Digital BW, The Print

> While he thinks both media will co-exist quite nicely, he does 
prefer the
> traditional approach.  He likes the solitude and process of the 
darkroom,
> and he dislikes what he sees as "instant decisions" that tend to be 
made
> with digital capture -- seeing the image on the LCD, etc. and 
deleting
> images too quickly.

It is interesting that Sexton, a photographer I admire greatly, 
thinks that digital techniques lead to "instant decisions" whereas 
(presumably) the darkroom does not.  I like to work on a photo over a 
long period of time.  I come back to images over and over and check 
to see if my initial reactions hold up over time, and see if I get 
new ideas about how to handle it. For example, recently I won best of 
show for an image that I have struggled over for over 25 years before 
I got it to look a way that pleased me.

One of the central things I like about digital photography is that it 
allows me to do this gracefullly.  I can work with an image, set it 
aside for any length of time, then come back to the exact same point 
and continue to evaluate (and modify, if desirable) the image and 
print it in a reproducable way. 

As for deleting, I have just about every image I have shot - good, 
bad, and mediocre - stored away, now in easy-to-store gold CDs.

 
> 
> The article struck me as a thoughtful piece rather than a dogmatic 
reaction
> of a silver theologian.
> 
> Frankly, my view is that the skills of making a good B&W print are 
quite
> transferable between the wet darkroom and the computer.  Most of 
the content
> of the articles Barnbaum writes about working up a print could be 
talking
> about digital tools rather than the darkroom analogies.  

Amen!

Bailey Donnally