> Remember the days when we handed over transparencies and winced when we > saw the careless cropping, with pack shots or buildings all to cock. > The poor colour balance, the horrible contrast, the over zealous use of > USM, and many other horrors?
I do RIchard, I do. I can feel the " control freak " syndrome falling over me, and I have found ,myself yelling at people for not giving me timely info about printers, how to locate and talk to them, well before the printing occurs. I clearly understand the usefulness of having more control on this stage of the process, but am still afraid of being for too long in the "darkroom" while the business side of our proffession is changing at such speed and with lots of potential harm to our finances, that I think I have to choose priorities, and leave the inks for later, to make sure I have new clients coming, and assignments and good invoices pending and money in my pocket, so I can go back to the darkroom and improve on my quality later. Those phrases, like two bloody cliches: " digital is cheaper" and " cheaper is better" are spreading and influencing the market much faster than our ability to prove it is the other way round. Again, photographer's organizations should put their hands into this. Perhaps I still have this feeling that value should have a good price and should be paid by those who appreciate it, while in reality the overall trends in the market indicate otherwise, and then I am wrong. But If this is so, then all the more reasons not to worry about inks but to focus on ways to solve this weird situation. Specially if you find it is spreading all over the planet. What a way to embrace globalization!! Steve's comment about how television quality is also going down , as new generation of know-nothing pick a cheap camera and shoot the programs in lower budgets, leading to poorer quality, Shangara's lines about Galleries picking photos from digital newbies shooting with amateurish cameras, because it looks "fresh", Royalty Free agencies Selling Pictures by the Mb, are but just extensions of the same situation. So , yes it's a personal choice, but how the trends are going to move SHOULD be dependent , at least partially on our attitudes and reactions just as well. All the best. Jorge Parra APA/ASMP www.jorgeparra.com =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
