Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Tom O'Connell" 
<TomOC@s...> wrote:
and although he sees progress for what it 
> is, he loves silver prints and wants to dedicate his publication 
to 
> them exclusively. It may sound like antagonism toward digital, 
but 
> after my dialog with him, I think all of his decisions are based 
on a 
> positive affinity for silver not anything anti-digital

------

Bullshit.

If that's the case, and he wants to "dedicate his publication" to 
silver, then he should also instruct his advertisers of that 
viewpoint as well, in that, they should make no mention of digital 
technology in any of their ads. I guarantee you one thing -- he 
would get REALLY clear on exactly how he felt about digital, if he 
had the cojones to make that statement. Again, you're either "in" 
or your "out"; you can't have it both ways.

It's really such a silly philosophy, and I'd bet one that's driven very 
much by collectors, and advertisers (the silver-based 
Tree/Rock/Root photographers who are freaking out about the 
future of their income). It's just so transparent. You just bought 
into his dramatic justification; that's all. You just TRY to look 
yourself in the mirror tonight; you wont' be able to.

And like someone else said, Is it "digital" if it was shot with a 
slimy D60 digital camera, but then output to an enlarged contact 
negative, and then printed in gum bichromate, in a monastery 
darkroom in the Himalayas, by the Dalai Lama himself? Or, is it 
"digital" if it was shot with Ansel Adams' own 8x10 Deardorff, with 
filmstock stolen from Ansel Adams' own refrigerator, but then 
scanned on a Cruse scanner, but then output to an Epson 
9600? 

The lines are so fuzzy that making the line in the sand between 
the two technologies is just silly. 

And is it not just as evil for a computer-driven enlarger to have 
particpated in the making of the silver print? And what if the 
"artist" doesn't even make his own prints, but he sends them out 
so that some eyebrowed-pierced, dope-smoking teenager who 
works in a commercial lab can actually "create the art" for him? 
Talk about ludicrous; now THAT is ludicrous...

The more I think about it, the madder I get. I wish I'd waited til 
now to write that Henry guy my letter. It certainly would have 
contained different language. I'm not even a subscriber, and still 
I want to unsubscribe.

-MT, http://marktucker.com/