ldphotolab Archives - Page 11 of 11

3 Summer Essentials to Celebrate Canada Day Long Weekend

As a Canadian company, we can’t help but burst with national pride when Canada Day comes around. We have the honour of calling this amazing and beautiful country home, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. What’s more, the Canada Day long weekend also usually feels like the true kick off of summer. And aren’t Canadian summers just the best?

If you’re planning to spend the Canada Day long weekend pool-side, lake-side or beach-side (really, any excuse to enjoy the sun), then you’ll first want to make a stop by our London Drugs Photolab to order your custom-made summer essentials. We’ve just launched brand new beach blankets, beach bags and water bottles: all of which you can add your own personal touch to with your summer photos.

As a special Canada Day offer, you’ll save $19.98 when you purchase all 3 personalized summer essentials together – just $179.99 for the whole package!

Photo Beach Blankets

As you hit the beach (or outdoor pool) for possibly the first time this season, you’ll be all the more excited to roll out your brand new personalized 60″ x 70″ beach blanket. Use some of your favourite summer photos from over the years to decorate it with the help of our Photolab; choose from either a horizontal photo beach blanket, or a vertical photo beach blanket. Even better: toss it over your poolside chair, and everyone will know exactly which spot is yours!

Photo Elegant Water Bottles

If you plan on soaking in the sun over the long weekend, you’ll not only want to be lathering on the sunscreen, but also making sure you and your family stay hydrated. Our new photo elegant water bottle can be personalized with a summer snapshot, and are a perfect addition to your beach bag. Personalize one for each member of your family, and you’ll never fight over whose bottle is whose again.

Photo Beach Bags

Your long weekend summer fun wouldn’t be complete without a beach bag to carry all your essentials, from towels to sunscreen. We’re very excited to now offer quality beach bags which can be customized with a photo of your choice. This also makes a great gift for friends and family who have summer birthdays.

To complete your long weekend packing list, don’t forget your floatie! We have giant swan floats, donut floats, fun pretzel floats, and even the coveted giant unicorn floats that will be the star of all your Instagram pics. And don’t forget – you can order prints of all your Canada Day fun straight from your smartphone with our FREE London Drugs Photolab App for iOS and Android.

Of course, in true Canadian fashion, our incredibly polite (and knowledgeable) Photolab Experts are available in-store to help you with crafting your custom summer beach blankets, water bottles, and beach bags. Just visit us at your local London Drugs!

Fashion Editorial Photographer Farrah Aviva Showcases Her Capture Photography Festival Exhibit on London Drugs Photolab Prints

Vancouver-based actor and photographer Farrah Aviva is one of the latest talents to step into our photolab and work with our passionate team of Photolab Technicians. Farrah was chosen as a featured photographer as part of the Capture Photography Festival, and was given the opportunity to showcase her photography project The BANGBANG at the Opus Hotel in Vancouver, with prints provided by our London Drugs Photolab.

Playing off the work of Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and David Bailey, Farrah’s work takes a fresh look at fashion editorial-style photography, using it to spark a discussion on contemporary sociopolitical culture. The BANGBANG is meant to re-examine sartorial images, which not only represent beauty, but also represent topics that engage and spark a greater conversation.

We caught up with Farrah in the photolab as she worked with Photolab Manager John Goldsmith to print her collection of 6 fashion editorial images for the Capture exhibit. All of her images were printed using our Epson P9000 large format printer, with high quality Epson inks that have an archival stability of 200 years.

“The printing process was the thing I was most nervous about. As a photographer in the digital world you don’t often get to see your work printed. Everything is on a computer screen,” Farrah explains. “I really didn’t know if the colours were going to translate the same onto paper and carry the same power, but the London Drugs Photolab Manager, John Goldsmith, was a dream to work with. Everything turned out better than I could have hoped.”

After the prints had been given a good once-over by Farrah, they were packaged up and sent off with Farrah for framing. The framed prints were then installed on the walls of the OPUS Hotel, where they would be showcased for the duration of her Capture exhibit.

This was Farrah’s first photography exhibit and she was thrilled to have her prints on public display, after spending over a year working tirelessly on The BANGBANG.

