Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "marktuckerdotcom" 
<mark@m...> wrote:
> > 
> For me, I have no concern about who's SHOOTING digital. The 
> only thing that concerns me is who's PRINTING digital. The print 
> is all that matters, at least in that world. (But I must say, I 
came 
> away from that show thinking I'll NEVER buy a digital camera. 
> The goal it seems is to come up with some unique look, and 
> with the sameness and cleanliness and sterility of those digital 
> cameras, that's the last tool on the shelf that I'd reach for).
> 

Never say never... I was one of the goofy buyers (and paid upgraders) 
of all the iterations of the Apple Quicktakes... a joke compared to 
today's Nikon D1x and Canon 1D, not to mention all the Kodak and 
other medium format backs avaialble for Hasselblads, Mamyias and 
other larger format setups. Even if you assume that the rate of 
improvement decreases (the opposite may be true), it won't be long 
before we classify today's D1x as relic akin to the Quicktakes (and 
many argue that D1x output rivals 35mm film today).

The day will soon come (if it hasn't already) when there will be a 
CCD or other device that even Austin <wink> will admit captures more 
data than is possible with film based capture. I think the technolgy 
is there now...we just can't afford it yet.

In the meantime, our hybrid efforts are the state of the art and 
compare quite favorably with all that has gone before in most 
respects (again, if not all today, it will  be). 

I wonder what it is that causes us to pay a premium? Certainly the 
rarity of the Steichen print and therefore the pure historical 
importance of it demands higher prices than lesser later images. But 
in the 60s many people also paid huge premiums for DIGITAL WATCHES 
mainly because they WERE new and exciting. Are we, perhaps, too timid 
in our promotion of the value of a printed image by a new process 
that we are undervaluing those we create? Will some of Mike and 
Jerry's prints one day be listed as "great examples of early carbon 
pigment images" and revered alongside the turn-of-the-century silver 
prints... certainly as the technology continues to develop, 
these "early" prints will be identifiable...and hopefully valued.

Photo collectors (a very strange breed) may all be missing the 
opportunity of a lifetime when they pass on the great examples of the 
image type they will one day be completely immersed in????

Sometimes, it's fun to imagine what can happen if things work out 
right <grin>

Tom O'Connell