[alt-photo] Re: ?: Re: Official press release about HPlarge formatnegatives

[Diana Bloomfield]

Hi Bob,

I agree with most of what you've said here, but when I say the final  
image is really what really matters-- I mean that this is what matters  
to the general public/ people who may look at those images.  I do  
think the process matters, but it truly only matters (mostly) to me  
(ie, to the person making the art).  Of course-- for any of us-- there  
might be some curators/gallery owners/collectors who will know what  
they're looking at and be very interested in the process involved--  
especially true for gallery owners who will want to pass that on to  
their collectors/viewers-- but for the vast majority of people who  
look at photography, it really is the final image that matters to  
them.  They rarely want to hear about the fine details.

And I don't care how the image is printed, even if your print just  
rolled off a big old Epson printer-- if the image itself isn't  
captivating, no amount of good (or bad) printing--  no matter what  
process used-- will make it so.

Diana
On Jul 15, 2010, at 5:28 PM, BOB KISS wrote:

> 	I have been following this thread for a while and much information
> and many interesting opinions have been shared.  I really do not  
> want to get
> into the question of the steps in getting to the final print.
> 	However I think a few distinctions should be offered.
> 1) I agree that no one will be interested in any print if the image  
> is not
> captivating in some way, even if in its subtlety.
> 2) It is very interesting that many of you who belong to this list  
> and have
> worked very hard mastering alternative methods of *printing* suggest  
> that
> image is all that counts.  If this were so you would post all of  
> your images
> to Facebook and be done with it.
> 3) One must remember that the OBJECT OF ART is also important and  
> THIS is
> the strength of alternative processes that should be presented to  
> gallery
> owners when trying to show alt prints.  Again, boring image?  No one  
> wants
> it.  But a great image presented with a creatively appropriate alt  
> printing
> process creates an object of art that is stunning and saleable.  Don't
> forget, gallery owners are business people and they need to sell to  
> keep the
> doors open and track lights on.
> 4) Why do we do alt printing if not for the wonderful textures,  
> colors,
> tonalities etc presented by each process?
> 5) These are not just my opinions.  I learned them from a photo  
> historian,
> former holder of a chair in the graduate dept of Pratt, and NYC  
> gallery
> owner.  He said, firstly, the image has to be great.  Then you look  
> at the
> object of art itself and this greatly affects the desirability and  
> price of
> the print.  He has sold and continues to sell many vintage and  
> modern alt
> process prints, except that the vintage ones were not alt in their
> day...they were "high tech" for the 19th century!  ;-))
>
> 			CHEERS!
> 				BOB
>