Digital BW, The Print

Austin Franklin wrote:

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>>Or are we quickly becoming graphic artists?
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>Yes, that's my feeling too.
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Does that mean it's in any way negative? Lautrec did Impressionist 
Dancers with oils as well as publicity posters... Is one or the other 
less illustrative of his genius? less worthy of being called art?

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>>I am amazed at how quickly people want to polarize this issue instead
>>of discussing and debating the middle ground in a respectful and
>>meaningful way. I am immediately accused of being ignorant, fearful,
>>lazy, scared, old-fashioned and full of sh**.
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>Hey, welcome to the club ;-)
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>>But the speed at which this
>>conversation became rude and condescending is troubling. Are people
>>really more comfortable trying to discount my opinions and want to
>>believe I'm nothing but an uneducated PS user who yearns for the past?
>>Why? What comfort does this provide people?
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>Well, I think there's an interesting defensiveness that can take place on
>both sides. People who have discovered PS and use it don't want to be told
>they aren't photographers....which may or may not be the case, IMO.  I am a
>purist.  I like to get my exposure dead on, my composition perfect etc.  I
>like the negative to BE the image, not something I manipulated in PS.  What
>I CAN use PS for is to help an image that I didn't get right.  For me, it's
>the extensive creation of images using PS that I'm not a fan of.  That doesn
>'t mean I don't like some of the images, but I take them for what they are,
>as you say, graphics art...not photography.  There is a nebulous line right
>now with respect to that.  I certainly don't know how to quantify the line,
>but I do know when I see an image that looks PS'd and one that doesn't.  I'm
>sure I get some wrong every now and then...
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Well said...

Drawing static lines in the sand won't work.. Photography supplanted 
much of the market for painted portraiture, but it also opened 
"portraiture" to millions who could never afford having a good oil done 
of themselves..

I think the key is to sort crap from good/effective art...  Again we 
will come back to whether the tool, technique, style, etc, supports the 
message or detracts from it..

Keith
 
 



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