Re: Difficult Photo Processes
Richard Knoppow (dickburk@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 08 Feb 1998 13:13:53 -0800
At 12:54 PM 2/8/98 +0000, Joseph O'Neil wrote:
>At 09:29 08/02/98 -0500, you wrote:
>><<<<<The Alt Photo community would be far better served by encouraging
>>young
>>photographers to experiment in the alternative processes rather than by
>>scaring them off, methinks.
>>
>>This is true. Between being told how difficult it was to get a good print
>>and how dangerous the chemistry was, I suppressed my desire to do Alt
>>Process work for several years.
>
> Amen! There was a cute article in my local newspaper
>yesterday aobut how in North America one of the biggest selling
>series of books is the "Dummies" line. Started years ago with
>titles such as "Dos for Dummies" or Wordperfect for Dummies"
>and now includes everything form "Sex for Dummies" to
>cooking, stamp collecting, etc.
>
> The whole point of the article is hopw in today's society
>people do not want things to be difficult, everybody wants everythign to
>seem easy. No sense of taking a long time to learn a craft. I've been
>in the darkroom for 15 plus years now,a nd I am still learning, still not
>happy that I have reached my maximun potential. I still toss out
>more prints than I keep.
>
> I am just startign to dable in and learn about the alt-process,
>and if it takes me another 15 years to master one particular form, so be it.
>Isn't that perhaps one reason many people are here - a sort of mini -revolt
>against the "press one button and let the computer think for you" society
>we seem to live in today?
>joe
>
>http://www.multiboard.com/~joneil
>B&W, Large Format Images From Southern Ontario
>
I think the criticism of the "Dummies" series misses the point of why
this and similar
books are so popular. Many of the subjects covered by them are fraught
with mysticism
and rarely-defined jargon. It is often very difficult for a newcomer to
learn
the rudiments on which further learning from other sources can be based.
There is nothing wrong with providing clear and simplified explanations
of things
as long as they aren't simplified to the point of being misleading (i.e. as
happens in popularized
books on physics).
I think there is also a reaction when something difficult is demystified.
Those who have learned it "the hard way" are apt to resent it. This was
clearly the reason for Steiglitz's hatred of Kodak and plenty of other
examples can be found.
----
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles,Ca.
dickburk@ix.netcom.com