Digital BW, The Print

John: <Nice work, and thanks for sharing that history. You know when Adamson 
was giving a lecture here he stated that Nash Editions and his shop in DC 
started at the same time. One of them did the first print and the other founded 
the first Iris workshop for photo artists. I can't remember what the order of 
that was. I assume from your text that was an exageration. What I didn't realize 
was the important role that the Disney corp had in all this. It makes total 
sense that they would have the technology first in the animation departments of 
the back lots in Hollywood.>

First, thanks. I know David (Adamson), and we've talked about this. During my 
research (several years ago), I found that memories were not always that 
clear, and I'm not talking only of David. I had to cross-reference all the stories 
with all the key people. However, I found one good source: David Coons, the 
Disney guy, who is an engineer at heart, kept a written diary -- day by day -- 
of what transpired from his POV back then. I used that with all my interviews 
to come up with the final account.

Sam: < Because it's Harald's, I think it would be better for him to just let 
others assess it. And hope none of them call it definitive, because I don't 
see how anyone could defend calling so early an account definitive. >
>At least, I haven't seen one better or more complete.
<Me either: in fact, I haven't seen either Harald's or any of these others at 
all. ... I haven't seen Harald's first edition either. But until the dust 
still being stirred up has settled, I don't think we will be able to begin to see 
even "the old days" clearly.>

I'm not quite sure what your points are here, Sam. My history has been out in 
book form for more than four years (with the newer Jon Cone material added in 
the last year or so). The only thing new is that I've just posted it on my 
website.

What dust needs to be settled? As time goes on, and the past gets murkier and 
people forget (or invent) even more. This is one of the reasons I did this. 
At the time (2002), I could not find a complete history in writing. Since then, 
over the past several years, I have not had one documented refutation of my 
facts. But I'm all ears!

Or maybe I'm missing something in your response. In any case, I do consider 
it the definitive history until someone else writes a more-definitive history. 
["definitive: most nearly complete and accurate; authoritative"]

Harald

Harald Johnson
author, "Mastering Digital Printing, Second Edition"
author, "Digital Printing Start-Up Guide"
DP&I.com ( http://www.dpandi.com )