Great photography in a printed form has the power to truly captivate audiences and enhance the visual message that photographers convey. Says acclaimed visual artist John Paul Caponigro, the right print “can strengthen the life pulse that already exists within my work.” Here, he and photography duo Ken Broward an Deborah Ory discuss the work in their recent exhibitions—and how mounting flawless prints heightens the audience experience.

Ken Browar and Deborah Ory/NYC Dance Project

Among many important partnerships in Ken Browar’s life is one with his wife-turned-photographic collaborator Deborah Ory. The husband-and-wife team have been working together for the past five years photographing many of today’s leading dancers for a body of work called “NYC Dance Project.” This collaboration resulted in their first book published in 2016 called The Art of Movement, and they are currently working on a second book on dancers, which will be released in 2019.

The series of portraits they create portray dancers as graceful and weightless, the fabrics of elegant costumes flowing from their figures. The images capture emotion through movement and show the language and artistic expression of dance, as well as the astonishing athletism of their subjects.

Though they came to photography from distinct paths—Browar via Paris where he shot fashion and beauty for major publications and advertising; Ory from an editorial background, shooting and photo editing for Condé Nast—it was out of a combined interest in dance and photography that they melded their art. Ory was a dancer before an injury gave her inspiration to pick up a camera and document rehearsals; Browar photographed dancers for the Paris Opera Ballet as an assignment for the French magazine Madame Figaro.

Photo © Ken Browar and Deborah Ory

When they first exhibited the NYC Dance Project at the Holden Luntz Gallery in Palm Beach, they struck up a relationship with Blazing Editions to print their work large-scale. The resulting ChromaLuxe high-definition prints open up a lot of possibilities for making long-lasting artworks, Browar says. In addition, he explains, there is no need for glass or plexi covering the images, so there is no concern about reflections.

Both Browar and Ory are fans of traditional printing and were pleasantly surprised with how much they liked this new process. A collector of Platinum prints from masters like Irving Penn and Horst P. Horst, and having had his work printed in the iconic Daguerre lab in Paris, Browar says he was reluctant to try printing on metal at first but was impressed by the results. Both he and Ory decided it was a good fit for their work, and they continue to work in this process.

“It felt like the images were floating, like they were 3-dimensional,” Ory says of their exhibition of metal prints mounted on a black wall at Lincoln Center. “The images have a glow to them. The colors are luminous.”

John Paul Caponigro

John Paul Caponigro’s environmental fine art photographs are a reflection of two important concepts: light and life.

Photo © John Paul Caponigro

“They say seeing is believing and some of the wonders of our home have to be seen to be believed,” he says of his visionary landscapes which he’s shot in remote locations across the globe including Antarctica, Greenland and Namibia.

Caponigro says he dedicates his work to inspiring conscientious creative interaction with the environment. “I make my art as a way of being and becoming more deeply connected with nature,” he explains.

For an upcoming exhibition with fellow fine-art photographer Joyce Tenneson, Caponigro is working with Blazing Editions, a longtime partner, to print highlights with ChromaLuxe from his photographic oeuvre.

Making large-scale 40 x 60-inch dye-sublimation on metal prints offers a particular visual quality that brings more light and life to his works. “This process offers many opportunities including a unique ability to hold and reflect light, an expansive sense of scale and a more direct presentation of the print itself,” Caponigro says. “Used appropriately, it can strengthen the life pulse that already exists within my work.”

Photo © John Paul Caponigro

Eliminating the need for glass in front of his works allows viewers to have a more immersive experience of the landscapes, and offers a way to experience the work more directly, he says.

“I hope that my images become catalysts that offer viewers opportunities to look in both ways at once, [internal and external], and discover many wonders they may not have seen otherwise.”

Learn more about the benefits of high-definition metal printing at chromaluxe.com and explore custom fine-art printing options at blazing.com. See Ken Browar and Deborah Ory and John Paul Caponigro’s work in an a collaborative exhibit on metal at this year’s PhotoPlus Expo in NYC this October.

—Sponsored by Chromaluxe and Blazing Editions