Digital BW, The Print

Can't help but chuckle & _SKIP_ if you are not feeling philosophical.
 
THE CHUCKLE
I'm pretty sure I can set up a negative, mix Amidol and print a 16x20 
in less than an hour, clean up too.  Each art media has its nuances, 
we learn to love them.  Amusing that silver printing is less size 
dependent to time, than procedure.  This aside from the 19th Century 
photographers who carried mammoth plates in their wagon afar afield.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ARCHIVAL
Couple of years ago I saw VanGogh drawings.  They are a lovely shade 
to brown tones & if I remember correctly, historians believe they 
were nearly purple originally.

I am very fond of Paul Klee and Jawlensky's work in the early 20th 
Century.  They can be expensive (I don't have a collection) and they 
can also be oil on cardboard...talk about archival issues.

We look at watercolors or pastels under 15 watts of light in the 
Louvre.  Marvel at buildings that have sat outside in the sun for 
centuries (though our last century has been the hardest on them too, 
archivally speaking).

WHERE THE MODERN DILEMMA STARTS:
      with the advent of archeology as a science (perhaps).

Edward Weston's platinum prints can be expensive, but he loved silver 
prints and made striking images in both.  He also complained about 
not finding the right paper for the image at times.  Told people they 
would just have to wait.  

When is it art?  Who brought upon us the impeding desire to achieve 
an archival product?  (Curators, whose job it is to preserve, not 
create & sometimes the artistic process makes their job a lot harder -
 that's my guess)

Is it more important that it be archival than whether the image is 
good?  Seems if you make a great image, someone will figure out how 
to care for it.  No need to stop tinkering, just remember why you are 
tinkering - to achieve that artistic vision I presume.  

I personally need to raise my head when I tinker too much, means I'm 
avoiding making something that I will have to evaluate with no one 
else to fault than myself.

Cleavis in AZ
(Sorry, I occassionally mis-spell words and lapse into this type of 
thinking...it makes up for my lack of tinker motivation ;-)