“I had imagined it for months so when they were finally hung I was relieved and excited, but it really didn’t hit me until the next day. I went back to the Opus to drop something off and suddenly I was standing in a room full of my images. It didn’t seem real. I had to do the iconic eye rub to see if I was dreaming. A flood of pride surged in and the fantastic feeling of hard work paying off really set in.”

Farrah has been back to our photolab a number of times since we printed her exhibit, to order more prints to sell during her official exhibit launch and through her website. We’re over-the-moon, knowing that Farrah’s prints will be showcased in homes and offices all over North America!

You can order prints of your own photos, in gallery quality just like Farrah’s, by visiting our London Drugs Photolab.

London Drugs Photolab Prints the Best in Canadian Photojournalism for Capture Photography Festival Exhibit

We’re used to seeing photos accompanying online news articles and newspapers, but you may be surprised by the talent and skill that goes into capturing those incredibly candid moments. The annual National Pictures of the Year Awards, presented by the News Photographers Association of Canada (NPAC), celebrates the very best in Canadian photojournalism, and for the 4^th year, our London Drugs Photolab has had the pleasure of printing their entire exhibit as part of the Capture Photography Festival.

To prepare all of the finalists’ images for the gallery exhibit, our Photolab Technicians worked one-on-one with NPAC’s coordinators Ric Ernst and Ali Ledgerwood. We were careful to take into account each photographer’s specifications, ensuring their colours printed exactly as they should. Using our state of the art Epson P9000 large format printer, we printed each of the photos in gallery quality, on our Epson Lustre paper. The quality Epson inks used in printing will ensure the prints have an archival stability of 200 years.

Ric and Ali visited the lab to see a test print of one of the composite multi-picture category finalists, and had the opportunity to watch the full process, from sizing and checking the image’s colouring on the computer, to seeing the image printed on the Epson P9000, to cutting and inspecting the final print. They also looked over each of the single prints for several other categories in the exhibit.

Left print: International Finalist Jim Young (Agence France-Presse) 2017 Picture Story. Right print: Social Issues Category Finalist Photo by Ben Nelms (Independent)

“I was overjoyed when I viewed the prints for our exhibition for the first time. I knew our featured photographers would truly appreciated seeing their original files accurately reproduced in both tone and colour and on such high quality paper,” said Ric.

Along with Ric, Ali has coordinated the printing of the National Pictures of the Year Awards exhibit with our Photolab for the past 3 years, working directly with Photolab Manager John Goldsmith. “Working with John at the London Drugs Photolab is always a pleasure. The professionalism and understanding of our needs, particularly for such a large project, keeps our minds at ease knowing that the work is going to be completed quickly, but without compromising quality,” she said.

After being framed and installed at the Pendulum Gallery in Vancouver, the National Pictures of the Year Awards exhibit was opened to the public. For the many photojournalists featured, it’s a special experience for them to see their work displayed in a gallery setting.

“Most of our photographers only see their work on computer screens or reproduced in newspapers and magazines so when they see them printed professionally, it’s an eye-popping experience for them,” Ric explains.

Fourteen categories of photojournalism are represented in the exhibit, including news, sports and social issues. Of the nominees featured, a winner in each category will be chosen, along with a 2017 Student Photographer of the Year, 2017 Student Multimedia of the Year, 2017 Photojournalist of the Year and a 2017 Photograph of the Year. Considering over 2,000 photographs along with 25 multimedia productions from across Canada were entered in this year’s competition, being selected as a National Pictures of the Year winner, and even as a nominee, is certainly an honour.

Left print: Sports Feature Category Finalist Photo by Tijana Martin (Lethbridge Herald). Right print: Social Issues Category Finalist Photo by Ben Nelms (Independent)

Photographer Ben Nelms was chosen as a Pictorial Category Finalist, for his photo of salmon trimmings. Taken at St. Jean’s Cannery in Nanaimo BC, the photo highlights the family-run operation which was founded by Armand St. Jean in 1961, but who recently sold a majority stake of the company to a group from Nuu-Chah-Nulth First Nation.

