[alt-photo] Re: new MFA program in alt!

[Paul Viapiano]

Actually, Nick Brandt's Africa images are inkjet and huge...but they are 
sublime.

There are exceptions, so I shouldn't be so quick to criticize...and there 
are practical limits to darkroom printing.

p


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diana Bloomfield" <dhbloomfield at bellsouth.net>
To: "The alternative photographic processes mailing list" 
<alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org>
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 2:53 PM
Subject: [alt-photo] Re: new MFA program in alt!


> Hi Loris,
>
> Yes, I tend to agree that not ALL big digital prints are bad-- it's just 
> that I rarely see any that aren't printed where you could measure them in 
> feet, not inches, that if they're all printed that way, well-- chances 
> are, most won't be very interesting.  In the end, they just come across as 
> one big blur to me.  And I do think that many of those big prints I see 
> are actually soulless.   I could name a few that aren't, but then I think 
> they would be equally compelling printed small.  I'm guessing that people 
> don't think too much about image content, and just think "big."  I do 
> think the size one chooses to print should, in some part, be related to 
> the image content itself-- not just how big a printer one can afford. 
> Every time I see a big-ass overly saturated digital print, I typically 
> think (1) This person must have a pretty good day job to be able to afford 
> that, or they're actually selling the stuff; and (2) Would this be 
> interesting if it didn't have "big" for its initial
>  impact?  And, for me, the answer to #2 is usually no.
>
> And, yes, I definitely get the "vicious circle" problem.
>
> Diana
>
> On Apr 19, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Loris Medici wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> 2010/4/19 Diana Bloomfield <dhbloomfield at bellsouth.net>:
>>> ...
>>> the bigger the print, the higher the price tag
>>> you can put on it.  I  tend to forget that some people actually do this 
>>> to
>>> make money. ;)
>>
>> Well, in my case big prints can't make money, because:
>>
>> 1. Indeed, big prints raise an expectation of a high price tag. If I
>> price them high, they're not going to be sold -> people aren't willing
>> to pay "big"(!) money for photography in Turkey. Why would they bother
>> to pay that much for something they can make too(!)...??? (Their point
>> of view, not mine.) Then, if I price them low (remember it's all about
>> big prints), then it means I'm not worth for their attention / money,
>> because I don't value my own work. Kind of a vicious circle...
>>
>> 2. Big prints require big venues / rooms / walls and pose real
>> logistics and design / decoration problems. Small prints are sold much
>> easier and faster...
>>
>>> Sadly, he probably has a point.  I am so tired of this big-ass digital 
>>> print
>>> phenomenon, though (which, I suspect, is directly correlated to our
>>> society's growing obesity problem), and consistently surprised by how 
>>> many
>>> people are drawn in by these (mostly soulless) big-ass prints.
>>
>> Well I happen to like Andreas Gursky's huge prints with all the soul
>> they have in their apparent soullessness. I mean not all big prints /
>> images are bad, very much like the fact that not all small prints are
>> necessarily good... Some images work printed big, some work printed
>> small. To me, all depends...
>>
>> Regards,
>> Loris.
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