Learning from Prints or Hagiography

[Dean Lastoria]

We have a great gallery around here called Presentation House in North Van that often has shows of BC photographers and international ones. They have a show on photography of the internment camps by a BC photographer named Frank and of Manzanar. Previously they had Lee Miller’s original concentration camp photos (they don’t just do morbid stuff by the way) and her image of an oven made me almost sick – very powerful. I was looking forward to seeing the St.A’s prints hoping to have some similar impact, but they didn’t do much – they were “digital prints, Library of Congress”. I guess I was hoping for a vintage print. So, I guess what I’m getting at, the prints were very nice and all – far better than mine – but am I just a whiner, or did I really miss something. You know, like those people who see the real Mona Lisa rave, yet I can’t be bothered?

http://www.presentationhousegall.com/

Anyhow, good show and all. It’s just the hagiography of the thing.

Dean

[Michael A.Smith]

Although I am not particularly an Adams fan, I'd have to say that yes, you missed a lot by not seeing the real prints. What you saw were reproductions.