Archive Art is owned and operated by Anthony King, that's me!
I have over thirty five years experience in traditional photography and photographic printing and ten years of digital skills that allows Archive Art to confidently offer you value, quality and personal commitment for your print, photo, artworks and folio needs.
I am in awe of the sensual reality of imagery, printing, papers and materials of all kinds and the timelessness of craft and quality and the ability of art to lift us all and carry us into the future. I have a strong and emphatic love of the black and white photographic image. I’d like to share these passions with you.
Forty years ago I got a job in a retail camera store. Actually it was a successful chain in Sydney Australia called ‘John Border Photographics’ with a few retail stores and a professional division. John and his family took a liking to me and decided to train me up. I unpacked boxes, tidied the storerooms, bought lunches, learnt how to sell cameras ( more importantly what sold them). I was put in charge of the ‘Service and Repair’ division and learnt how cameras work and don’t. I was then moved into the professional (photography and film industry) showroom soon after. I was put through a ‘Commercial Photography’ course. I was 18 then and over two years John Border had given me a grounding, an education and a love that is alive and kicking today.
I then got my first job in a commercial studio with ‘David Hewison Photography’. In the early 1970’s in Sydney it was the prestige to get a job as an assistant in one of the big studios with four or five photographers working freelance as well as the principal photographer who owned the studio. Studios did it all in those days. Fashion, advertising, still life (product), location, editorial, portraits...and as assistant I was called on to arrange sets, lighting, props, cameras from 10”x8” to 35mm, load magazines, take polaroids, process film and proof and print for press, display and exhibition as well as clean up, run deliveries, pick up stock and ogle the models! It was 100% work and commitment and I loved every second of it. I also learnt a lot.
Two more years assisting in smaller studios and I was ready to freelance doing mainly fashion, PR, advertising and model portfolios. By this time I had unwittingly become a very good B&W printer by doing a lot of freelance printing during the dry spells of photographic jobs.
Travel took me on the journey of discovery of humanity, culture, spirit and self for several years and has influenced and informed all of my life choices and aesthetic sensibilities.
Over the years there’s been life challenges and career changes ( I’ve been a Chef for over twenty years and food is my second great love) but I have always taken photos and I have always had a darkroom.
In 1999 I bought my first full feature computer ( actually the first was an Amstrad NC100 Notepad) an iMac G3 and was fortunate enough to have a good (tech savvy) friend who taught me all he could about Macs, Photoshop, Illustrator, Poser, home brewing and the care and maintenance of succulents.
By the time I started to look seriously at digital printing compared to traditional photographic printing inkjet printers, inks and substrates had advanced to a point beyond anything I was doing in the darkroom and I started on the transition from the wonderful but laborious tasks of the darkroom to the intense creative processes of the digital world and the outstanding array of choices in Fine Art reproduction and especially Fine Art (giclee) printing.
With Archive Art I hope to share my skills, experience and love of the craft with you in creating and building moments into tangible memories for all.