P3D Re: Holga vs Hassy for instance

["David W. Kesner" <drdave@xxxxxxxxxx>]

In P3D Digest 3446 Brain Reynolds says:

> The creation of a photograph does not end with the push of a button
> (the exact timing of which can also be an artistic input), there is
> still the print to be made.
snip
> Assuming that you print
> your own photographs, the artistic input continues until the final
> product (the print) is finished.

Printing is a whole other issue. I was talking about capturing an 
image photographically. How it is manipulated after that is where 
the artist comes in, and that definitely includes printing where things 
such as dodging, burning, tinting, retouching, etc. are done by hand 
and not reproducable by another.

> Nor can individual printing styles be perfectly duplicated.

I definitely agree as stated above.

> If they
> could then the prints of Ansel Adams' negatives made by others (both
> before and after his death) would be worth as much as an original
> Adams print.

The reason they are worth more is that they were done by Ansel 
Adams hands and not because the others are "different".

>  Although I haven't seen many original Adams prints, and
> I haven't seen any side by side with prints by others from the same
> negative, many people can tell the difference, even though Adams left
> explicit printing instructions with his negatives.

I would offer that if an unknown Ansel Adams print and negative 
was found and copies were made and then displayed side by side 
no one would be able to tell which was the original. Yes, they might 
be able to tell a slight difference, but then if Ansel himself made two 
prints from the same negative there are those who could spot 
differences in those two.

In no way am I trying to say that photography can't be individual, 
unique, artistic, or whatever. I just personally find art made by hand 
and photography made by a machine to be two distinctly separate 
mediums.

That's all for now,

David W. Kesner
Boise, Idaho, USA
drdave@xxxxxxxxxx


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