Ben shared his appreciation for the quality work and effort that went into printing his photo for the gallery exhibit.

“Having your images shown in a gallery show is a great feeling for a photojournalist. Not only because it’s great to see the caliber of Canadian photojournalism but because the high quality prints draw an audience to them which ultimately brings a spotlight to the story you are trying to tell,” he explains. “It is always great to see your photos printed, especially when it’s professionally. As a news photographer, I am use to seeing my photos printed on lower quality paper so when I get a chance to see high quality prints it’s a real treat. The support from London Drugs is fantastic, their photolab is one of a kind and the professional products they produce is second to none.”

While the images for the National Pictures of the Year Awards exhibit were printed for professional photographers like Ben, our Photolab uses the same innovative photofinishing equipment to print gallery quality images to hang on your walls at home, too! Head over to the London Drugs Photolab to see our full selection of fine art print surfaces.

Q&A with Photolab Technician and Capture Photography Festival-Featured Photographer, Gabriel Martins

Photos by Kai Mallari

Ever wondered who prints your photos for you, after you submit your order to our Photolab? Especially if you’ve made an order like a fine art print, or a photo that’s particularly near and dear to your heart, you might be a bit nervous about who will be overseeing the printing, ensuring the sizing and colours are just right, and that the print comes out flawless.

Luckily, many of our Photolab Technicians are photographers themselves, which means they fully understand what it’s like to be in your shoes. Meet Gabriel Martins: a relatively new addition to the London Drugs Photolab team, and a local photographer in Vancouver. Gabriel has a passion for photofinishing and photography, and uses his experience as a photographer to ensure every print order he works on receives the same attention to detail as he would give his own work.

During the Capture Photography Festival this year, Gabriel was chosen by a panel of judges to be a featured photographer with not one, but two gallery exhibits in Vancouver. As part of this opportunity, Gabriel was provided space for his gallery exhibits, Rues de Montréal Part 1 & Part 2, and had his fine art work printed by the London Drugs Photolab. It was a unique and special experience for Gabriel, to be on the other side of the Photolab counter, as a photographer ordering prints for his gallery exhibits. To share a bit more about his experience, we sat down with Gabriel for a short Q&A:

Q: Tell us a little bit about your exhibit, Rues de Montréal.

A: Rues de Montréal portrays the streets of Montréal through 13 photographs taken during the summer of 2017, when the city celebrated its 375th anniversary. The images show the vibrancy of Montréal and question our use of public spaces and how people interact with them.

Q: What kind of print surface did you choose for your exhibit, and why?

A: All photos were printed and mounted on Metallic Canvas Gallery Wrap. I chose this media and finishing because it makes the colours pop out and creates more of a 3D effect.

Q: What was your first thought when you saw the final prints up on the gallery walls? How did the print surface look and feel?

A: I got tears in my eyes. It was the outcome of 7 months of hard work to make it happen. The texture of the canvas definitely made me feel almost like the photos were paintings.

Q: You had a particularly interesting print that’s caught the eye of gallery visitors. Tell us about it.

A: That’s the “Black Moon”. Before I went to Montréal, I knew about the revolutionary work of INSA, who’s a renowned British muralist, and his project called “GIF-TI”, which consists of photographing each layer the artist paints by hand. These images are then uploaded and overlaid to create the final piece, a looping GIF file. The viewers can download his app and point their smartphone camera towards his mural, which scans and recognizes the mural and plays the animation, bringing the piece to life. I wasn’t expecting that his app would work with my print and I got really stoked about it. The augmented reality effect is definitely an extra attraction in this exhibit.

Q: What was it like to be on the other side of the Photolab counter, as a London Drugs Photolab customer?

A: It was a great experience from the beginning to the end. All the Canvas Gallery Wraps were packed separately, which made the logistics easier and safer. Besides that, the colours, contrast, and sharpness turned out exactly how I was expecting.

Q: Do you find it important to build a trusting relationship with your Photolab Technician?

A: As a professional photographer, I believe that this relationship is extremely important because we put so much love and effort into the execution and post-production of all photos, so the printing and finishing processes have to be high caliber. The delivery is as important as the medium.

