Digital BW, The Print

> And 
> would you expect hundreds of prints of the same negative (ignoring the minor
> foreground intensification) made over a period of some thirty years to all
> look the same?

If you have ever seen an exhibit that shows his early prints as well as
later ones from the same negatives, it's really interesting to see just how
differently he interpreted the "score" of the negative into different
"performances" of the print over time.

Many earlier prints are warmer, softer, almost more romantic; later ones
often appear cooler, more crisp.

His ability to previsualize desired results at the time of making the
original negative, coupled with his technical skills, knowledge, and the
evolution of materials, seem to have let him make negatives that gave him
the flexibility to create prints that reflected his state of mind at the
time of printing.

As devoted as he was to figuring out a lot of stuff regarding technique -
and to write many books about it - he still made the time to take lots of
pictures.  It's ironic that so many of us who admire his work seem to get
caught up in one at the expense of the other ;)

Stephen Petegorsky