>However, Photoshop has also made people lazy as well.
Same type of argument made in the late 19th century about wet plates vs dry
plates - the latter were too easy. And when Eastman put film into cameras
that made everyone capable of taking pictures - too easy, not professional.
And when Leica produced 35mm format - never catch on with serious
photographers.
Yet those of us who are into Alt-Photo go back to older methods because the
"easier" methods have taken over, and there are inherent advantages to the
alt ones..
My friends, it ain't how you do it, it's the results that are important.
Alt-Photo methods provide results that can't be matched in other media. The
same is true with computerized photography ("digital" is a forbidden word
with me, because it is meaningless) - when the results are great, you have
a good photograph. It's just another tool we can add to our repertoire.
And, as far as permanence is concerned (and I am seriously concerned), none
of the slides I have that were made prior to 1955 (and that includes
Kodachrome) are in pristine condition, even though they have been in the
dark under fairly controlled conditions most of the time. Color prints I
made in the 1950s into the 60s are largely gone (but better than
commercially made ones of the same period). There are no "original"
Polaroid pictures that are fit to be looked at. And commercially produced
BW prints from even 50 yrs ago are, for the most part, faded or fading (I
do a lot of computer improvement on these for genealogical purposes). The
scientists can produce inks/dyes that have longer life, they are working on
it, and we should (a la Cibachrome/Ilfochrome) have pigments and dyes for
computerized printing that will be the equivalent or better than in
chemically produced color prints.
Getting back to the Alt-Photo thing for a moment: I hope all those working
on color "carbon" prints are paying close attention to the mordanted dyes
they are using for the color: many water colors are not even as permanent
as the dyes used in color prints and computerized prints.
<<sil>>
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<webmaster@psa-photo.org>
Sil Horwitz, FPSA
Technical Editor, PSA Journal
check out <http://www.psa-photo.org>