While we acknowledge and will correct the typography fiasco, I would like to address other issues of the new photo technique. I particularly want to respond to those readers who are concerned that we are abandoning traditional photography, as well as those readers (old and new) concerned that we are not giving enough editorial space to the relevant technology issues of the continuous learning curve that is digital photography.
For most of my 40 years as a photographer, (30 of which I was a contributing editor of Darkroom Techniques, and then Photo Techniques), I worked with a view camera, but I have moved to digital for the last decade. It is my philosophy as a photographer and emeritus professor of photography, having taught graduate students for 30 years, that the medium of photography has never existed on the basis of unrelated techniques or unskilled aesthetics. For that reason, I have incorporated the technology and methodology used in creating photographs into two categories.
The first is a series of portfolio/article combinations that demonstrate both the means and the end result. Articles are extremely diversified and will include commercial and fine art projects. In all cases, the work will be of the highest caliber finished imagery.
Please note that while I will be working with dozens of new photographers from around the world, as well as many of the contributors to Photo Techniques from the last decade, I am concerned only with the final photographs and the techniques and methodologies incorporated in their creation. I have no intention of making a distinction between a silver-based or digital process. The medium of photography since it inception has manifested itself in a number of processes, of which digital is the most recent.
The argument about what constitutes “true photography” based on processes has continued throughout our history. It was proven irrelevant in the past as it is now. I will also add that “photography” has never been defined by one application or aesthetic genre. photo technique is dedicated to the inclusion of all forms of photography.
The second part of the format change is expanded technical articles. The intent is to completely follow a process in detail, rather than offer short snip-its or tips.
While I personally acknowledge David Vestal for his valued insights and blatant honesty, I will be opening the opportunity to others to offer commentary, both established and new writers, to invite intelligent discussion on the issues facing photography as a medium. Rest assured, David will periodically be back.
It is important to note that I do not edit the content of the commentaries, even if I personally take issue with their direction. It is my intention that the Forum will provide an opportunity for interaction between readers and the comments made. Forum submissions will also not be edited for editorial content, providing the exchange is intellectual and well founded. Photography is not myopic. That is one of its amazing qualities.
The magazine will never address the interest of a point-and-shoot mentality. If anything, my intent is to elevate the magazine to a more professional level.
The fact remains that there is very little new in process, technology and equipment that is not digitally based. But that does not mean that new methodologies and new creative forms of silver-based imagery are not being done. As long as this is true, it will appear in photo technique. Again, I am not restricting myself to editorial balances. Photography that deserves print space, no matter what process, will get print space in photo technique. In the next issue, space is fairly evenly divided between silver-based and digital.
If you have any further concerns, you are welcome to contact me directly at pschranz@phototechmag.com. I also encourage you to use this site for intelligent discourse on photographic issues.
We appreciate the support for the new magazine format and the understanding most readers have had for the typography situation.
One reader was wondering if the online version was the same, and of course, it was.
But it got me to thinking, while we can’t change the printed version, we can change the online version.
So, within the next few weeks, the online version of the January/ February 2010 issue of photo technique will be reset and released to every subscriber or newsstand purchaser for whom we have an email address. If you don’t receive a corrected email version, or if we do not have your email address, please send an email to me at pschranz@phototechmag.com and it will be sent directly. There is important content in these articles, and I encourage you, without the threat of loss of vision, to revisit the online version and read those articles.
We are acutely aware of the problem with the typographic reproduction in several of the articles in the January/ February 2010 issue of photo technique. While we did not see any problem with the soft proof, we did not have a chance during the transition to see a hard proof where the problem would have made itself obvious.
Bear with us, and please read the important content in this issue. We will correct the typography problem with the next issue. As a growing pain, it is our most painful to date, but we promise you it will be rectified.
We appreciate your comments and suggestions about the new format. Within the new format you will continue to see important techniques revealed. However, they are now in unison with vital aesthetic decisions that make the photographer’s methodology more relevant in relation to the larger problem solving process involved in making high-caliber photographic images.
I know some of you have been disturbed by the changes, but we are also getting a high degree of support for our new direction from many other readers, writers, and people in the industry. We feel that our changes are necessary to make photo technique a vital and relevant publication now and in the future.
Instant photography lovers and party goers alike, mark your calendars for the International Center of Photography’s Impossible Project Polaroid Party this Friday, December 18th from 5:00-7:30pm. For those of you too busy or far from NYC to make the event, take a minute to learn about the project that is revitalizing the analog Instant Photography movement!
“The Impossible Project is saving analog Instant Photography and aims to release a new instant film for Vintage Polaroid cameras early in 2010. In order to shorten the waiting period until the premiere of its new film, The Impossible Project is proud to be able to present the last original, carefully saved Polaroid™ film—repackaged in a limited Special Edition designed by Paul Giambarba, who created the iconic look of Polaroid from 1958 to 1977.
