Digital BW, The Print

As I remember from my darkroom days, I used to spend some considerable time
producing proofs of negatives so that I could make a decision about which
were worthy of the time and effort involved to produce a "fine Print."  I
think that term seems to have fallen by the wayside and that is indeed
unfortunate since it is descriptive and should fit prints of digital origin
just as well as wet prints. If anything, having images of digital origin has
increased the amount of work involved, at least of the first step - culling
out the chaff. The successful photographer/printers of the recent past did
indeed have automation to produce their prints - lab rats. Look how many
people AA had working under him to learn how but at the same time to produce
the large number of prints that were demanded of AA's studio.

We had the discussion (argument, fight, war) some time ago about limited
editions etc. I am a firm disbeliever in limiting production of an image
that I own but I recognize the arguments of those that feel otherwise. I
prefer my images to go to someone that will enjoy having them, as much as I
enjoy producing them rather than a "collector" that will buy for
"appreciation." On the other hand, what ever the motivation of the buyer, it
is all "green." I have a number of paintings by artists I bought because I
loved their work. In time they have increased in value beyond what I would
ever have expected but that is an accident not an intent.

I disagree completely with Mark that the artistic worth of a fine print is
less than a painting. Both are creative works, both require time and effort
on the part of the artist. Price is a different matter since supply and
demand do enter the equation. I am not in the market for a Van Gogh but I
would love to be able to buy a couple of Eric Porter's B&W's of the
Southwest. Have you checked the price on those lately?

Sorry to ramble on but at near 70 things that are clear in your mind have a
distressing tendency to lose something in translation when printed out.

Roger
  -----Original Message-----
  From: Mark Hahn [mailto:markhahn2000@...]
  Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2003 5:03 PM
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
  Subject: [Digital BW] Re: The Value of carbon B&W Prints


  First of all, I think that there is no comparison between photography
  and fine art painting, but just because a painting takes hours to
  complete doesn't mean that it has any real value at all.  There are
  many terrible painting done by bad artists every day which have no
  value.

  Photos are different, even traditional prints.  Many traditional
  prints can be duplicated just as successfully as digital images, in
  fact I would avoid almost taking any shot that I knew would require
  hours of darkroom manipulation... since there are infinite images to
  grab, while pick ones that are going to be hard?

  Value is set by those paying for the photos, there is no inherent
  value to anything.  If people are happy to pay you might as well be
  happy to sell to them:)

  mark

  ...
  > There seems to be a lot of people on this site that sell their
  digital
  > prints.  How have you rationalized this in your mind?  Do you sell
  a limited
  > edition of an individual print?  Once you sell out of a popular
  print are
  > you tempted to hit "print" again and make more?  It would be easy
  wouldn't
  > it?  :)
  >
  > What does everyone think about this?
  ...


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