I was contacted a few months ago by a law firm in DC looking for a print for their new offices. Most of their work is with Tokyo based clients so they were looking of a print of Tokyo. After a bit of back and forth they decided on a print of my photograph of Shibuya Crossing. They sent me some photographs of the place they wanted to hang it. We decided to print the image 30 inches by 45 inches on high gloss metal. The hallway wasn't super wide and printing at that size would require a fairly large and thick footprint. The beauty of printing on metal is you don't get all of the thickness that comes with mounting, matting and framing. It is surprising thin when hung on the wall allowing you to hang a bigger image than the space might otherwise allow.

I have printed this image really large once before when the manufacturer of my camera sensor purchased the image to hang in their lobby. At 20 inches by 30 inches it looked pretty awesome. I think it must look amazing 30 inches by 45 inches.

I drop shipping it directly from my SmugMug Print Shop so I didn't get to see the final print. It is one of the downsides of a highly optimized workflow. I didn't hear back from them after the image should have arrived so I was beginning to get worried that perhaps the print didn't come out as good as I hoped. I was really happy when they ordered the three other images 12 inches by 18 inches to accompany their Shibuya print.

ShootTokyo isn't about money for me as my long time readers know. It is about sharing my passion for photography and my love for Japan with people who share these same passions or at least enjoy watching me enjoy it. I don't sell a lot of prints in my Print Shop, maybe 40 or so in the last two years, but when I do there is something really satisfying knowing that someone is hanging up and enjoying my images. It makes all of the effort I put into ShootTokyo worth my while.

My friend John recently started printing at home with an Epson 800. If I had a little more room in my home office this would be something I would love to try. I just don't have the desk space now. I would need to get another table and make some room if I went down this route.

It is a very different experience when you see your images printed vs. on the screen. I only have a few of my images hanging up at home and they are mostly family photos but really want to print some more and hang them up. Perhaps I need to order a few of my own prints for my self.