Digital BW, The Print

Regarding the stance B&W is taking, I think it's important to remember 
here that this is a magazine that is aimed at the collector and those 
in the business of selling to him, be they photographers or gallery 
managers or other. It says that right on the cover...  It is not so 
much about where photography is headed, although there is always plenty 
of information on currently working artists.  And far and away the non-
ad image content is photography in its traditional, call it 
conservative if you like, style.  One-shot glimpses of moments that 
occured in front of the lense when the shutter was tripped kinds of 
things as opposed to images that underwent a lot of compositional 
alterations after the neg was exposed, save for the occaisional 
Uelsmann, etc.  So I for one am not surprised to hear this from them, 
and I'm not particularly disappointed or threatened by it.  I don't 
look to B&W for that kind of enlightenment...  Anyone with anything on 
the ball knows that the digital movement is real and will inevitably 
affect collectors of photographs. I've already sold a number of 
carbon's to people who are savvy about the difference, they were 
thrilled with them, and I'm sure many others can attest to similar 
experience. If Rasmussen wants to ignore the significance of this 
medium, it's really his problem, not ours.  He is certainly way off 
base with the comments on "craftsmanship."  But I have to agree that in 
the final production of the image, there is a machine at work and when 
it's creating prints, it does so with ease.  THAT is what is 
threatening to him and his ilk, that some element of the "handmade" is 
being forsaken, and he is not completely wrong.  This whole PhotoShop/
inkjet phenomenon is too new to be well understood outside of those who 
practice it.  My rep, who has considerable curatorial experience in 
several large museums, has seen them now for months and, although she 
is very excited by them, still thinks that it will be some time before 
she can show them to any but the most adventureous of museum and 
gallery people. So be it. Time will demonstrate where our carbon 
pigments will fit in. When you think about it, it's a cool time to be 
alive.

I'm very much in agreement with an earlier post which stated that this 
is really more of an indication of where things are at.  The vast 
majority of sales are in traditional media. Vintage is still king, and 
as yet there are no true vintage digital's out there.  At the recent 
PhotoLA, the only digital images I saw were LightJet's and they were 
all color.  And that was confined to one or two galleries who are not 
particularly known for extensive collections of vintage work. I look 
forward to the time when I can look back and say that about that event. 
And about B&W, too...

Phil
http://philbard.com