Digital BW, The Print

1)  After perusing recent posts regarding poisonous, carcinogenic, or 
mutagenic substances used in creating images.....

2)  The outgassing of prints and the need to keep them sealed in plastic 
or under glass..

3)  and the fragility to the human touch of the images created...

I was watching a piece on the development of photography early this AM, 
and thought perhaps a bit of perspective was in order..

Photographers and artists have always searched for permanence.

But more importantly, the three factors noted above could just as easily 
have been used to describe Daguerrotypes. 

in the 19th century, fugitive images, toxic chemistry, and framing 
behind sealed glass were prerequisites to maintaining imagery. 
 Certainly, the very fragility of those early images is undeniable, but 
just as undeniably those early images remain in some places even today..

Assuredly, ws all want safer processes and greater permanence, but just 
as the move from Daguerreotypes to Silver prints was driven by these 
concerns, there was no magic bullet that suddenly appeared to solve all 
the issues.  While I, and others, are VERY tough on exaggerated claims, 
we need to keep in mind that the process is incremental and slow.  That 
doesn't mean we should be any less tough on exaggerations or fudged 
claims, it does mean we should not pillory the process itself.

The advancement from the introduction of the first EPSON Styluses has 
been amazing in it's brevity, only now approximately a decade.  If the 
march of technology and science continues apace, I don't doubt the next 
ten years will give us processes and results that far outstrip the 
technical potential of silver prints..  Does that mean we will ee prints 
that look and feel exactly like silver prints, much less palladium or 
platinotypes?  I don't know, but keep in mind that no other process can 
reproduce the three dimensional beauty of, and jewel-like quality of, 
Daguerreotypes..

Inkjet is simply another tool in the workbox of  a photographer.  A 
tool, nothing more or less..

On that note, may I wish everyone a HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and a Joyous New Year!!
Keith

 

"Just some guy," and founder of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer 
User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo 
Publications), at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSONx7x_Printers/
 
"For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together 
guys"

 




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]