Digital BW, The Print

Recently on a variety of enthusiast forums, I�ve seen people scornfully
dismiss those who use digital cameras, computer printers, photoshop, color
film, roll film, sheet film, Velvia, t-grained film, Xtol, a photo enlarger,
digital negatives, in-camera negatives, flatbed scanners, Nikon film
scanners, and on-and-on.  �I�m the best!  If you don�t do what I do, then
you suck!� What is up with all the self-aggrandizement and hate?

Saying that someone else�s methodology �sucks� will cause nothing good.
Instead, why not say what works for you and why you like it and leave the
disparagement at the door?  For example, for awhile I used PMK, a film
developer that has a fervent following.  I used it for about a year, and I
came to the conclusion that with my methods and materials, it didn�t give me
the results I wanted.  Mainly, I didn�t like the highlight compression it
gave me on variable contrast papers. If I wanted to mimic the behavior I�ve
been witnessing, I should�ve found a forum where Gordon Hutchings, the
formulator of PMK, or at the least a forum some of his followers frequent,
and started spouting off about how PMK is crap.  The only things that
would�ve accomplished would be  to create bad feelings, undermine the
helpful spirit of community that the best forums have, and display what a
tool I was.  Just because I didn�t get good results with PMK doesn�t mean
it�s a bad developer, and I have no doubt that some people get great results
with it.


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