At 19:37 9/25/02, Ag-Schnozz wrote (in part):
As far as B&W burning and dodging and the repeatability...
One of the sell-points that I use with my B&W work is that each is
hand-made and unique. Every time the "score" is played, it will always be
an unique "performance." I don't know about you, but I prefer artwork
that I know the artist personally put effort into, not just a
mass-produced repro with "683/1000" printed on it. Besides, I bore easily
and I'm a perfectionist--never am I completely satisfied with a print and
I'm always changing and trying to improve it. Printing B&W to me is kinda
like playing Jazz--you kinda have a direction that you are going but you
never know exactly how you're gonna get there.
Thought: An original print establishes a relationship between artist and
viewer.
I agree with you in principle and about 99 0n practice. It does establish
that relationship, but only to a point with some constraints. At one time,
Ansel Adams produced prints "to order." IOW, if you wanted a specific
print you could order a specific photograph, he would make a print, and
deliver it to you. IIRC, he eventually quit doing this. It has been noted
that later prints of one of his most famous photographs, "Moonrise Over
Hernandez," just don't have the same magic in them as earlier
ones. Why? It has been surmised it was ordered so often and printed so
many times that Ansel simply lost his enthusiasm for printing it. IOW,
eventually, after the umpteenth time, he went through the motions and made
yet another print of it more as a chore to be done in meeting a commitment
to deliver the order, without any excitement in watching the print emerge
in the developer. From the story I read about this, the quantity of orders
for that particular print overwhelmed all the orders for other prints
combined. Rather sad.
While I agree that there is a uniqueness to each print when they are made
individually on an optical enlarger, would you still have the same verve in
making yet one more print of the same negative after the 100th, 500th,
1000th, 10,000th time it was ordered? Just some food for thought. IMHO,
that uniqueness and the magical nature of it you wrote about has some
limiting boundaries. Within the world of oil paintings, I believe Robert
Kincaid has succumbed to the same problem, although his solution is
different (the commercialization and "painting factory" he now operates).
OTOH from an economic perspective (read: $$$ in your bank account), don't
you *wish* it were the 10,000th time a print of one of your photographs was
ordered from you and that you were faced with the problem Ansel had?
-- John
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