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Yes, I think any number of photographers could be looked at through the ethnographic lens of "whiteness studies." Shelby Lee Adams, mentioned above, Susan Lipper, and Mike Smith (whose book You're...

The effect of diffraction on image quality is complex. Some of the simplified explanations we get fed often obfuscate the issues. The point that I think gets lost is that diffraction does not act as...

Here's a petition with a different angle:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/ask-doj-investigate-adobe-systems-inc-recent-announcement-change-its-software-license-subscription/TfWzqjHQ

I...

That Quadro 4000 is a high end, specialized card for video and 3D rendering. If you don't anticipate needing those features, I'd recommend selling it. You can get around $800 for those. It offers...

Nathan, the amount you spent is reasonable for all that stuff, but it's really not fair to call that the cost of entry. Your list includes a pair of scanners AND a high end dslr kit. So you got a...

Struan's summary is dead on. This is the first time you've been forced to pay on an exact schedule, and the first time the company could take a working product away from you. I'm fundamentally not ok...

Petitioning has begun.


Petition at change.org.

They're just going to split the market between those are willing and able to pay, those who will grudgingly switch to something less capable, and everyone else who will pirate the software. Which is...

I would happily participate in an angry public letter / petition.

There's such a range of choices in paper surfaces, colors, and textures now, and so much control over digital printing, that I don't really see a fundamental stylistic difference in digital prints....

I use mine on sidewalks and asphalt and factory floors 90% of the time. Slipping has only threatened to be an issue on smooth floors, and then I rely on the rope. Those spikes actually grip textured...

When I use a dslr on a tripod, it's about as time consuming as using a 4x5. Some things are quicker, like focussing. Live view is just more accurate and positive than the ground glass. Other things...

I think those top knobs are just to add enough stiffness to keep the legs from flopping around. You're never going to actually lock them solidly with those knobs. The tripod gets locked in place by...

Yes, and many of these little details of process become so ingrained that we probably don't even think to communicate them. The knowledge just gets encoded into habits.

Many years ago I took a...

Could you point me to some? I go to a fair number of gallery and museum shows. I would LOVE to see some avant garde work.



I see it everywhere. Historic work can be found at all the major...

Struan and Kirk and Brian, my take on what craft knowledge is lost—or at risk of being lost— is more value-neutral. The craft knowledge behind analog tools is simply different from the craft...

Last time I photographed a reception for robots, they complained that fumes from my polaroids were causing corrosion in their quantum arrays.

I fear this is a bit like whipping a horse because he can only count to three.

It equates to a belief in education for the primary purpose of creating enlightened and responsible citizens, as opposed to technical training for the primary purpose of creating effective workers. ...

Because obviously, your anecdotal generalization is privileged over anyone else's.

Of course, Drew, and nothing today could possibly taste as good as a mastodon you've speared yourself.

Your insistence on turning yourself into a cliche at every opportunity is just funny; what's...

Drew, let's try something called critical thinking. I promise, it'll only hurt for a minute.

Why not consider some of the real exemplars of democratization in food? Look at the number and the...

Lenny: commodification of art dates at least to the Renaissance. While John Berger and Walter Benjamin are both of limited scope in my appraisal, they each make a convincing case that commodification...

Back to my question. I'm sure everyone here likes old cameras and lenses, fine craftsmanship, working methodically, the resolution and look of a big piece of film, etc. etc...

That's all old news....

I hope ragging on "analog" is tongue in cheek. If both photography and language are expected to never evolve, I fear for all of us.

Chaucer on the subject:

Ye knowe ek that in forme of speeche...

Repent!

Lenny, I'm not a fan of Camera Lucida either. That was Barthe's amateur effort; I can't even make a meaningful connection between the ideas in that book and the ones in his good books. On semiotics...

In terms of working with your hands, photography has always been the runt of the art litter. No other historical medium requires less of it. Even with older processes, the hand work is incidental ......

Yeah, yeah, sure, but I'm talking about kinds of work that are fundamentally different. Not just nostalgia, or a different approach to similar ends.

I'd pay even more for a Weston Tortilla than for Jesus toast.

analog |ˈanlˌôg; -ˌäg| (also analogue)
noun
a person or thing seen as comparable to another : the idea that the fertilized egg contains a miniature analog of every adult structure.
• Chemistry a...

There's another thread about what has been lost as digital tools become more mainstream in photography.

I thought it would be interesting to consider a perspective that gets ignored most of the...

Lenny, I'll take an opposing view on both counts. Regarding postmodernism, no label has been less fashionable over the last ten years. We've been in a cultural era marked by artists strongly...

Devil's advocacy and pot-stirring both offer benefits. But I don't see an upside to these ritual outbursts. Is there an old-timey expression for what the the gorilla at the zoo does when he poops in...

I would welcome that as well.

Alec Soth has spoken compellingly about why he works with 8x10. I can't point to a particular interview, but they're all worth reading. He mentions the slow pace, and...

Drew, do you think all the work in NYC looks alike? I don't even think you could point to a trend here. Under Peter Gallassi's watch, I couldn't identify anything resembling an esthetic or...

Kir, those shows are great examples. And the work I've seen at moma's contemporary photographers series over the last couple of years has come in all sizes.

Even the poster boys of huge prints,...

Over one decade the big question of the digital age has shifted from how to preserve information to how to delete it.

Keeping your artwork and heirlooms for posterity is no longer a challenge....

There is nothing in the world easier, or less interesting, or less intelligent, than to make huge, sweeping generalizations without reference to anything in the real world, which, in every instance,...

Read what I wrote.