Re: "Antiquarian Avant Garde" and Nostalgia and spleening my vent

[William Marsh <redcloud54@earthlink.net>]

> 
> * One thing that really pissed me off about this book (and alot of alt
> > work
> > these days) is how they glorify the rough edges and "mistakes" of alot
> > of
> > early processes. No wet plate worker worth his salts would have shown a
> > plate with the rough edges and blemishes that so many present day
> > practitioners seek.  I don't understand why the "mistakes" have become
> > the
> > prevailing aesthetic. The processes are so beautiful on their own.
> 
> >
> > William
> 


One big reason I got into platinum was that I was sick of the "factory"
look of regular silver prints.  It was too abstract.  I needed to have
that feeling of making it by hand.  A handmade process depended more on
me and my skill than on some guy on an assembly line in Rochester
turning out perfect paper that could be counted on to replicate the same
exact image over and over.  That "handmadeness" makes each print unique,
and the brushstroke edges are just a part of that uniqueness - not
nearly the most important part.  When I needed even more of a handmade
medium, I went to stone sculpture, which depends totally on the worker's
influence to convey anything.  For awhile I left photography completely,
because it still felt too abstract and removed from handwork, even with
making my own paper.  But there are so many things one can say with
photography that can't be readily said in stone, so I came back.  

If I couldn't make "handmade" pictures, I wouldn't be doing photography
at all.  It has nothing to do with "style."  It is about building a
piece of art *myself*.  

Bill