Q: Has this experience helped you with your own interactions and work as a London Drugs Photolab Technician?

A: Absolutely. When I’m printing, mounting, framing or doing anything else in the lab, I always treat the customers’ photos as if they were mine.

Gabriel (left) pictured here with his Photolab Manager, Bill Storey (right), who came out to support the opening of Gabriel’s exhibit

You can see Part 2 of Gabriel’s exhibit, Rue de Montréal, at Dunn’s Famous BC Restaurant in Vancouver from April 16^th to June 16^th. For more details on the exhibit, visit Capture Photography Festival.

On the Hunt for Easter Treats? Egg-citing Gift Ideas for the Entire Family

Everybody loves getting something sweet Easter morning, but there’s nothing wrong with shaking it up every now and then, especially when the majority of us are still working through that Valentine’s Day bulk.

Personalized Mugs

With 47 different customizable Easter mug templates, you’ll have no problem finding the perfect breakfast companion for everyone at the ‘big kids’ table.

Spend some quality time with the tots! Have little ones create their own handprint art, which can be easily digitized so you can add it to an Easter-themed mug design. You can digitize your artwork using an at-home scanner, or visit your local London Drugs Photolab in-store to use our self-serve scanner, or have an LDExpert scan it for you.

April long weekend is best spent with the family, April 1^st – get personal.

Easter Cards

For the family unable to make it – or the sentimental aunt, cousin or grandparent – customize an Easter-themed greeting card! Choose your favorite vacation photo, a dance recital snapshot, or the hockey goal candid – tell a story, share some news, or just send a ‘Happy Easter!’ greeting.

There are over 30 different templates to choose from, and our LDExperts are always available to help you through, step by step, at every London Drugs Photolab.

But what is Easter without eating an entire Lindt bunny before breakfast? We’re all kids at heart – can anyone say no to the kind eyes of the marshmallow Peep, or turn down cracking open that mysterious orange plastic at the center of every Kinder Surprise egg? So why not fill that personalized mug with Easter goodies, as an added treat!

Spring Cleaning Tips for Organizing and Storing Your Photos

March brings the sun, the greenery, and of course the allergies! It reminds us to dust off some of that hibernation clutter that has collected over the last few months. Tis’ the season for spring cleaning!

It starts with the dreaded junk drawer and ends with moving around the furniture, but somewhere in between, you’ll find that ever-growing collection of family portraits and candids in boxes or old photo albums, and like the bedroom Feng Shui, they could probably use a little TLC.

Spring cleaning, organizing and maintaining your treasured snapshots is as easy as pie—with only a few steps to a lifetime of crisp (and easy to find) images.

Back-up and Digitize

The easiest way of ensuring your photos really last, is by simply scanning and backing them up to a disk, hard-drive or USB. The Seagate 1.5TB Expansion Portable Hard Drive is a great option; it has drag and drop file saving right out of the box, and lots of room to store your photos. Running the risk of your memories cracking or becoming discoloured becomes virtually impossible- and clutter free!

Make this process even more efficient with our Photo Scanning Box – preserving childhood memories or historic family images has never been easier. Fill the FREE photo box (found in-store or online) with up to 800 photos or documents, return the box to a London Drugs Photolab, prepay and our LDExperts will do the rest. They’ll digitize your keepsakes at high resolution, then return the hard copies to you, along with a USB drive full of all those photos you hold dear.

Once you have those digital copies, you’ll want to make sure they’re backed up safely. To avoid losing all your precious photos due to a fire or flood, power surge or hard drive failure, it’s best to use the 3-2-1 back up rule.

This means that you should have:

3 copies of your digital photos
Stored on 2 different media or devices
With 1 copy located off-site.

For example, you could store your photos on two hard drives and on the cloud (a service like iCloud), and take one of those hard drives and store it at your parents’ home. That way, even in the worst case scenario that one or even two of your storage methods fail, you’ll still have a failsafe copy.

