Re: Inkjet Printers / alt phot ephemera

Donald Cardwell (cardwell@voyager.net)
Thu, 19 Mar 1998 06:44:01 -0800

On Inkjet prints:


> >>Enjoy your prints while they last. You won't enjoy them very long.
> > >
> > > Luis Nadeau
>
> >SNIP<
>
> > > Nobody's claiming "memories forever".
> > But we must understand that these prints will be only "memories".
>
> > Ed Meyers

........

Hi all.

I guess I was in the darkroom when we decided that it was OK to make
prints which don't last.

Yes, digital imagery is cool, neat, and new.
Like the dog who can lick himself, we can do all kinds of things.

But I'm not an artist, just a hack photographer who thinks he's obliged
to make prints of weddings and pony rides that will last long enough for
the subject's children to be able to get a sense of their parents when
they were young. My job isn't to sell a print and hand over a CD,
telling the client to print another one out when this one fades. Silly
attitude, I suppose, and probably grandiose, in a Post Modern sort of
way.

Some feel all these processes are equal: Just Tools. I suppose it has
everything to do with our self perception. For the Artist, I guess
personal gratification seems to be pretty important (see, I can make a
print out of this stuff !) and concern for it's future viability held
low.

It's funny to me that my lowly hack's work will outlive the most pompous
work done on digital printers.

Just stopped to throw a couple sticks at Ever Advancing Technology.

Back to the darkroom.

Don Cardwell