Several months ago, SLR Lounger Chris Nachtwey shared his thoughts on a new player in the printing game, the German based company, White Wall Photo Lab. Chris had nothing but great things to say about the company, so I decided to give them a try myself.
It is an interesting prospect for US photographers – to have their work printed in another country and shipped overseas. It seems to be the opposite of something that you would want to do. But, given the raves I had been hearing, I decided to give it a shot, and I was not disappointed.
The ordering process was simple and easy to use. There were many options to choose from – Acrylic, Aluminum and even mirrors to name a few. I placed my order on Thursday before WPPI and when I returned home on the following Friday, my print – a 16×20 Acrylic – had arrived. Not bad, considering it came from Germany, had to go through customs, and through all the bad weather the East Coast had been experiencing. When I have purchased items internationally in the past, my orders have taken up to a month to arrive, so 5 business days is pretty impressive.
I must say, the print is absolutely gorgeous! It really blew away my expectations, despite having heard nothing but good things about White Wall and expecting something great already. The print came packaged very well and it was ready to hang; I literally just had to push some thumb tacks into the wall and it was good to go.
The quality is outstanding; everything from the print, to the acrylic, and the pre-installed mounting hardware.
White Wall at WPPI 2015
While I was attending WPPI, I had the chance to meet with White Wall and see what they were all about. They were very helpful in answering many of my questions about the products and the company itself.
I honestly have to say, that of all the print booths setup at WPPI, I was most impressed by White Walls. Every single display piece looked absolutely stunning, and their latest products – the acrylic blocks – are quite special. They give you this almost 3D effect when looking at them in person.
If you have not had a chance to check out White Wall yourself yet, please take this advice and head on over to their website to have a look. They aim for a 10 business day turnaround on items coming to the US, but as I noted above, it only took mine 5 business days. I mean, I have worked with US based companies that have taken longer to get my print to me, so I am completely satisfied with 5 business days from Germany.
I know that I will be using White Wall again in the future for my prints that I want to make an impact with. If you have not tried them yet, give them a shot – you won’t be disappointed.
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My print was shipped in a flimsy tube and arrived crushed. Even if it hadn’t been crushed, the print would have been useless anyway, as it was (1) rolled so tightly that it would never have flattened, and (2) printed too dark and out of focus. After dealing with their difficult customer service, Whitewall would only offer a credit, not a refund, which is what any other printer would have done. I will never use them again.
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Good service and turn around.
I use them and I was blow away with the quality of print and excellent service. It is like having an art gallery print in your home.
I’ve used Whitewall before when getting qualification exam prints done & the quality is absolutely amazing & the array of products can be dizzying at times.
Thanks for this article! I haven’t heard from White Wall and it sounds like this could be perfect for me especially as I live in Germany:)
You complain that cost a fortune to import these prints. But to say that we in the EU, which imports annually thousand dollars per person? And you really have, high taxes on transport ?! That is, quality costs money!
We also have to pay VAT.
These look like quality products and in the UK they offer a £5 voucher for signing up to their newsletter.
Great Artilcle. I love to hear from new printing companies and see what they have to offer.
Super awesomeness .. know what I would really love for SLRlounge to do?? Compare metal prints from different labs. I find that the colors on aluminum can really pop out and be incredibly vibrant, but sometimes the details are lost a bit, and they often come with slight imperfections from where ink is injected (at least that’s what customer service says).
Anyways, based on this article I went to WhiteWall and ordered a 16×24 HD Metal, bit more expensive than other labs but if the quality is there it will be worth it.
A comparison would be greatly apprciated.
Hi Anthony. Did you have to pay any customs or brokerage fees? I noticed on their web site they use UPS and DHL. My experience has been that these companies charge a min of $10-15 to clear a package through customs. Add this to the shipping fee and things start getting pretty pricey.
I am probably have to pay a fortune if this comes in through customs in Brazil.
No Bill, I did not have to pay any special customs or brokerage fees. Just a standard shipping fee (I think it was like $15) and that is it.
Nice recommendation! And how you feel the prices in comparison to the US based company. I’m specially asking because they need to add the shipping. Thanks!