Decline of the Print

I have always felt that printing was the necessary creative extension of a photographer. Every major photographer from the past including Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Minor White, George Tice, Paul Strand and many others all printed their own photographic work. That has changed with digital photography.

Photographic contests are a major contributor to this decline in printing. Very, very few contests accept a print as work to be judged. Just download the digital file and the judges will examine the digital file and judge it. There is a huge difference between a digital print and its physical representation on paper. The sheen, the depth of the image, the color and the contrast absolutely cannot be shown in a digital file print. The medium of photography is cheapened by this laziness of promoters of photography competitions. Have you ever seen a digital photograph of a painting and then actually see the painting? You cannot see the brush strokes, the deepening color and shadows of the painting. The photograph is a dead, barely a two dimensional representation of a creative work of art. Think of a digital image file strictly as a proof to the real beauty and quality of a photographic print.

I will never understand photographers relegating their photographic images to somebody else to print. Even if the printer provides a proof before the final print, there is still a creative disconnect between the photographer and printer.

 The photographer is losing the creative input in creating the image on print. Many creative opportunities would be lost in not printing your work. There are moments in the printing process where a different more creative way of printing your work could be discovered. Those moments cannot occur with someone else printing your work.

Print your work. Enjoy the creative discovery of what your digital proof can become. The feeling of creative accomplishment is immense in printing your work.