Digital BW, The Print

Djon,

Craft is being able to deliver your vision and put it
right there onto that piece of paper. I believe that
the field (or street or studio) is where the happy
accidents should be courted. Those amazing moments
when the light, life and chance collide. Then you
bring that to the light room and put every ounce of
your craft into getting the most out of the print,
shadow detail and highlights right where you want
them. Get past the tools and it is every bit as
passionate as the old ways. Do Raku when you shoot and
Meissen when you process to print. That ravishing
print on the heavy art paper that captures fully the
emotion of what you saw when your heart called you to
make the exposure. What you felt wasn't something to
be left to chance why should it's expression be?

Guy

--- Djon <westsidemaurice@...> wrote:

> Guy, you and I evidently do understand these matters
> similarly. Ansel
> was almost a sensualist too, while young :-)
> 
> I certainly do NOT always get "exactly" the print I
> envision (that's
> only theoretically possible to the digitally
> preoccupied). I don't
> think "exact" is a virtue, for that matter. I do
> reliably get very
> close approximations, just as you and I did in the
> darkroom, and
> occasional happy surprises that may less available
> to people who play
> the game the way you now seem to recommend. 
> 
> Some of us are raku-people
>  http://www.alfargaleriaazul.com/eng/cour.htm 
> 
> Others are Meissen-people
> http://www.jdweedco.com/china/china5.htm
> 
> Djon :-)
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com,
> guy washburn
> <guido02474@y...> wrote:
> > Djon,
> > 
> > I certainly place my self in the sensualist camp
> but I
> > find it deeply curious to work on b&w prints
> without
> > looking/working with b&w files before printing.
> Unless
> > you previsualize using the same algorithm that the
> > QTR/gimp uses, it is unlikely that you will ever
> get
> > the exact print you envision. Of course no one but
> you
> > knows that so your secret is quite safe. In a way
> it
> > is more like the result of wet dark room work
> where
> > the fruits of your labors are only seen in the
> > developer not on the easel where most of the
> > manipulation occurs -- perhaps this is the
> attraction,
> > the role of chance? I don't like the amount of
> wasted
> > paper it took to make a wet darkroom print sing.
> With
> > softproofing using qtr_matte prints just match.
> From
> > raw file score to symphony finished print with
> more
> > control than we ever had in a wet darkroom (though
> we
> > wave our arms less now). Does an inkjet print have
> > Buddha nature? It does if the artist has
> skillfully
> > presented his vision and  shares it's meaning.    
> > 
> > Peace,
> > 
> > Guy
> > --- Djon <westsidemaurice@y...> wrote:
> > 
> > > Steve, there are/were two divergant Zone System
> > > tendencies. 
> > > 
> > > One emphasized number assignment, the other
> > > emphasized
> > > previsualization. Two sides of the same coin,
> appeal
> > > IMO to two
> > > fundamentally different kinds of personality. 
> > > 
> > > You're right that Zone System doesn't simply
> mean
> > > "previsualization,"
> > > but previsualization is central to it. 
> > > 
> > > Post-processing that's not the result of
> > > previsualization is (IMO)
> > > outside Zone System, a matter of manipulation
> (not a
> > > negative IMO).
> > > 
> > > I happen to resonate more with what I
> understand,
> > > from several of his
> > > students, to be Minor White's angle on Zone
> System
> > > rather than Ansel
> > > Adams'. 
> > > 
> > > I think Minor's angle emphasized
> previsualization
> > > more than Ansel's.
> > > Minor's students were printing masters but they
> > > didn't seem very
> > > interested in densitometry and were obviously
> drawn
> > > to strongly 
> > > emotional images more than to beautiful rock and
> > > water with subtle
> > > tonal scales. Like Weston, a better printer
> early on
> > > than Ansel, Minor
> > > appealed more to sensualists.
> > > 
> > > From small dealings in the Seventies with Ansel
> and
> > > his students, and
> > > from following his books and later work, it
> seems to
> > > me that he grew
> > > more technically than visually with age, the
> > > opposite of Minor's growth. 
> > > 
> > > In Ansel's last (perhaps) book project he
> focused on
> > > quantitative
> > > technical matters (scanning and lithography).
> This
> > > is honorable, an
> > > extension of his angle on the Zone System that
> he
> > > began with Minor White. 
> > > 
> > > Minor, on by contrast, was a Zen practitioner
> who
> > > photographed people,
> > > content, and meaning...a different side of the
> brain
> > > with different
> > > passions, employing a different angle on the
> Zone
> > > System. Ansel was
> > > also a fine people photographer who could make
> > > eloquent connections,
> > > but some forget that in their enthusiasm for
> > > numbers.
> > > 
> > > Minor's Zone System game seemed to make the
> image he
> > > wanted to make. I
> > > think Ansel's was more a matter of process for
> its
> > > own sake...workflow.
> > > 
> > > ++++ Photography and printmaking are part of a
> > > continuum and that this
> > > is sometimes forgotten by people at the extremes
> of
> > > the continuum. 
> > > 
> > > Djon
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --- In
> DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com,
> > > Steve Kale
> > > <stevekale@b...> wrote:
> > > > Firstly I did not assert that
> pre-visualisation
> > > was no longer relevant.
> > > > Secondly, the Zone system has nothing to do
> with
> > > black and white per
> > > se - it
> > > > is merely a system for determining appropriate
> > > exposure when such
> > > exposure
> > > > can not be significantly "altered" post
> shutter
> > > release.  All the Zone
> > > > system does is provide a rigorous framework
> for
> > > determining middle
> > > exposure
> > > > and an understanding as to how the rest of the
> > > elements will be
> > > exposed as a
> > > > result.  
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 		
> > __________________________________ 
> > Yahoo! Mail 
> > Stay connected, organized, and protected. Take the
> tour: 
> > http://tour.mail.yahoo.com/mailtour.html
> 
> 
> 
=== message truncated ===


		
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