Wallpaper

It started when my friend bought an apartment. Or actually it started when I showed her some of the shots I took on a recent trip. 'This one I want on the wall in my living room. As a wallpaper!' , she yelled enthusiastically when the photo in casus appeared on the screen.

This was 19 months ago. And since that time I've been doing whatever I could to have this photo printed as a wall paper. This blog describes the adventures and frustrations.

I was a bit startled but also proud that potentially one of my photos would cover a whole wall.

'But why this picture', I asked.

'Because I like the space, the blue, It will fit the rest of my design'. (which was a kind of loft style. She's very daring in her choices for house decoration but at the end it always looks fantastic).

Sounded good enough for me so I started working on it.

The first shock came when I measured the wall. More that 5m long and close to 3m high! In my mind compared it with the size of the sensor in my camera. I got some doubts so checked if quality wise this was possible. Internet said it was the max of the max, size wise. Actually it was not advised to blow up a photo taken with a DX camera to this size.

I went back to my friend and told her it's a nice idea but for reasons of quality I don't want my photo used for this. However, there is a way out...

A waiting wall

I've been thinking for quite some time to upgrade to a full frame camera. I told her to be patient until I've bought it and I would go back to that place and take the photo again. Fortunately Nikon had brought out a very nice (and very expensive) camera that fitted all my needs.

I also told my friend I would change some aspects of the photo. Like I would flip it horizontally so the windows on the picture would match the windows in her room. I also wanted to change the angle a bit. I wanted to achieve a visual enlargement of the room. To create a 'wow' effect when you enter it and therefore the picture must be taken from the point where you 'virtually' would enter the room.

The original picture I took at the end of the winter season with a clear blue sky. When I bought my camera it was spring all over the place. Now it was waiting for good weather (for the blue sky) and a free Sunday (in order to make sure there are no people). Believe me, this took some weeks.

But finally the circumstances seemed perfect and off I went for my one hour drive. However, approaching the place of action, the sky got more and more grey and cloudy. I didn't even bother to continue and returned home.

A week or two later again blue sky. And again I went. This time blue sky till the end. Also the building was still standing. But when I installed my camera I realized there was no blue sky visible. All the vegetation around had turned green and made it almost impossible to get a even a glimpse of sky.

The only option was to wait till these leaves were gone.... half a year at least.

Fortunately my friend was patient.

And after that I did many more trips, all in vane.

Vegetation still to green (some kind of micro-climate there)

Sky not blue enough

All the windows damp with condensed humidity...

In the mean time I was also looking for a good print house that could print the wall paper. Believe me this became the same nightmare as taking the photo itself.

The first print house did not have the right paper and could only order new from US which would make it very expensive

The second one could only print with overlapping lanes. Believe me, you don't want this. It looks terrible.

Third one did not pass the quality test

And many of the print houses simply don't reply to your email(s)

There was even one print house that accused me of being some kind of a criminal trying to rip their company off. Crazy guy.

Finally, after more than half a year of searching I found a print house that turned out to be very close by. They print and apply. All in one hand and for a reasonable price.

After they've made two! sets of proofs with good quality, my friend and I decided to give it a go.

And a few days later, two men came to apply the wall paper. They did a very professional job.

Two gluing men

Once they were gone I could look at the result in peace. I was very content. I think I've created the wow-effect I was looking for. And it really makes the the room look bigger.

And most important my friend liked it. That evening she texted me: 'I'm sitting on the couch and looking at my wall. I feel so happy!'

It made my day and all the frustrations about this project disappeared.

The final result:

The 'WOW' Effect.

In case you are thinking of a special wall paper that adds something to the space where it is applied, drop me a mail and let's see what we can achieve. If it works out you will have a unique (as I never sell the same photo for a wall paper twice) piece of art. I don't do forests and sunsets.