Digital BW, The Print

Very apt commentary...

Welcome to the REAL world of art..

The world where tool is simply that, a "tool"..

Look at the images of  Pollock, Warhol, and others who used non-archival 
tools to produce gorgeous yet ephemeral (in the sense of non-archival)  
images..  Too much focus on the tool, as opposed to the art you produce 
IMHO is a danger of art..  It tends to make one an expert on a 
particular tool, but rarely produces outstanding and inspiring imagery...

I am sure that some here will be offended, but look at the VAST VAST 
majority of wedding photographers.. They tend to be overgrown snapshot, 
grip and grin, specialists who have simply moved up to medium format.. 
 The images they produce document an event and capture a moment -- which 
is a worthy task -- but I would hardly call it inspiring, imaginative, 
or  unique art..  Most of it's just a high-priced version of the travel 
pics that vendors sell at resorts...  The photography is generally 
formulaic enough that videos abound to teach the lighting, poses, etc. 
needed to take the shots in a rote manner..  (I'll leave photo-j style 
wedding shots out of this -- since I find them less constricted by 
pre-conception and rigid form)..

The average man or woman can use a chisel and hammer to open a window 
that has been painted shut..

The average carpenter can use the same to trim a decorative molding, or 
even add flourishes..

Only a competent artist can take those very same tools and create a 
lasting image of beauty..

For that, proficiency with the tool at hand is not axiomatically 
necessary (although it helps a LOT) while a lack of vision and supreme 
mastery of tool will give one only uninspired copies of the vision of 
others..

[Keith]
 
 

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