Digital BW, The Print

A few months ago I went to an exhibit here in Gloucester, MA 
by a photojournalist/documentary photographer named Nubar Alexanian. 
The prints were quite large, some of them printed on silver and 
some of them scanned and printed digitally (don't recall which 
inkset or printer). They were all matted and framed under glass 
and in a well-lit gallery. I had to go to within five or six 
inches of these prints to tell which had been printed in a darkroom 
and which had been scanned and printed on an inkjet printer, 
and I could tell then only because in the enlarger-created prints, 
the grain was slightly blury at the edges, whereas in the inkjet 
ones it was not. From this limited viewing of prints done by 
a master in both the old and the new technologies, I'd have to 
say that "now" is as much the time as "soon." 

I was quite startled, and encouraged. I'm sure that with a loupe, 
or with the prints not under glass, it would have been easier 
to see a difference, but not necessarily possible to say which 
type of print was "better."

- David

= = = Original message = = =

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., CDTobie@a... wrote:

"just hoping it will all become pushbutton for you so you won't 
have 
to learn any of it is not a good attitude if you really want 
to work 
with the new medium."

A couple of the responses have reflected on this.  This is not 
at all 
what I'm refering to with my inquiry.  I spend many hours making 
my 
darkroom prints right, and I don't expect digital to be any less 
work 
intensive.

My main issue here is the comparison of the technologies.  I 
don't 
want to make the leap to digital unless I can get prints of 
comparable quality to the black and white silver ones I'm producing 

now.  Since I do have a darkroom already, I have the luxury of 

waiting.  So to my question: Is digital there yet?  And if not, 
how 
close is it really to being there?


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