The library was started in 2006 by local photographer Tony Riley, who settled in Cumbria in 1992 after a career as a mountaineering and adventure sports cameraman and professional photographer.
This took him from 25,000ft on the South Col of Everest to the top of the world's highest active volcano in Equador, and to work on BAFTA award winning camerawork on feature films and television dramas. He now holds BECTU accreditation for film and TV production Stills Photography, as well as providing Location Stills Photography for production research puposes.
Back down on earth, he recently returned to university to update his photography skills with an imaging science degree that included colour management, digital asset management, scanning and digital printing, all essential elements in the new digital marketplace.
While there, an interest in the Digital Preservation of Heritage led to a research dissertation in the Digital Reproduction of Paintings. From this a unique, high quality Artwork Giclee Copying Service has been developed that is available to local artists.
We intend that the image collection will continue to grow and respond to market needs, and we will strive to provide excellence in all our services, as well as being an outlet for local photographers and artists. Digital Colour Management
Because of the university research, a feature of all our work is the high level of colour management. We use a spectrophotometer to measure colour and write our own International Color Consortium (ICC) profiles, which calibrates and controls our workflows. We have also acted as an imaging consultant in colour reproduction discussions with third parties, and currently as Project Consultant to The Alpine Club Photographic Library in an analysis of compliance with emerging digital preservation standards.
This enables us to maintain the integrity of digital colour in our work, and is central to our Art Reproduction Service in helping us colour match original artwork to prints. There is more information about why colour management is so important here.
The library runs from Sharp Edge Gallery, our retail outlet in Keswick in the Lake District. We now have a growing business making fine art Giclee reproductions for artists, as well as printing and scanning for photographers, artists and other picture libraries.
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