Re: shaking booty at SPE

Thanks, Christina!
I think the wet darkrooms are coming back- the schools teach it here on the
West Coast- Canada and everyone loves the magic!
Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christina Z. Anderson" <zphoto@montana.net>
To: "Alt, List" <alt-photo-process-L@usask.ca>
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 8:09 AM
Subject: shaking booty at SPE

> Wow--back from SPE which is Society of Photographic Education. I thought
I
> would report the news from there and give you all something to react to.
> Just the facts, ma'am.
>
> 1900 people were there, at a huge and beautiful hotel downtown Chicago.
We
> were there with two other conventions in this hotel--an African American
> women's sorority convention with a huuuge amount of members. They dressed
> far more beautifully than we tortured artists-in-black, and seemed to have
a
> lot more fun. The other convention in town was 4000 orthopedic surgeons,
a
> well-heeled, mostly male lot who needed to lighten up a bit. Walking into
> the ChiBar in jeans and seeing a whole roomful of black suits and black
> dresses was quite the photographic experience and I forgot my camera in
the
> room.
>
> We had panels morning, noon, and night so the only "fun" I had was getting
> Darryl Baird to shake his booty on the dance floor the final night. Janet
> Neuhauser, where were you that night??? Oh, and I did manage to go to
Buddy
> Guy's for a quick dinner, as well as a great tapas restaurant one night
with
> 6 of us I did not know but do now--that is the great benefit of SPE is
> connections with people of like concerns; conversation never grows dull.
> Unfortunately, no alt list meeting per se as I did not even know Janet and
> Darryl were there until I happened upon them at the cocktail night.
>
> So, enough of the gossip.
>
> After I got over the sticker shock of $9 for a glass of house wine and
> virtually no place inside the hotel to enjoy a fine cigar (are YOU going
to
> stand outside in 30 degree windy weather and smoke?), I have to say that
> this conference was the most vital of all the SPE conferences I have
> attended. Digital was heavily addressed, especially in light of
pedagogical
> concerns. Follows are a smattering of notes I took while there, and an alt
> conclusion, I promise.
>
> One faculty even went so far as to say teaching wet darkroom at the
> beginning photography level is doing the students a disservice (from a
large
> eastern university). However, another said when wet darkroom was
abandoned
> at their university, enrollment dropped by 50%. But most agreed that
> introducing digital at the beginning level as a core practice was a must.
>
> Don't "ghettoize" black and white into the wet darkroom but teach it
> digitally also.
>
> Silver gelatin is a nice "antique" process like all the rest--more
important
> to teach how to "see" thru the viewfinder.
>
> Those who miss the darkroom experience have worked at transforming the
> digilab to a darkroom experience--low lights, music, etc.
>
> Contemporary photographic practice credibility now rests on photographers
> and not the photographs.
>
> The decisive moment has now become the decisive edit.
>
> Some feared the loss of the happy accident.
>
> Traditional photography was termed "residual" photography.
>
> Stop teaching digital photography and start teaching photography
digitally.
>
> One said you don't throw out pen and paper just because the Wacom Tablet
is
> here.
>
> There was mention of large Gursky works fading before people's eyes in a
> gallery--so much for archivalness.
>
> A difference in terms of the photographic and photographs: the
photographic
> has remained consistent but photographs have not--images in other words
have
> remained photographic but are not photographs...
>
> We got a great demo of Adobe's Lightroom, a simplified and
> photographer-friendly Photoshop, sort of.
>
> The third point perspective of the photojournalist is being altered by the
> amateur and participatory cell phone or digital user--think London bombing
> and Abu Ghraib and all the other historical moments where some Joe Blow
has
> recorded the moment while being involved. A conflation of private and
public
> space.
>
> Great panel on podcasting and one prof has podcast all his lectures and
put
> them online for a photo history course. Apparently there are podcasts on
> photography you can download on the web...some of you are saying, "Like,
> HELLLO, Chris, where have you been???"
>
> And what did I buy? A zone plate body cap for my digital and traditional
> Nikons...
>
> What was so cool is that this digital revolution has, in fact, enhanced
alt
> process with the ability to print perfect digital negatives now. Digital
> has made alt **more** accessible and user friendly. There were no panels
on
> how alt has changed, how pt/pd is outmoded, how alt is being thrown out of
> the schools..The loss of the physicality of making an image in the wet
> darkroom was mourned, and frankly, that physical connection to the alt
print
> is, to me, what alt is all about.
> Chris
>
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Received on Tue Mar 28 07:11:05 2006