Our Events
Lectures & Research Worldwide: China and Korea
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Dr Hellmuth attended the Shanghai sign printing trade show in July 2008. This is the largest event in China and made it possible to see all Chinese solvent printers and all Chinese UV printers in one venue. Only about 20% of Chinese manufacturers exhibit in Europe or the US (because the other companies either have no distribution channel or their printers won't hold up to expected standards outside China).
The last year FLAAR has visited the factories, demo room, world headquarters, R&D facilities of Durst (both Lienz and Brixen), GRAPO (Czech Republic), L&P (both headquarters in US and Spuhl Virtu in Switzerland), ISI (manufactures UV printers for Raster and others), two days at Gandinnovations factory and demo room, etc (list is too long to remember). The purpose of all this is to bring a level of documentation that is missing elsewhere.
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Professor Nicholas Hellmuth is available to lecture in your hometown anywhere in the world. He can present PowerPoint presentations on digital photography as a means to explore Maya art, UV-cured flatbed printer reviews, fine art giclee, fine art photography, Mayan ethno-botany, photographing ancient architecture in Guatemala, and other topics. Last year Nicholas lectured in Athens, Amsterdam, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Novosibirsk, Seoul, Dubai, Cincinnati, etc. His next lecture will be in August at FESPA Mexico. If you wish him to lecture in your city contact Andrea, ReaderService@FLAAR.org. Dr Hellmuth will be lecturing (in 2008) in South Africa, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and at the FOGRA conference in Munich, as well as in St Louis and Chicago. |
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FLAAR in Guatemala:
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Nicholas was already in Guatemala. He and project manager Eduardo Sacayon took part in several projects:
A botanical and ethno-botanical project to find and photograph specific trees that were sacred to the Maya people. Of particular interest was the "Nikte" flower. Fortunately May was the month this species blooms, so they got some good photographs. It is ironic that this is the same flower that is used for the lei in Hawaii. These plants were transplanted to Hawaii in the last century.The second project was to study metamorphosis in butterflies, using the garden around the FLAAR office as the test area. An entomologist from the local university came to take samples of butterfly cocoons which were being eaten by parasitic wasp larvae. A butterfly is part of the logo of FLAAR in part because this insect was pictured frequently in the incense burner lids of Tiquisate, a colonial area of the extension of the Teotihuacan empire in the 4th-6th centuries A.D.
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A third project that is beginning is to identify which beetle or cockroach-like insect is the bug commonly pictured on Tepeu 1 (Late Classic) Maya bowls from the Peten area. Nicholas and Eduardo (who is a trained biologist working with FLAAR for many years) visited the leading university reference collection of these insects in Guatemala. We hope to photograph the collection.
All these projects bring to bear our experience in evaluating digital imaging hardware and software.
Upcoming Evaluations:
In past years several companies have provided digital camera backs for us to evaluate.
These are the cameras that we recommend for museum photography, and for field photography by archaeologists, botanists, zoologists, and geologists. One of the many long-time projects of FLAAR has been to find out what equipment is best, by actually using it ourselves. Most professors don't have time to experiment with a wide range of equipment.
FLAAR will be receiving additional 22 to 39 megapixel digital backs for Hasselblad medium format cameras to evaluate.
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FLAAR evaluates the entire workflow: from digitization through RIP and printing to finishing
FLAAR evaluates digital cameras, 3D scanning (6to5 at Dr Wirth company), and all forms of digitization. In addition to printers we also evaluate XY flatbed cutters, CNC routers, lamination equipment, RIP software, etc. Although most of our readers seek information for basic signage, FLAAR itself is primarily dedicated to how to improve museum exhibits, museum signage, and related aspects of botanical gardens, zoos, and national parks (archaeological sites). So all of these aspects of digitital imaging are as crucial for anthropologists, archaeologists, botanists, geologists, zoologists and museum curators as they are for printshops around the world.
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| Nicholas Hellmuth photographing the Cacao fruit with the Phase One digital camera, located in Suchitepequez, Chocolá. | Here is Dr. Hellmuth holding a sample printed by the DEC Legend 72HUV at demo room 2008. |