Digital BW, The Print

I'm going to stick my  nose in here just a bit--I don't sell my photography but I have been a professional artist/craftsperson for a number of years--selling through quite heavily juried national shows (ex.-Philadelphia Museum of Art  Show). 

 Right now I feel there is a def. descrimination against digitally produced prints--but education will eventually make the difference.  Part of it is 'snobbism'--its what we face with 'fine' art vs. craft all the time--to some degree what photography faced not so long ago.  I subscribe to Black and White--the magazine that is focused on b/w and collectors of the same--and I read the same type of letters monthly--'don't let digital creep into the magazine';, its not 'real' photography', etc.  I'm not sure how that will be overcome in the short term, but I have no doubts about the long term.  The photographers that came before us educated collectors about the 'art' of printing.  There is still a feeling of lack of archivability with many collectors--and also the 'art' of the printing (you have to remember the ages of the major collectors--they can't imagine that if computers are involved, how can it be 'art').  Galleries cater to their collectors--until you can change their opinions (the collectors), then dealing with galleries will be difficult.  

Diane
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Diane B. Fields
picnic@...
photo site    http://www.pbase.com/picnic
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jerry Olson 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, January 25, 2002 9:25 PM
  Subject: Re: [Digital BW] So, how do we market/sell our beautiful digital prints?


  Many, possibly the majority of photographers are exhibiting digital
  inkjet prints now, so it's only the galleries that don't want to come
  into the new century that are holding back, just as they have always
  done. Perhaps you want to try art galleries instead of photo galleries.
  It shouldn't make a damn bit of difference what media you use to make a
  fine art print. A digital print isn't and cannot every be a darkroom
  print. It will never be mistaken for one. Most think digital is better.
  I certainly know it's better. There are a lot of people out there making
  inkjet prints now, but most of them are nowhere near fine art quality,
  just like any other media. It takes a few years to be able to turn out
  consistantly good fine art prints, and lots of experimentation of papers
  and inks. It isn't nearly as hard today as it was 6 or 7 years ago. A
  lot of the hard work has been done. The epson 1280, 5500, 7000, 7500,
  9000, etc printers are capable of surpassing Iris prints in quality.
  There are now a few archival inksets that are tested to over a hundred
  years. (MIS Archival, and Generations Microbrite Pigments come to mind).

  Good Luck



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