Reminiscing About View Camera's Past.

[Mark Sawyer]

Maybe... but wasn't he nuts?

Technically, yes. But technically, aren't we all?

[Vaughn]

Not replaced... Even in it's heyday, LF was vastly outnumbered by amateur formats... (Think Instamatics, disposables, polaroids, home movies, etc...) ...Steve K

But all of those were dwarfed (can we still say that?) by the use of film in the motion picture industry, most on film reels going to theaters. The military might come a distant runner-up.

Things are still happening. We cannot properly imagine the future -- figuring out what is happening today is tough enough! Yes, we are becoming 'buried' in images...but not for the first time. Our societies have already experienced a deluge from no photographic images to photographic images being common place. In comparison, the present deluge will probably be just a bit a blip on the historical record, even if it is now reaching every corner of Earth. We may live long enough to experience the next historic revolution in image-making -- that might be sparked by the present ubiquitousness of the digital image...or be driven by issues we can not yet imagine.

[Eric Woodbury]

Wasn't Van Gogh nuts because of the cadmium in the paint? Heavy metal poisoning.

[Jac@stafford.net]

There is no question humanity is swimming in an ocean of electronic images and it appears this ocean of images has drowned out those very few images that are special.

Similarly the proliferation of text might seem to have drowned out the gems of literature. As much as one might wish to believe he is a good judge of quality, do we not still rely upon the arbiters to pare the chaos, just as we did before the 'net opened the gates to everyone? Some consider the 'net the liberation of democracy, but there are profound arguments that democracy has nothing to offer to critical judgement in the arts.

[Mark Sawyer]

Wasn't Van Gogh nuts because of the cadmium in the paint? Heavy metal poisoning.

Cadmium, lead, or mercury, all were used in paint at the time. Oil paint solvents could do it too. Today it's pretty much accepted that he had temporal lobe epilepsy, which can drive you nuts, and any of the above can help lead to that.

Oh, no! We're caught in thread drift!

[John Kasaian]

I totally agree with the last sentence!

I concur.

[John Kasaian]

Similarly the proliferation of text might seem to have drowned out the gems of literature. As much as one might wish to believe he is a good judge of quality, do we not still rely upon the arbiters to pare the chaos, just as we did before the 'net opened the gates to everyone? Some consider the 'net the liberation of democracy, but there are profound arguments that democracy has nothing to offer to critical judgement in the arts.

Ain't that the Truth.
But, there are powerful people who say there is no abject Truth, hence the nihilistic chaos.

Literature isn't taught in high schools, at least not in CA, and only a small amount of it in the English Dept.'s at Universities.
Students would be better off taking a course in Classical Studies if they want to experience Literature.
If any courses are offered.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Cadmium, lead, or mercury, all were used in paint at the time. Oil paint solvents could do it too. Today it's pretty much accepted that he had temporal lobe epilepsy, which can drive you nuts, and any of the above can help lead to that.

I think it is a negative distraction to attribute van Gogh's work to mental disorders. The fact that he persisted to make art should be understood as a great accomplishment.

[Jac@stafford.net]

But, there are powerful people who say there is no abject Truth, hence the nihilistic chaos.

Those temporal powers exist as vapors. Prevailing reason will erase them.

[Mark Sawyer]

I think it is a negative distraction to attribute van Gogh's work to mental disorders...

Trying to understand something that had a major impact on his life, work, and death isn't meant as an insult.