Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tyler Boley"
<tyler@...> wrote:
>
"Some reject the fine art object
paradigm, many have no need for it nor even recognize it."

1) Excellent. That there is a "fine art object paradigm," independent
from photographic concerns is important to recognize. 

2) According to this Group's formal mandate, print quality obsession
is more appropriate here than it would be if this was a "B&W
Photography" Group. 

2) Many have, over time, simply accepted that one or another
photographer was a great printer without seeing more than a few of his
originals. Ansel (I've seen hundreds) is a classic example...many of
his earlier prints were by the standards of the time inferior to those
of his contemporaries, Weston, Avedon, and Penn most obviously in the
thirties/forties. As well, from his sixties era I recall his murals
from Polaroid PN, not to mention his "Hills Brothers" coffee cans :-) 

3) "Master printers" seem sometimes, but only rarely, to be
interesting photographers. However, their renditions of boring images
can be compelling in terms of print quality alone. I wish I had either
 problem.