A Souvenir Photo from the George Eastman Museum
(PHOTOGRAPH, 5x7 inch, dye-sublimation print in 9x15 paper mount, 2003)
In the fall of 2003, we drove to the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, to see an exhibition by Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison. Naturally, we also took the opportunity to explore the museum’s various displays showcasing Eastman Kodak’s immense contributions to photography.
One section of the museum featured a station where technicians took visitors' portraits using an antique Eastman large-format camera as a backdrop. We couldn’t pass up the chance. About ten minutes after the photo was taken, the technician handed us two prints, already mounted in paper frames—a wonderful keepsake. The images were printed using dye-sublimation, a thermal-based digital printing method. Compared to inkjet prints, dye-sublimation produces results that are closer to traditional photographs.
In the past, when we were still in Hong Kong, I owned a dye-sublimation printer due to work requirements—an extremely expensive machine at the time, costing nearly $15,000 USD. The Forty Poems series, now in the M+ collection, was printed using that very device.
We had previously seen ParkeHarrison’s works in publications, but experiencing the originals was an entirely different encounter. His surrealism is deeply rooted in the world, and his poetic critique of reality is profoundly moving.
In 2004, we undertook a complete redesign of Photo Pictorial, a Hong Kong photography magazine, overhauling both its layout and content. The March 2004 issue featured an in-depth article on ParkeHarrison’s work, written by Holly for the international photography column. Beyond the souvenir photo, this was the most valuable takeaway from the trip.
喬治伊士曼博物館紀念照
2003年秋天，我們驅車往紐約州Rochester 的喬治伊士曼博物館 (George Eastman Museum) 看Rober & Shana Parkeharrison 的展覽。當然也順道參觀館中各項關於伊士曼柯達對攝影百般貢獻的展示。館中有一個部分，有技術人員可為來觀者，在一座伊士曼古老大照相機前拍照。我們沒有放過此機會。照片拍過後十來分鐘，技術員送給我們兩張已簡略裝裱好照片。好一個紀念物。照片是感熱式的數位印刷 (Dye-sublimation)。這種數位照片，比噴墨打印的更接近傳統照片。我在港時因為工作需要，曾經擁有過一部這種印機，不過十分的昂貴，當時接近15,000美元 。M+現藏有我一套「Forty Poems」照片，便是使用該台印機輸出。Parkeharrison的照片，在刊物上已經看過，畢竟看原作的感染力很是不同。他的超現實來得那麼入世，對現實的的批判又是那麼詩意泱然。2004年我們為香港的「攝影畫報」，從版面到內容做了一個顛倒性的全面翻新工程。在2004年3月號，黃楚喬特撰的國際網絡專欄，詳盡寫了Parkeharrison的作品。也是這個紀念照之外，此行的主要收穫。