Paul Giambarba was responsible for the design of the best-known Polaroid films, and the circle is now completed by collaborating with him on the redesign of these last Polaroid films. No one else was more significant to the Polaroid look, and no one else could have done a more outstanding job for this occasion, which marks not only the ending of a classic but also readies the world for the future of Instant Photography by The Impossible Project. This future honors Polaroid’s innovative past.
There is no location better suited for the premiere of the Paul Giambarba Edition than the International Center of Photography, where the presentation will be hosted in the presence of designer Paul Giambarba and Florian Kaps, initiator of The Impossible Project. Apart from the Paul Giambarba Edition, which includes 15 different kinds of original Polaroid™ film, there will also be an ICP Special Edition Camera Kit of 100 items, including film and a tote bag—available exclusively at ICP.”
In addition to the party at the Museum, visitors are invited to take a look around the open studios of the School to view the work of the ICP-Bard MFA students. Open studios will be Friday, December 18th from 7:00-11:00pm and Saturday, December 19th from 12:00-5:00pm.
For more information on these events, please visit ICP’s website:
For those photographers based in or near New York City, check out “The Exhibition Lab” for an opportunity to create new work under the guidance of two of the city’s well known gallery directors.
The objectives are simple and innovative; accepted photographers will enter a six month period of sharing and developing projects with Michael Foley and Sasha Wolf. The culmination of the efforts and critiques for each project will be an exhibition at one of the galleries.
While the selection process will undoubtedly be rigorous, the potential for individual growth and career development is rich. There will be two open houses in January in which interested photographers will have a chance to meet Michael Foley and Sasha Wolf, see their respective galleries and learn more about the program.
For all other information and questions please visit the website:
It’s no secret that many nations’ economies have been in rough shape for some time now. The effects are felt at every level of society, more evident in certain places than others, but nonetheless present. As photographers, our roles shift depending upon our personal interests, surroundings, and means. While you may or may not consider yourself a social documentary photographer, it seems only fitting that the state of your respective economy play a role in your life as a photographer.
How have you been affected by these changes? Has the content of your work shifted and begun to incorporate themes relating to the global recession? Have you had to sell equipment, or put off buying that lens or body you want due to low funds? What is going on in your world?
Although the deadline is fast approaching, SocialDocumentary.net’s “Crisis & Opportunity: Documenting the Global Recession” call for entries might fit a project you’ve been working on.
“In the spirit of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the New Deal in the 1930s, when photographers documented the hardship and proposed solutions, SocialDocumentary.net (SDN) is issuing a Call for Entries. We are looking for photo essays that provide insight into how ordinary citizens around the world are coping during these new “hard times” and how individuals, companies, industries, family businesses, communities, and governments are responding to the crisis.”
There is a small fee for the competition, and only a few days left to enter, but if this sounds like something up your alley, please visit the site for more information.
All photographers and writers working on a collaborative documentary project should look into the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, given annually by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. It’s a highly competitive and prestigious award, and worth an entry from those with serious projects.
“The year 2010 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor documentary prize, a $20,000 award given annually by the Center for Documentary Studies. First announced a year after the Center’s founding at Duke University, the prize was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social scientist Paul Taylor. In 1941 Lange and Taylor published An American Exodus, a book that renders human experience eloquently in text and images and remains a seminal work in documentary studies. The Lange-Taylor Prize honors their important collaborative work.
The Lange-Taylor Prize is offered to a writer and a photographer in the early stages of a documentary project. By encouraging such collaborative efforts, the Center for Documentary Studies supports the documentary process in which writers and photographers work together to record the human story.”
For more information, requirements and deadlines go to the CDS website:
Well-known and respected photographer, writer and Photoshop guru Seán Duggan led a fascinating workshop here in Mesilla last weekend. Seán shared his expertise, insight and technique in a dynamic 4-day workshop on “Creative Collage”. While much of the time focused on a wide variety of digital techniques for turning ideas into images, the weekend was also filled with originative brainstorming and an impromptu field trip to shoot at a local antique store.
Seán’s technical skills were matched only by his abilities as an instructor to surpass the expectations of his students and to inspire everyone creatively. It’s no surprise that he has co-authored many fine books on digital image-making, is a regular contributor to Layers Magazine, and teaches photography courses at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
All of the students left the workshop with a new set of digital tools and recharged his and her creative batteries with the help of such an accomplished image-maker and teacher. If you are not familiar with his work, please check out Seán’s website, www.seanduggan.com
Make sure to take a look at our diverse spring workshop lineup. We have lots of great opportunities with quality instruction at affordable prices for every skill level!
