Interview with ALTAIMAGE Reprographics House: Rob King
The Legends Journal interviews Rob King from Alta image on their work, involvement in the Legends project and career path so far.
About the process:
L.J. What is Alta image and what is it you do there exactly, what is reprographics?
R.K. Altaimage is a company owned by two business partners, started in May 2000, we provide retouching and colour correction to images for the book publishing, Fine Art galleries and museums and have offices in the UK and USA.
L.J. How does Alta image fit into the process of working with artists and creatives from concept to print-ready format and why is it important?
R.K. Artists like their work reproduced so it looks like the original wherever this is printed, as papers and printing machines vary so much, Altaimage offer services to simulate the final print process and make adjustments to the art so it is reproduced as close as posssible to how the artist created the piece.
L.J. How do you handle colour management to ensure accuracy and consistency across different prints? How does this differ when working with Black & white imagery?
R.K. Photoshop is one of many tools used to colour manage images and is the most well know brand, however Altaimage use a host of tools outside of Photoshop to achieve the best possible result, softwares such as Lightbox, Capture One, Xrite, Zepra are just a few examples. All of these softwares and the skill of our staff who expertly make use of the tools available to create print ready files which are then reproduced onto paper, plastics, fabric and a whole host of other media. Black and White imagery is just as difficult to manage as colour, sometimes even more as the paper substrate has a huge effect and if a Black and White image is printed on a very cream stock, this can appear to have a greenish cast, so colour management is every bit as important as we often use 4 colours to reproduce Black and White images, this allows us to boost the single mono image and make the blacks stronger as they have cyan, yellow and magenta underneath the black to add depth to the tonal range and allow us to compensate for the paper substrate.
L.J. What other post-production services, such as retouching or finishing, do you do at Alta to enhance the final printed product?
R.K. Adding texture, sometime removing texture, creating or removing objects, changing colour of old images to make them look new, or even making new images look old, sharpening, blurring, neutralising, adding colour saturation, masking areas so only certain colours/areas are adjusted or enhanced, adding special colours such as Pantones to push the colour to greater heights are just a few examples to assist an image.
L.J. What steps do you take to ensure that each project meets deadlines, especially with high-volume or complex jobs?
R.K. Having highly skilled staff who work day in day out to hit deadlines is routine for us, understanding the job at the outset and providing accurate timescales to our clients is also key, not being afraid to discuss with our clients the needs and requirements and setting priorities, we also have 24 hour shifts that help with workflow.
About your role:
L.J. How did you end up working in the world of printing ? What attracted you to it? How did you learn about it as a job?
R.K. I started as a cleaner in a reprographic company when I was 17, I worked myself up to becoming deputy managing director over a 21 year period, then I took the leap to run my own business with my business partner
L.J. What is the most satisfying part of your job?
R.K. It’s a passion not a job, getting the images as good as possible is very satisfying and there is no end to this, so each day is different.
L.J. What part of your role do you find most challenging?
R.K. Paperwork!!! Being creative and then having to spend so much time in running the business is sometimes challenging, but this is offset by having great customers who understand that we are a small company and together we keep the paperwork to a minimum.
L.J. Do you have a hobby or interest that led you to work in this field?
R.K. I love to look at nice things, to see the colour of art in museums and galleries might sound geekish but once I experienced this I knew there and then that this was intoxicating. Also the smell of opening a new printed book should be the 8th wonder of the world.
L.J. What was your first job after you left school?
R.K. I was a Locksmith, opening cars, getting people into houses who were locked out and opening safes.
L.J. What advice would you give young people looking to pursue a similar career?
R.K. Work for a publisher, understand the process, learn Photoshop inside out, spend as much time as possible understanding the best tool for the job.
L.J. What skills do you need for your role?
R.K. None, I left school without taking an exam, (I really don’t recommend this now I have realised how much education would of helped me) but it can all be done with hard work, passion and a belief in yourself, have confidence when others around you question you, learn new things, learn new ways to work, never give up.
L.J. Do you have a favourite portrait in Zoë Law’s Legends series?
R.K. Oh yes, Sienna Miller, Natural, musical and great contrast.