On: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 Jeff at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> Thank heavens that skill and creative input still have their place and value! > ......................As an art director told me once. We will shoot, retouch > and proof in house, and save a fortune. So where will it all end? I think that > "skill and creative input as well as experience" are very important, but more > people are doing it themselves. Very badly.
Yes, and it shows - greatly! This is very much reflected in the fine art world, and is a product of 30 years of mis-education. Video artist who cannot frame, painters who cannot paint, and installation artists who could not assemble an IKEA flat-pack - even if their lives depended on it. The irony is that the skilled and semi-skilled trades are collapsing worldwide due to the lack of those willing to learn or graft for a living, as everyone wants to be in media. I always knew Sebastio Selgardo was onto something big <G> Sooner or later, things will come to a head, but for now all those who have "skill and creative input as well as experience" will have to content themselves with the label of 'underground guerilla artistes' - or the 'new avante-garde'. Bob Marchant also wrote: > ...........Which brings us back to the fact that 'digital' doesn't necessarily > produce better pictures even given its superior quality. It still requires the > smudgers skills bring out the best in the final image. Bob, I know you slightly well enough to say that your proficiency with digital is largely due to all those years of hard slog in the wet darkroom, and whacking thousands upon thousands of sheets of film through the studio Sinar. Respect. The problem with digital is that as a 'revolution', it rose up out of nowhere so fast that there has been precious little transference of skills from one generation to the next. The world of education seems to think that all it has to do is to sit students in front of computers, and marvellous things will happen. Well, it isn't happening - is it? Hint: have you ever watched an ice cream van pull up into an empty street, and a posse of kids will suddenly appear from nowhere, only to scurry back inside to carry on playing Nintendo? At one time, our city streets were full of the sound of children's laughter - and singing, and skipping, and playing games, AND generally getting a taste of life ahead. We have got the commercial marketplace we deserve, and time WILL tell on this issue of quality. Quality of thought, quality of action, and I do hope there is more to our current professional life than the mere rattling of empty film-cans. To me, there is no emotional difference between between film and digital, except a lack of emotion in those who think they 'know' different. Anyway, it's 2.50pm in the UK afternoon, and I simply MUST get outside to catch the last of the light with my Powershot A40.......rant over. best William Curwen (passionate version) =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
