[alt-photo] Re: "Alternative" printing?

[ender100]

If it quacks like a duck......

I think "alternative photography" usually is thought of, at least on this list, as hand made prints using a variety of processes, many of them very old processes.  I agree that gelatin silver prints are probably in the realm of alternative photography at this point and the mainstream medium Inkjet Prints.  "Alternative Photography" though could be interpreted as more than just printmaking—could mean pinhole, zone plate, etc, since the term photography is more encompassing than just the printmaking side.  I think they all have their place as does inkjet printing.  I just happen to have gotten bored with inkjet printing a long time ago and have since worked with Pt/PD and Photopolymer Gravure (which is another medium perhaps searching for a proper name.)

I guess I enjoy seeing hand made prints more, at least when they are done well.

Regardless of the medium, It all comes back to the importance of good imagery, which sometimes gets lost in the process shuffle.

ok, back to printmaking. 
--
Best Wishes,

Mark Nelson
Precision Digital Negatives
PDNPrint Forum @ Yahoo Groups

Mark Nelson Photography


On Feb 13, 2010, at 4:51:08 PM, "Diana Bloomfield" <dhbloomfield at bellsouth.net> wrote:

From:   "Diana Bloomfield" <dhbloomfield at bellsouth.net>
Subject:    [alt-photo] Re: "Alternative" printing?
Date:   February 13, 2010 4:51:08 PM CST
To: "The alternative photographic processes mailing list" <alt-photo-process-list at lists.altphotolist.org>
  I juried a show several years ago, where this person had some  
gorgeous prints (digital), but she'd labeled them "carbon prints."  I  
knew they were digital, and that didn't keep me from awarding her 1st  
place, because both the image itself and the printing were really  
wonderful--  but I told her later that she needed to clarify the  
labels on how she defined those images, and she actually had no idea  
that there was this ancient process out there, called carbon, that  
some people still do.  So she still makes these prints, but she now  
labels them to reflect more clearly how they were printed.

My suspicion, though, is that the majority do want to identify their  
work-- as you say-- with what they view as "more prestigious  
techniques."   I would have thought digital, at this point, was widely  
accepted now-- you see it in galleries everywhere-- so that people  
didn't feel the need to have to do that.  I rarely even see people use  
the term 'giclee' anymore.  I'm really surprised, because I do think  
that to be so adept at using Photoshop, and really take full advantage  
of its capabilities-- is probably no small feat.

On Feb 13, 2010, at 5:27 PM, Tomas Sobota wrote:

> It seems to me that digital printers still have to find a term with  
> which
> they feel at ease. They evidently don't feel that "digital printing"  
> sounds
> artistic enough, hence their attempts to identify their work with  
> other
> techniques with more prestige. I remember a few years back when  
> digital
> printers called their work "carbon prints", to the chagrin of real  
> carbon
> workers. The idea was that black inkjet pigment-based inks have  
> carbon as a
> component. This might be true, but still, come on!
> So now they call themselves "alt"? I didn't know that, but it's the  
> same
> reality twisting as before. Perhaps they should take a cue from  
> early XXth
> century photographers and start making artistic-looking digital  
> prints. They
> could call this "digipictorialism" ...
>
> Tom Sobota
> Madrid, Spain
>

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