Why do your prints cost as much as they do?

This is a fair question and one that is complicated to answer. When I started making photographs many years ago it was strictly for the love of it. I photograph what I love for the joy of it but as every single frame I shoot is an investment I have to be aware and smart about my work and what it is worth, both to me as well as my clients.

Prints

The printing process is equally as complex. For pigment prints (my standard level print) every image is tested and tested and tested until the combination of tone, texture and quality is absolutely perfect. This can take 3 test prints or 15+ test prints. The papers that I choose for printing are the best on the market in terms of quality, weight, and texture in order to present the absolute best example of the image as possible. The paper alone can run up to $20 a sheet so proofing costs can add up quickly. Every print is also created to museum standards so that it will stand the challenges of time. These are not a simple push-a-button prints, every single one is created, inspected, and personally signed as a guarantee of the standard of work that I require for every piece I create.

Value

There’s a big difference between expense and value. If you compare one of my prints to a print from a typical retailer or really any other print, you will see immediately that there’s no comparison between the two. I have also worked long and hard to build relationships with the people and places and things that I photograph in order to give you exclusive perspectives or views of things that you may never have a chance to experience in person. And lastly, I really hope that the images I create will live in the homes, garages and galleries for decades to come as a timeless reminder of the times we live in and the amazing people, places and things that we get to experience today. These are split second moments of history passionately created to last lifetimes and I personally love and stand proudly behind every one of them.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you don’t see an image on the store that you’re interested in or of you’d like something customized specifically for your needs.

Why I choose to shoot mostly film/analog

This is both an artistic and personal choice for me. It is slower, more time consuming and most definitely not the easy, inexpensive choice.

The process of shooting film on old cameras and the look of film is part of what makes (in my opinion) my work have its distinctive look and feel. For me it just suits what I’m trying to capture and share with the viewers when they see my photographs. I’m not looking to create artificially vintage images. What I want to create is timeless images. You will see modern elements in my photographs as well as people in a lot of them and I love this. You will also see “imperfections” and grain from the film. I would much rather have the person looking at my photographs feel some type of emotion when they see my work than just see a beautiful photograph of a subject. Having both is a bonus but not a requirement for me. I want to create 1/60th of a second personal stories that stir the imagination and emotions of people who see them.

I make a lot of photographs on a variety of film formats from 35mm, to medium format (6x6 and 6x7cm), to large format (4x5, 5x7 and 8x10in) and more. Every format has its benefits and weaknesses, so I choose the format according to the subject and what I want the end result to be. 35mm is the least expensive with the most limitations, medium format is a huge step up in quality and large format delivers the most stunning quality of all. For example, a roll of 35mm film of 36 exposures ranges between $6-12. A roll of 10-12 exposure medium format film ranges up to $15 a roll. And a sheet (one photo) of large format 8x10 film ranges from $5-20+ a sheet. This is commitment (or insanity if you prefer), but I love and am dedicated to this level of quality in all of my work.

After shooting, the film has to be hand processed in chemicals and either scanned or hand-printed in a traditional darkroom. As I end up scanning 95% of my negatives there is the time-consuming process of reviewing, editing and retouching. My personal choice in this process is that I won’t do anything in post processing that couldn’t traditionally be done in a darkroom. I may select and share maybe 5% or less of what I’ve shot as I’m incredibly selective about both the composition and visual quality of my final images. On average, I have invested at least 3-5 hours of work on each and every print that I create just so that it can end up with the quality and perfections that I require.

This doesn’t even include the tens of thousands of dollars that I’ve invested in the tools that I use to shoot these images or the decades of time I’ve spent working to perfect my vision and process to a standard that I can live with. Being a perfectionist is hard.

Tim Scott