Digital BW, The Print

The Group f/64 manifesto:

http://www.kcbx.net/~mhd/1intro/f64.htm

The passage I think is notable to this discussion is:

/The members of Group f/64 believe that photography, as an art form, 
must develop along lines defined by the actualities and limitations of 
the photographic medium, and must always remain independent of 
ideological conventions of art and aesthetics that are reminiscent of a 
period and culture antedating the growth of the medium itself.
/--
Bruce Watson



Peter De Smidt wrote:

> Richard Orban wrote:
> > It's been interesting to me to read this thread about Ansel Adams
> > darkroom technique.  Clearly I don't understand the F64 club.  I had
> > thought it was a reaction to pictorialism - a more painterly type of
> > photography which won A. Aubrey Bodine so much acclaim and award in
> > Salon competition.  My naive understanding of F64 was "shoot and
> > print".  So it's evidently more in the kind of darkroom manipulation,
> > rather than the degree.  Cool.  These guys certainly achieved their
> > purpose of proving that photography can be an art, not just a craft.
> >
> >  
> This is an understandable mistake.  Beaumont Newhaul (sp?) made it as
> well, since F64 was often touted as promoting "straight" photography. It
> was a reaction against the methods of the pictorialists, both in subject
> matter and technique. The main difference was that pictorialists wanted
> to emulate painting, whereas F64 members did not.  F64 members were
> generally against anything that reduced photographic quality, such as
> negative retouching commonly used at the time for portraiture. In any
> case, Newhaul was shocked to find out that Weston dodged and burned his
> prints.