Digital BW, The Print

>It is interesting that Sexton, a >photographer I admire greatly,
>thinks that digital techniques lead to >"instant decisions" whereas
>(presumably) the darkroom does not.

FWIW I believe the comment to which you're responding was made by Bruce 
Barnbaum, not John Sexton. As I indicated in an earlier message, I think 
Barnbaum's comments actually are directed primarily at use of a digital 
camera, not at digital printing as such, though he seems to think the two 
are synonomous. To the extent that his comments are even relevant to digital 
printing (as opposed to use of a digital camera) I think they refelct his 
lack of experience and knowledge of what's involved in making an excellent 
digital print.

One of the problems I have with articles by people like Barnbaum is that 
they're usually commenting, comparing, and criticizing a process that they 
themselves have never used to any significant extent. When many of us here 
compare darkroom printing with digital printing  we're speaking from 
extensive experience with both methods. When someone like Barnbaum talks 
about digital printing he's seems to be doing so mostly on the basis of his 
general impressions of what's involved, without having extensive hands-on 
personal experience.

Your response below is a perfect example of that I think. As you point out, 
because of the ease of going back to a digital print time and time again, 
and always starting from the exact point at which you left off, digital 
printing actually encourages the kind of contemplation that Barnbaum thinks 
is lacking. But never having done any serious digital printing himself, he 
isn't aware of that or at least hasn't given much thought to it.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bailey Donnally" <bdonnally@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 9:50 AM
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: John Sexton's comment on B&W 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





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