Here is an aesthetic question that pops up now and again in conversations that I am curious what the LF community currently thinks.
I got introduced to LF photography in about 1970. The first two shows that I saw have always haunted me. They were shows of Wynn Bullock and a little later Ansel Adams. The Ansel prints were the later ones which were a little snappier, more contrasty, "zippier" than the early prints. This later "pallette" of Ansel's became my standard and the standard of everyone I knew at the time (anyone who saw the Ansel Adams at 100 show a couple of years ago knows what I am talking about I think) of what a good print looks like and I have always strived for it. This was way before the resurgence of platinum/paladium with its long scale. My sense is that tastes have changed and it is because of the popularity of these long scale alternative processes. Thirty years ago I know what the answer to this first question would have been. By the way there is no right answer.
Do you prefer the early "flatter" for lack of better terms or the later "contrastier" prints of Ansel and secondly;
Who is your favourite printer currently working? One condition-only mention artists who's work you have seen originals of.
For me it is-Ansel the later prints and currently Bruce Barnbaum
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