Organize and Store Safely

Of course, after making digital copies, you’ll need somewhere to store the originals – it’s important to take necessary precautions in order to avoid misplacement or damage, and it helps to keep them organized.

Suggested items before beginning any photo organizing project include:

Cotton gloves: Oily residue naturally found on your fingertips can lead to deteriorating your photos. Avoid this by handling documents with a pair of gloves.
Soft lead pencil: Including the date, year, or name on the back of a photo is a must when organizing your photos, because you’re not always going to remember if you took that photo in ’86 or ’87, or who that person third from the left is. Make sure you’re using a pencil that isn’t permanent so it doesn’t harm or indent the photo—never use a pen!
Photo-safe storage box: A good quality storage box with labelled index cards can make a world of difference, in the event that you’re looking for a specific photo. It sure beats rifling through old shoeboxes and drawers!

Obey the Two-Second Rule

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is all while going through old photos is to obey the two-second rule.

It’s okay to take a walk down memory lane—but it’s important to prioritize your time. Spring cleaning doesn’t need to take the entire season. When cleaning and organizing your old photographs, remember not to linger longer than two seconds before determining its place. You’ll have plenty to enjoy them after they’re organized!

The allure of aluminum: photographer Stacy William Head’s landscape photos come to life with aluminum panel prints

For landscape photographers seeking out new and dynamic ways to showcase their images, aluminum metal panels offer a unique perspective. The striking, high-gloss quality of these prints and their resistance to fading set them apart from any other type of print surface, making them an attractive choice for photographers. The coated aluminum sheets are infused with dyes that can make any image, especially detailed and rich landscape photos, come alive with vibrant colour.

As the popularity of aluminum panels has grown in recent years, the London Drugs Photolab has expanded the availability of its metal printing technology from just one location to now several Photolab locations with the special presses necessary to create the prints on-site.

Photographer, Stacy William Head recently opted to print one of his favourite photos of Moraine Lake on aluminum for the first time with London Drugs. Below he shares his first impressions and why he plans to print on aluminum in the future.

I’m a landscape photographer based in the Canadian Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada in a small area known as Crowsnest Pass. My work usually incorporates long exposure techniques to create images that convey a sense of depth along with the passage of time. I enjoy exploring and photographing the area I live in as well as the National Parks that are close such as Banff, Jasper and Waterton.

About this shot – “Moraine Mist”:

This is probably one of my favorite shots I have taken. The optimum conditions lasted for less than five minutes and was taken with long exposure of 159 seconds to give it that surreal feel. I have wanted to get the clouds like this for a while at this location. Even though it’s a very popular destination – probably the most photographed location in Canada – it’s still a great feeling to capture your own moment to call your own and hopefully convey to others the feeling of this experience.

I really love the fact that the aluminum prints from London Drugs are both lightweight and very durable. Aluminum allows me to display my photos in vibrant color with a gorgeous contemporary aesthetic that will last for a lifetime. My photos are sometimes rich in colour and I like to try and create surreal feel in them through long exposure – the glossy aluminum really adds to this effect much more than paper or canvas prints can.

Above: Moraine Mist photo by Stacy William Head, printed on an aluminum metal panel at the London Drugs Photolab.

To learn more about London Drugs’ selection of print textures and finishes, click here.

See more of Stacy’s work on his website or on Instagram.

3 Summer Essentials to Celebrate Canada Day Long Weekend

Photo Beach Blankets

Photo Elegant Water Bottles

Photo Beach Bags

Fashion Editorial Photographer Farrah Aviva Showcases Her Capture Photography Festival Exhibit on London Drugs Photolab Prints

London Drugs Photolab Prints the Best in Canadian Photojournalism for Capture Photography Festival Exhibit

Q&A with Photolab Technician and Capture Photography Festival-Featured Photographer, Gabriel Martins

On the Hunt for Easter Treats? Egg-citing Gift Ideas for the Entire Family

Spring Cleaning Tips for Organizing and Storing Your Photos

Back-up and Digitize

Organize and Store Safely

Obey the Two-Second Rule

The allure of aluminum: photographer Stacy William Head’s landscape photos come to life with aluminum panel prints

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