Bob_Maxey@mtn.3com.com
Wed, 13 Jan 1999 13:03:15 -0700
> If, as it seems, that there is an unsettling discrepency between
alternativ
> photographic processes and digital imaging processes, maybe the digital
> insterest is enough to have another list.
I thought of this as well, but got shot down when I made the comparison. My
Thesis was that Alt means Alternative. Logically, that Alternative meant
different than silver. This was the baseline I used. After all,
traditionally, silver based systems are the ones everyone thinks of when
they discuss photography.
We now have digital. This means recording images on magnetic media, ICs
etc., and printing them out using non-sensitized inks on paper, plastics,
etc. If a Cyanotype is to be considered an alt Process, then why not
digital? After all, the basic digital system is using materials and
equipment that is far more different from silver negatives and silver
prints than a Cyanotype.
If I say I am using a process that starts with a sheet of plastic coated
with an emulsion composed of Iron and a binder, that spins at a high rate
of speed while the magnetic field is manipulated. Then, I place that latent
image into a machine that reads the magnetic properties of the Latent
Image, transfers them using copper, to a gas filled tube coated with a
phosphor that responds to the internal radiation . After using various
mathematical formulas, I manipulate the image, and send it through copper
to a device that use's precisely controlled air pressure and magnetics, to
direct drops of pigment to a final support layer.
If I describe this technique like this, it is complicated, convoluted and
hard to envision. It is far more Alt than any process I have ever seen
described on this list. Buy to some, digital is not an Alt Process. Please,
help me to understand why I am incorrect about this.
Digital has nothing in common with traditional silver based systems -
except that a lens is used to focus an image on something. Therefore, it is
to be considered an Alt Process. Before anyone can argue either way, they
have to define what is being compared. Alt simply means Alternative. Unless
you specifically define one specific process, you can not say what is or is
not Alt.
This discussion can be simplified even more when comparing Digital. For
example, there are many techniques used over the last century that do not
use silver except for the negatives, which may or may not even contain
silver. Perhaps Alt could mean Alternative to Negative / Positive
techniques? It is a complicated thing to be sure.
Bob
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