> Classical would be
> misleading, in spite of its reference to the chosen medium. Even labeling
> someone who works in *classical processes* as such, there may be a
> confusion as to whether they were photographers of a romantic bent
> as opposed to a young turk thumbing her/his nose at technological
> conventions.
> We should be careful what we lobby for as the name of our media
> (collectively) as we may find it exclusionary or contradictory as trends
> evolve.
I agree strongly with David, there already being too strong a tendency to
try to turn the clock back conceptually to "classical" methods (or to a
fantasy version of the classics -- in the way that Hollywood gives you a
fantasy version of ancient Egypt). I have no interest in staying within
"classical" bounds myself, and doubt my students would either.
While I have often said (it's in the archive!) that "they" are the
alternative to us, I think Peter Marshall's point that in the grand scheme
of things, at least for the moment, gelatine silver still rules is well
taken. I have my own notes (for a work I expect to publish one day) about
the name dilemma, and clearly there is no simple solution.
Among points to note is that some of what we include in "alternative
photography," such as toning, paper negatives, and sabattier effect, not
to mention pinhole, is done largely or entirely in gelatine silver, which
is (who said?) probably classic by now anyway. This fall I suggested "hand
coated" (& got flamed a toasty brown), but didn't mean it anyway as an
umbrella title. "Classic," however, creates more problems than it solves,
not only suggesting an end to future evolution, which is patently not
going to happen (did we stop history -- no matter that Fukyama declared it
-- just because the Berlin Wall came down?), disproved not just in Mike
Ware's processes, but polaroid transfer, xerox transfer (even Fotempera!)
and probably a handful of others.
My suggestion at this point (& after years of cogitation) would be
"alt-photo," giving the term the sense of all the things we talk about on
the alt-photo list, the things either not done on factory paper or not the
way the data sheet expects. As I've also pointed out to the Alt-Photo
Review, "alt" means "old" in German, so there is an extra resonance.
However,the course I teach at school is called "Non-Silver" photography,
tho it includes hand-coated emulsions based on silver. The following
semester, also listed in the catalog as "non-silver" (what do
administrators know?), consists entirely of platinum. We have another
course called "Alternative Photographic Methods," which focuses on things
you can do with gelatine silver paper. Students have to figure out the
distinctions in these usages themselves & manage to do so.
I think, though, that Dick's point about *choosing* a name and the
influence this list could have in promulgating it are well taken. (Didn't
"African-Americans" name themselves? Question remains, however, how
lo-o-o-o-ng it took them to do it.)
Then again, how about "neo-classic"?
Cheers,
Judy
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