RAven:

When photography was developed in the mid 19th century, many bemoaned the End OF Painting. Yet to come were Picasso, Dali, Monet, Matisse, Miro, and (even) Pollock and Rothko.

I too look foward with relish to the ability to make B&W prints ( my particular preferred output medium) on a Printer via computer as wellas in messy trays of chemicals in teh dark. I have the computer under my fingers as I type this. Beside me I have a Canon BJC 6000, printer which can make OK colour prints, some of which I have displayed and people have payed for. Within a month I will likely get an Epson 2000 with the aftermarket inks for monochrome prints.

I have also just acquired an old Agfa Ansco 8x10 and am awestruck by the quality of the contact prints on silver paper. I also have made a light source and labouriously squeezed out a few Pt/Pd prints and will continue with both of these.

Where is the rule that says I can't do all three? Yes, the materials may become scarce, but there will always be supplies of film & paper, just as there are suppliers of brushes, oils, pastel crayons and canvas. There are still companies that make glass tubes( valves) for Hi Fi amplifiers, as well as those black plastic discs with needles scratching in grooves, which still reproduce beautiful music..

Wake up. The future was here yesterday.

Cheers