Digital BW, The Print

The choice of camera or film in photography for me seems little 
different from the choice any craftsman or artist makes in the 
choice of tools they use to produce their art. You use what works. 
Because of the technology inherent in the digital process, much 
is made of using machines and materials that provide the 
largest amount of information or data, giving us the maximum 
amount of  material to work with. Larger formats and drum scans 
married with ever evolving ink and printing technology seems to 
be the order of the day.

Yet, how much data is enough?

I love working with 35mm, especially small rangerfinders with 
wide lenses and fast films. Probably because of a journalistic 
background. There is a joy that comes with the freedom of the 
format. This bias has not kept me from amassing a room full of 
other cameras in formats ranging from 120 to 8x10, much to the 
dismay of other members of my family. Nor has it kept me from 
trying innumerable chemistries, films and processes to give 
voice to the images I brought home.

Recently, I put up an exhibit of images printed from 35mm negs, 
large prints made on a 7000. After working for years with the 
"limitations" of  such a small format, I was prudent in my 
expectations.  And quite wrong.

The final prints were far better than I had expected. I pushed 
them quite a bit further than I had planned, and they held up. 

Were they as good as I could have gotten with a larger format 
and a Howtek, probably not. But did they need to be that good?

People came, looked and seemingly enjoyed. No one pulled out 
a loupe and complained that they saw this problem or that 
problem. 

Perhaps the discussion needs to expand, not what camera or 
film is best for the technology, but more about how the 
technology can be stretched to fit the needs of our individual 
vision. 

Or perhaps......................?

Butch Hulett


An afterthought: The 35mm images I talked about can be seen 
at:
http://www.keyesgallery.com/artists/bhulett/index.shtml
(the "Sturgis" group)