I am a professional designer to create imaging (pattern) on various substrates as well as full time professor to teach Surface Imaging and Design. I have been taking photos from my undergraduate time (1981) for design inspirations and reproductions of own work for portfolios with Mamiya RB69 and Leica. I stopped taking photos in the late 90’s due to the fact that I knew industries would shift towards digital but the technologies were so primitive for my purposes. Then I picked up the DSLR in a middle of 2000 (D200) and became digital. My decisions are as followings:

Mid 2000 is a pivotal time for all imaging technology and any spot color separated printing work shifted to RGB imaging. For example, in textile printing, the design had to be spot color separated to be able to print. However, due to the emerging inkjet technologies, any images including 8 bits and 24 bits can be digitally printable. Therefore, for printing image creations (for any substrates), photo imaging and photography became critical. In fact, now I have to teach DSLR for my university for these reasons. I am proud that I have been just notified one of my designs for wall covering which consists of various photo images has become a permanent collection at Brooklyn Museum. At the same time, to compensate for the equipment costs, I do freelance for commercial photography including wedding, events and etc.

As IQ becomes critical element for our field (we need to enlarge the images as final products), D800E becomes critically important image capturing device now.

www.hitoshiujiie.com/photography.html