Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/09/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]An interesting thread. I went to a symposium at UC Santa Barbara. The high end physics department, headed by a Nobel prize winning physicist, also has an artist on staff. At this large conference on art, the only talk that impressed me was by the Nobel prize winner. His theme was: art exists, what does that tell us? I think my style of photography emphasizes, among other things, the amount of information that is accessible by the viewer. Photography is a form of visual communication. The more information I can present to the viewer, the more I can communicate. The more interesting information in the print, the longer I can keep the viewer engaged. Taking pictures in the field is my "information capture" phase. I need to capture the most in the most efficient manner that gives me otherwise what I need or want. In my random walk through this field, I have selected the instruments and workflows that have met those goals. The M9 with my 35mm lens is at the top of the heap now. Photoshop became the core of the post-processing some time ago. Internegs and traditional silver printing had their short reign, and now it's inkjet with carbon for high end and dyes for ultimate eye candy. I sure wish I could combine those, but then again, market divisions actually increase the market. I suspect what I'm doing, in part, is simply using the tools that present themselves due to the technology of the day. I use the tools to accomplish or facilitate a photographic journey that is, I think, a part of being one of those "compulsive communicators," as someone once defined us humans. I think whatever it was that caused people to love to look at large format photographs will also cause those types of people to look at prints that have the massive amounts of information that we can capture with multiple frames. But, when a single frame on an M9 can accomplish the same thing, all the better (and it can much of the time). Part of multi-frame workflows stems from the need to capture information beyond what a single frame can, and much relates to the ability to reduce the equipment load and costs. It is, in part, a light and superior solution to wide angle zooms and their problems. Paul www.PaulRoark.com