SKYWAY DINER | Niki Butcher

Photographic Story Florida use to have an abundance of diners, but they were disappearing in the 1980’s, so I decided to set out to photograph as many as I could. This diner is located in St Petersburg. As of this writing in 2016, I think it is still there. The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Niki prints her images on fiber-base black and white mat surface paper in the darkroom, then using Q-tips and cotton balls, she applies a thin coat of oil paint over the surface allowing the image to gently be seen through the oil paint. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.