Why I print on acrylic

The first time I held one of my own images as a Whitewall acrylic print, I changed my mind about a few things.

I had been working with paper for years. I came up in the darkroom era, and there is a feeling about a print on fibre-based paper that nothing replaces. Holding a print is a kind of intimacy. I did not expect a piece of acrylic to compete with that.

But the saturated work — Crystal Colors especially — wants something paper cannot give it. The colours in those images are at the edge of what a colour space can carry, and on paper they tend to settle one notch quieter than they do on the screen. Behind acrylic, they do not settle. The image lifts.

This post is about why.

The process, briefly

A Whitewall acrylic print is not a print on acrylic. The photograph is printed on high-grade photographic paper, and then face-mounted to a sheet of acrylic glass using a clear silicone adhesive. There is no air gap between the print and the acrylic. The whole sandwich is then bonded to a backing of aluminium composite, which keeps the panel flat and stable for the long run.

The technique has a name. It is called Diasec, and it was developed in Switzerland in the late 1960s. Most of what people now call "an acrylic print" or "a gallery acrylic" is, technically, a Diasec. Whitewall is one of the printing houses licensed to produce them.

The reason I'm telling you this is not because the name matters. It is because the air gap matters. Air between a print and its glazing scatters light. When you remove the air gap, you stop scattering, and the image gains depth. Blacks get deeper. Colours get brighter. The print appears to glow.

This is not a marketing claim. It is what physics does to light passing through a clear medium with no boundary — the same reason a wet stone looks more saturated than a dry one.

Why this matters for the work

The Crystal Colors series is built around saturated, prismatic light. On paper, the images look good. Behind acrylic, they look like the images I see when I'm shooting. The face-mount is, for this work specifically, the difference between a representation and a faithful one.

For Deep Space, the matter is different. The deep blacks of the starfield benefit hugely from the depth gain. A black on paper is, in honest terms, a dark grey. A black behind acrylic is closer to the thing it is meant to be.

For Dreams in Viscosity, both options work. Paper gives those images a warmth. Acrylic gives them a clarity. I let the buyer choose.

Durability

The acrylic Whitewall uses is UV-resistant. Under museum-grade conditions, a Diasec print has an indoor lifespan of around sixty to seventy-five years before visible fading begins. That is on the order of two generations of viewing.

Acrylic also does not shatter the way framed glass does. It scratches more easily than glass — that is the trade-off — but it can be handled and shipped without the risk of cracked corners and dangerous edges. For collectors who own more than one print and rotate what hangs on a wall, that matters.

A Diasec print needs almost no care. A soft cloth, occasional dust, and not too much direct sun. That is the whole maintenance.

The honest part

Acrylic is not always the right choice. For portraits, for grainy or low-light work, for any image that is meant to feel intimate or quiet, paper is often better. The same depth and clarity that makes acrylic so good for saturated colour can make it feel cold for work that wants warmth.

I keep both options open for every image. If you would like a recommendation for a particular print, write to me through the contact page.