What Kirk Tuck wrote in his entry 'I stepped back in time yesterday and bought a Nikon F4', on 27 January 2009, reminds me of a lot of things I've been thinking about lately:
As the demand for large prints diminished so will the demand for the last remaining photographic labs and their master printers. All photographic art will be destined for the screen or the wild interpretations of ink jet printers on papers of dubious quality and keeping potential. We, as a culture, will have done to art exactly what we have done to the DVD player and the hamburger: We will have commodified it, driven it brutally to it's lowest price with all the attendant compromises and we will have sucked the "humanism" out of the process in a vain and egalitarian attempt to make all things accessible to all people.
So, the F4 convinces me that the expedition in search of excellence is still part of human nature....even though it is temporarily in hibernation. The feel of the camera is superb. The feedback of the shutter and mirror noise is sensuous. And the looks of my photographic peers are priceless as they try to figure out just what the hell I'm up to now."
This, written on 29 April, reminds me of the Entangled Photo Shoot (which was nonetheless done on digital):
In the film days, before immediate gratification, we would shoot and shoot. Not to waste film but to explore the possibilities. Often the "portfolio keepers" would arrive after the perceived high point of a shoot. The fun shots seemed to manifest themselves when everyone was sure we were covered and they started to relax. [...] There’s a lot to be said for not knowing exactly what’s there until you see it.
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Michelle uses a Holga. Looking forward to seeing some of your work, Mich!
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