Rangefinder Magazine
February 2005

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Lab Profile: Imagexperts by Lou Jacobs Jr.

At its inception in the early 1980s, Imagexperts was among the few facilities where photographers of all levels could have color, black-and-white and transparency films processed, cross-processed, and printed. Zaid and Jane Awni wanted to enhance traditional machine proof prints so photographers’ clients received more than snapshots, so they founded Imagexperts. They created proof options that were, until then, only available in custom prints.

Lion and cub: Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania	Cheetah: Kruger National Park, South Africa

Imagexperts is in Hollywood, at the entrance to Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The lab occupies two stories, with customer service on the ground floor and production and administration offices upstairs. These facilities have been expanded four times to keep up with burgeoning photographic advances and customer needs. Says Zaid, “We embraced the digital age in 1992 when we added the first of many digital workstations with scanners and output devices. We had to preach the virtues of what was then an emerging technology steeped in myth. Now digital has grown to be a significant part of our business. By 1995 our first web site was online. True, it is a lot more elaborate and dynamic today, as it evolved into www.imagexperts.com/.”

Imagexperts offers numerous options to photographers. In the color department, the lab offers C-41 processing, machine and custom enlargements, E-6 processing and proofing and digital prints from transparencies. Black and white services include prints on true black-and-white paper and Scala processing to make black-and-white slide films. High-end digital printing directly onto silver halide papers pleases many customers, and to satisfy fine art clients, Iris technology was introduced in the early 1990s. Subsequently, Imagexperts uses piezography for black and white, and Conetech technology for both color and black and white on a complete palette of substrates.

Mountain gorilla with baby: Bwindi Impenetrable Rain Forest, Uganda	Silverback mountain gorilla: Mgahinga, Uganda

With the advent of high-speed online communication, Imagexperts added FTP, drop box and online ordering capabilities “to serve clients around the globe,” Zaid says. “Work can arrive at any time. We usually run two shifts, six days a week. Working hours are expanded when seasonal demand increases.

“We also offer other convenient services such as slides from negatives, copy negatives, copy slides and slide duplicates. Most services are done utilizing digital technology. Prints of equal quality can be made from a good negative, slide or digital file; however, negatives still have a slightly wider density range and are more forgiving than slides or digital files when prints are made. We print on canvas, watercolor papers, photo rag material, metallic paper and other mediums to complement the talents of our many clients.”

Tiger: Ranthambore, India	White Rhinos: Masai Mara, Kenya

Zaid and Jane have another uniquely different interest that began early in Imagexperts’ history when they first visited Africa and became actively involved in conservation efforts of endangered species. Zaid explains, “Knowing that most people are moved visually, we feel our passion for photography and wildlife is a perfect match. With wide access to photographic equipment, we began making our African images available to several conservation organizations. This has been a winning formula for raising funds as well as awareness.

“In 2004 our efforts were focused on the AfriCat Foundation in Namibia, dedicated to the preservation of leopards, cheetahs, caracals and other large cats. We also help the Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda and the Uganda Gorilla Fund. Both make highly regarded efforts to protect endangered mountain gorillas and golden monkeys. We’ve been fortunate in our world travels to photograph penguins in Antarctica, polar bears in Canada, harp seals, minke whales, eagles, tigers, leopards, lions, elephants, rhino, wildebeest and other wild animals.”

Because of their involvement with Imagexperts Lab and photography for pleasure and charity, the Awnis enjoy conversations with their clients about fine images. They “shoot the works” it might be said, from 35mm negative color with Nikons, medium-format transparency film in a Hasselblad, and a Canon-based digital setup. At the lab and in the field, they speak the language of photography in all its aspects.

Lou Jacobs Jr. is the author of 28 how-to photography books, the latest of which is Studio Lighting (Amherst Media). He has taught at UCLA and Brooks, and his photographs and stories have been published in numerous magazines. He is a longtime member of ASMP and enjoys shooting stock during his travels in the U.S. and abroad which is leased through several agencies.