civilized ku # 2619 ~ getting it right

Concord grapes on drink coaster ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenOne of the laments, re: the impending death / fading / changing / evolution / graying (pick one, or substitute your own word) of "traditional photography" ("TP"), is that it is only / primarily the old (graying) coots who are concerned with "getting it right" when making pictures. The young twitfacetumblrs whippersnappers, on the other hand, are concerned primarily with getting it to market (AKA: social media sites and/or distributed to their "friends'" devices), full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes (AKA: IQ).

IMO, that assessment is so full of holes that it wouldn't stop a single rat as they flee a sinking ship.

In the first place, virtually all of the old picture making coots I know or know about who are concerned with "getting it right" are much more concerned with getting the content "right" as opposed to being obsessed about things technical. And technique matters only inasmuch as it helps to convey the picture maker's intent, vision and voice. In other words, for them the technique / technicals of picture making are not the sine qua non / holy grail of "getting it right".

The only picture makers I know or know about who think that, if the craft ain't "right" then a picture can't be "right", or, at the very least, it could be "righter" ( ... if only he/she had ...), are gearheads and pixel peepers. For clarity, by pixel peepers I mean those whose first inclination when viewing a print is to view it nose-to-substrate in an effort to first assess technical IQ before moving on to contemplating content and the picture maker's intent / vision and voice.

That is, if they ever move on to trying to discern intent, vision or voice, because, in large part, these are the same people for whom there is no other intent other "wow". If one doesn't hit into the cheap seats (preferably a grand slam), one has struck out.

In the second place, I would opine that there are more picture makers, coots and whippersnappers, who are concerned (not obsessed) with getting the craft "right" than there ever were. I base that opinion on the fact that there are more dedicated / serious picture makers out there than there ever were and all of those picture makers have one form of a digital darkroom or another - in a much higher ratio, darkroom to picture maker, than in the wet darkroom days.

In the wet darkroom days, most sent their film to a lab for processing and many, if not most, also had their prints made at a lab (in both cases, more so for color than for BW). In today's digital world, I don't know a single "lab" which "processes" digital files. As for print making, I have no doubt that many more dedicated / serious picture makers make their own prints at home than did those in the wet era.

Consequently, when it comes to the craft of "getting it right" - "processing" a picture file (digital negative) - I believe there are significantly more picture makers, dedicated to "getting it right" (in the sense of conveying intent, vision and voice), than there ever were. And, IMO, it is in the darkroom, wet or dry, where the real craft of picture making is conducted.

Other than the act of selection, which is neither a craft nor an art, the act of making a picture file in camera is, for the most part, a technical exercise. It is only in the darkroom where craft comes into play. For it is in the darkroom where a mechanically produced file is "translated" into a visual expression of the picture maker's intent, vision and voice.

If one does not "get it right" in the darkroom, then it is quite possible that no one outside of the darkroom will "get it" at all.

In any event and all of that written, I don't believe that "TP" is under any assault or faces any threat at all. More people are making pictures than ever before. That is to write, indulging in what the medium is all about - making pictures. If that's not "traditional", I don't know what the hell is. And, IMNSHO, I belief that the craft of "getting it right" is thriving like never before, no matter what the gearhead / pixel peepers have to say.

"TP" has never been about using the best gear, retina bleeding sharpness, the Zone System, or any other technique. The best the medium has always had to offer is found in the pictures of those who "get it right" content, intent, vision and voice wise, even if it "just" a slightly fuzzy and grainy picture of grandma processed and printed at the local drugstore.

Comments

[Nicolas]

"just" a slightly fuzzy and grainy picture of grandma processed and printed at the local drugstore...

Yes Mark, it's the same analogy with some "old" movies as "The Music room" of Satyajit Ray ( http://www.satyajitray.org/films/jalsagh.htm )
This movie is haunting although technically very bad, but who cares because it's an ultimate masterpiece ?
Always enjoying reading you and watching "your" world.
Kind regards
Nicolas / Paris