Digital BW, The Print

On Jun 26, 2007, at 11:26 AM, CDTobie@... wrote:

>
> In a message dated 6/26/07 12:12:02 PM, james@... writes:
>
> > That's easy.  I take pictures to have negatives to print  :  )
> >
>
> The printmaker's view of photography. Similarly, I take photos to  
> have sample
> images for demoing color management... but I know James' work, and  
> clearly
> thats not the ONLY reason for either of us! <G>
>
> C. David Tobie










David,

Thanks, and you're right, of course.  My answer was glib, but I meant  
it, too, in this way:  I  became hooked on photography the first time  
I saw an image coming up in the developer.  When I would make a nice  
print, my reaction has always been an amazed "look at THAT!" I spent  
countless hours, days, in the darkroom, as I'm sure we all have,  
trying to get those delicately separated highs, those luminous mids,  
those open yet rich shadows, flashing graded papers, bleaching, lith  
printing, Oriental VC head, calibrating film, read every book I could  
find, hung out with any printer in San Diego who would talk to me,  
learned a lot from Gene Nocon, who is a wonderful printer and  
generous teacher.  And so as a result, my printing skills got ahead  
of my photographic skills.  I have indeed always been a printer  
first.  I know this when I see fantastic shots and think "how did he  
get THAT shot??"  :  )  And so, to answer the question more  
thoroughly, because I find excellent prints to be beautiful objects,  
and wish to make them for that reason, it follows that beautiful  
subjects are most appropriate for the beautiful medium in which I  
choose to work.  Therefore, I would say that I make pictures to  
capture and present primarily the beauty that I see.  I also make  
pictures of things that I find simply interesting, others that may  
have some sort of expository content, others that may be funny or be  
visual puns, others that capture the moment or share the view of the  
street photographer.  Photography is like music in its range of  
possible use; anyone can use it at any level, from the happy snap  
shooter to the serious fine artist.  But my primary interest in it  
stems from that early realization that beauty could be captured and  
represented in a beautiful medium.

Now.  Which of these buttons do you push again???

James Irelan

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