Antti Karppinen brings images to life with the Stylus Pro 9900

Antti Karppinen is a photographer and visual artist. His work has won international acclaim, and he even received the Vuoden Muotokuvaaja photographic award in 2013. In his work, Karppinen uses an Epson Stylus Pro 9900 printer.

Karppinen recounts his project "The Branded man" - a story of a man fired from his job. He was determined to show the final product to the client only in printed form, so he drove to Helsinki and the client was able to see the final piece of work on paper in front of him. "It is always great to see the a client's first reaction, but this time it was especially impressive," recounts Karppinen.

Antti Karppinen is a photographer and visual artist. His work has won international acclaim, and received the Vuoden Muotokuvaaja award in 2013. In his work, Karppinen uses an Epson Stylus Pro 9900 printer, which has recently been replaced with a SureColor SC-P9000. Karppinen has relied on Epson printers for seven years, and found their functionality to be outstanding. He's been especially impressed with their quality, speed and functionality, and has been using his current Stylus Pro 9900 for three years without the need for any major maintenance.

Karppinen has learned to trust the functionality of both Epson printers and their extensive support network. Karppinen's company Alias Creative requires a lot of print - between one and two rolls of paper every month. For his printing, he mostly uses Hahnemühle and Epson paper, canvas paper and occasionally stickers. Alias Creative has also used Kozo paper developed by Epson especially for art printing.

The image comes alive when it is transferred from digital form into physical print. According to Karppinen, company photos can be transferred into art when they are printed professionally, hung on a wall and lit well. Printing does not just do the picture justice, it becomes a new, separate work of art.

"Since I do most of my work on the digital side, it is a massive change for me as an artist to see my image blown up to a large size, hanging on the wall of the company, with my own signature at the bottom."

Karppinen thinks that companies could utilise more of their visual materials in print, for example in the interior decoration of company premises. Images help support the company identity and tell the story of the company in an exceptional way.

A quality printer is essential in creating good final results, and often can provide a completely new way to present an image. Epson printers have responded well to the demanding requirements of the artist.

"Since a lot of work has been done in refining and planning the image, printing the final product must also be carried out professionally, since the is the sum of many parts. When printing, one must consider the printer's features but also colour spaces and printing material, and of course lightness and ease of handling of the image. For example, ChromaLuxe metal plate prints are extremely lightweight, which makes them easy to work with," says Karppinen.

"For me it is important that my images convey a story of some kind. As expressed in The Branded Man. Stories are important for the vitality of my images," says Karppinen.