Klause adds:
>
>I think we should discuss these questions, because we should be careful not to
>go into the same dead end road, that the pictorialists went to. Not the
>protagonists of that time, but the unreflected and decorative mass work of
>amateurs and professionals once helped to disqualify the alternative
>processes.
>
>E. g. it's easy to say that using alt. photo. processes today may be to set a
>counterpoint against new imaging technologies with no haptical qualities.
>And no
>painter would permit the paint industry to tell him how to apply the color to
>the canvas. So photographers would cut out a part of their creative
>repertoire.
>But Ansel Adams and Weston could create an atmosphere without using haptical
>properties of their prints. (And don't tell me the zone system did it...) They
>had s. th. to say and new the language. I myself believe that the imaging
>material/technique can help to comunicate and can improve you grammar - if you
>have s. th. to say. But it also can serve as the kings new clothes (or how is
>that fairytale called in proper english?).
>
One thing I see is that it is always safe to describe a photo on it's
technical merits alone, and techinque is important. But I have seen photos
with a good range of tone that leave me cold. I think it is important to
discuss the composition and content of photography as well as technical
aspects. If we, as photographers, want to be considered artists rather
than craftsmen then we need to discuss photos as art, by their visual
content, and not just by techincal merit. This is difficult to do until
we all have scanners and can share our images.
There are historical photos that do not measure up technically to the
later images that have been created. Yet we admire the images. They
create a mood or feeling not expressable in a different medium.
To me one of the alternatives to straight photography is to discuss the
reasons for the composition and subject matter. I would like to see more
of this type of discussion somewhere, if not here.
Sandy Vrooman