IF you have taken a really great photograph and want to have it enlarged to hang on your wall, one person who knows how to give you the best possible result is Sheikh Mohammed Aslam. He is the Assistant Production Manager at Samir Photographic Supplies Co. Ltd. in Jeddah, working under Production Manager Waleed Amoudi. Part of his job is to see that both corporate and private customers get high quality printed images. “I started working with Samir Kodak in June 1996 as a Graphic Designer. Basically, I am a Commercial Artist – I spent four years from 1988 to 1991 studying for a Commercial Art Diploma in Gujarat, India. For the first few years here, I was involved with designing our in-house leaflets and folders, as well as designing posters, boards and Duratrans for advertising companies.” Aslam explained that Duratrans are back-lit display images, mainly used by advertising companies. Aslam had always been interested in photography and part of his course at college had involved learning how to process black and white film manually and to make Bromide prints, using the old method of chemicals in trays in a darkroom. “I thought if I learnt more about the production side it would be good for me and that's why in 2000 I shifted to the processing side.” Although he had some experience in the conventional darkroom, by 2001 Samir Photographic had embraced the new digital technology. “The old photo labs and darkrooms were closed and we shifted to these digital machines. We started making the image files on the computer and printing was done by digital machines and not on enlargers. I didn't go on a course, I just learnt as I went along.” “Most of the time I am working with an Apple Mac computer. When I came here, I didn't know anything about them, I had only used a PC. Naturally, for graphics and design and everything, I am now a ‘Mac Man' – it is better.” Aslam spends much of his time manipulating images with Adobe Photoshop, but has 17 years' experience using other Adobe programs, as well as several other professional programs, including Quark Xpress. In the lab, he oversees the printing of two main processes: ink jet printing for large advertising prints with huge Hewlett Packard printers; and photographic quality prints with smaller Durst digital printers. “We always use Kodak materials to print on. We have three different paper types for the ink jet printing and this is not light sensitive. The maximum size we can print is 1.5 meters wide and anything up to 30 meters in length – the paper is on a big roll. The digital side is different and these papers are all light-sensitive and must be handled in total darkness. There are four types, and maximum size is 76 cm wide and the roll is 50 meters long.” He went on to explain how the Durst digital printers work: “They use LED fiber optic technology. I work on the digital files on my Mac, and send them to the PC which is connected to the Durst printer. This is loaded with special software and the print command is given through this. When the printing is finished, we give the ‘cut' command. We then have to go into the room and completely black it out, remove the paper and take it through a special rotating door into the processing room, which is also a ‘dark room.' The paper is loaded into the processing machine and then it goes through a chemical RA4 process: developer, then bleach-fixer, then through water to wash it, and finally the drier. So it is a combination of digital and chemical technology.” Working hours in the lab vary according to the job in hand: “I always enjoy my work. There are times when I stay here day and night when I have got a big production job and we have a deadline. These might be from advertising companies like Leo Burnett. We will get the job, then check the colors and make samples for them. Once they give their approval, they give us a time limit in which we have to complete it. We have around 10 people working in the lab and we will work in shifts. Sometimes we have to come in at night to change the rolls of paper and keep the machine exposing.” In addition to the printing and processing, Aslam's job is also to oversee the laminating and mounting of prints onto foam board, as well as printing on mugs, ceramic tiles, T-shirts, and other items. Although at Samir Photographic they are always at the forefront of technology and the digital world, he has a personal ambition: “I would like experience on a LAMBDA machine – this is a very advanced digital printing system for graphic prints, giving ‘near photographic' quality.” Aslam's advice to photographers is: “If you want to have your work enlarged, take photos using the TIFF format. The original file must be the highest resolution possible.”
