appointments 
The inaugural Australian Digital Art and Photo Technology Exhibition (ADAPT), to be held from July 21-23 at the Byron Kennedy Hall at Fox Studios in Sydney, is shaping up to be a premier event for professional artists, reproducers, photographers – commercial, expressive and wedding/portrait, galleries, and all involved in professional image creation and marketing. The event’s name belies its true aim, to adapt to digital technologies in the professional art reproduction and photography sectors. Silver-halide is flirting with extinction while digital technologies continue their meteoric rise. Archival inks and papers – some of which will last 200 years before any noticeable fading – have boosted this sector.

Graphic designer and artist Peter Freeman is a typical ‘Adapter’. He has built a business – ‘On Reflexion’ - sorting, scanning and presenting people’s photographic memories into beautifully-bound memento books, complete with a DVD. Freeman uses Nikon digital cameras, Apple Mac computers, Adobe software and Epson Pro Graphics printers to produce his work. He offers a full, environmentally-friendly (no chemicals and little waste), digital service from posters and framed prints to short-run custom books and DVDs.

Andy McCourt, ADAPT founder and co-organiser, says, “There’s a revolution going on. Digital art and photographic images are suddenly recognised globally as high-value investments. Ex-Crosby Stills & Nash musician-photographer Graham Nash virtually started the trend with Mac Holbert in 1990. It took a while for technology to catch up with the pioneering work by these visionaries. Now, professional image-creators can reproduce collectable and display images of stunning quality and archival integrity. Creative work can now be shared with a larger audience- digitally.

“But, as with all exacting skills, you have to know how to do it properly, what equipment, software and materials to use, and who to turn to for assistance. This is where ADAPT 2005 steps in – it’s a place where anyone interested in professional-grade image reproduction, whether photographic or conventionally artistic, will find all of the answers. In the USA, this sector which they call ‘digital fine art’ is growing at 17 per cent a year.”

Artists and Art Photographers have discovered the dollars in limited editions. Big names like Ken Done and Ruth Law regularly run 50 or 100 inkjet (Gicleé) signed editions that sell for hundreds of dollars. Interior designers, museums, art galleries and framing shops are all discovering the benefits of adapting to digital. Image capture is all-important and not all artworks can be scanned. ADAPT will feature big names like Hasselblad, Pentax, Imacon and Kayell Photographic and Baltronics with the Creo/Leaf digital back. On the output side, Epson is the show’s Platinum exhibitor and will also demonstrate its excellent scanners, and maybe its new Leica mount-based RD-1 digital rangefinder camera. Hewlett Packard is there via PT Store, along with Roland DG, DES and Kodak.

Epson is also presenting a Digital Art and Photography Gallery, sessions at the conference and one of the ADAPT Awards.

Paper, ink and media are critical to archival reproduction and Ricky Richards, Intellicoat (Hahnemühle), Jan Neil, Kodak, Jet Tec, Longbottom Paper and DES have all booked stands. Framing & Graphic Arts Supplies will show how to present the finished product. Colour management has not been overlooked with ColoRite Equipment’s X-Rite range represented.

The ADAPT seminars will run over the three days and will feature world-class speakers on all aspects of creating, capturing, enhancing, storing, manipulating, printing, marketing and presenting digital files for art and photographic reproduction. Image Products’ Ross Coffey is bringing over the German originator of Liveprint – a web-based business system for printmaking.

The event will be highlighted by the inaugural ADAPT Awards for Digital Imaging Excellence. There is one major award and six sub-categories: two for photography, two for art reproduction, one for environmental and one for a young achiever. Epson has taken the major award category, with prizes to the value of $5000 and DES (a supplier of printers, software and art-photo media) has taken the Art Reproduction category with prizes to the value of $2000. Other categories are currently under negotiation.

GASAA (the Graphic Arts Services Association of Australia), has indicated its strong support for ADAPT, a formal announcement is due soon.