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

[Earl and Patty Johnson]

Is it time to retire the term 'Alternative'? Have the times changed 
enough that the term ceases to be useful? At the time that 'alternative 
photography' came to mean what most of us on this list agree on, digital 
methods did not exist (or were not yet serious tools). The state of the 
art involved the use of standardized, factory-produced, silver-based 
materials to make beautiful photographs. As I understand it, the term 
'alt-process' was coined to mean the production of beautiful photographs 
where at least part of the process involved non-factory materials 
produced by the hands of the artist. As a pinhole photographer, I have 
considered myself a part of the alt-process crowd even though, until 
recently, my prints were produced by with an enlarger on 'traditional' 
silver gelatin (factory-made) materials.

In 2010, there is no longer the distinction between 'traditional' 
darkroom photography and the practitioners of the alt-process methods. 
Today's distinction is between processes that take place in the 
'cyberworld' (digital image capture, image manipulation using software, 
and printing with computer-based printers) and processes that involve 
physical and chemical processes on film and paper. Would it be more 
accurate and descriptive to say 'historical process photography' or 
'traditional process photography' in place of 'alt-process'?

After reading this, it strikes me that I am trying to be too fine here. 
I am far from a purist in any sense. My workflow includes processes 
chosen from many periods of the 150+ year history of photography. My 
image capture does not use a lens, but includes factory-made film. Some 
of my contact printing negatives are produced digitally, using 
technology that has come of age in the 21st century. I print on 
materials that I coat myself as well as on materials produced using 
mid-20th century industrial technology. I could be printing my salted 
paper and carbon prints from wet-plate collodion or gelatin dry film 
glass plate negatives, but I have chosen to take advantage of the 
wonderful factory materials at my disposal. Likewise, the scanner, 
Photoshop, and printer make it possible to know that the negative that I 
print with is matched to the process that I am printing - I have removed 
variables from the process at several stages by applying the latest 
technology. If 'alternative' means non-digital, then I am not alternative.

So where does that leave me? I think that I will describe myself as a 
lensless photographer who prints using historical processes. And I will 
continue to subscribe to the alt-photo list and not worry too much about 
who uses what words. The people who matter can tell when the words are 
misused.

Earl Johnson