in the Figital Revolution Manifesto (book) about the evils of re-branded photographic supplies (film/ paper/ etc…) but maybe things are about to change… and change can be good! Crane Museo Paper (Max and Portfolio Rag) have been acquired by Intelicoat (who by the way did the coating on these papers anyways) so what does this mean? First these great papers will still be made (and yes I did say great) and sold but now under Intelicoat (Crane will still supply the base paper of course). IMHO our industry needs more of this transparency as to who really makes or at least who is involved in the production of the products we all use. I would be very upset (pissed) to find out that several papers I just bought were all the same paper just with different names…this is not as far fetched as it seems. For now I will just be happy that one of my favorite papers will continue to be made…now if I could just figure out how to make some of my favorite films survive the coming decades that would be truly amazing. For more information on this Intelicoat deal click on the link:
Don’t get too comfortable about consolidation in the Digital Fine Art Market. Some companies are in dire state. InteliCoat might not survivie 2008, this becomes cleaerer every month.
As a result we will see a major shift in the US Digital Fine Art Market, away from domestic sources (who will this be?) to the more stable European Paper Mills and Coating Manufacterers.
Please keep this in mind before you get attached to paper.
I’m actually feeling pretty comfortable right now…the digital industry was perfectly content to see the consolidation and near-early death of the film industry and it was not too hard to see that it would boomerang at some point and film would have a resurgence/ rennaissance and the digital printing industry would thin out as a result. All of the rampant rebranding and homogenized paper produced the last few years may finally cut itself to just a handful of great papers…that’s fine with me. I also have no problems with European Paper Mills and Coating Manufacturers.
However, I’m not really sure manufactured coated inkjet papers is REALLY the future of printing anyways. I mean, think about it. Digital inkjet papers are just one point on the time line of photography…how many people do you know who still do salt prints? tin types? carbon prints?… in my opinion in a handful of years inkjet coated papers will fall into these categories…photography is always changing, always evolving. ( And that’s a good thing.)