[rollei_list] Re: [OT] film vs digital

While I'm an unrepentant Capitalist, I find that defining the 'worth' of 'art' merely by the price tag is a sad effort. 
Sad too is the defining of art by the medium. \
I know a few very talented watercolourists who still insist that photography itself cannot be valuable art compared to a watercolour painting for the same reasons that Carlos claims that photos made via digital process cannot be considered valuable to the art market compared to photographs made using film and chemistry. I'm inclined to agree that I'd be willing to pay more for a painting than most photographs simply because of the work that goes into a painting, but I'd pay no more for a Cibachrome made from Rolleiflex slide than I would an 'Giclee' print made from a D200.
The value of art, is how it makes you feel. Period. I find some very worthy art here: 
http://640x480.net/archive/
Many of these images are art because when I see them, they reach out to me deeply on an emotional level. They are not art because they pull down a big price tag at all the best galleries (though, they might if they were printed really small...)...that is all marketing, and often has nothing to do with art itself.
Kind of on this topic...Dewitt Jones wrote an (another) excellent article in this latest edition of Outdoor Photographer about the value of pointing and shooting: 
http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/content/2007/aug/basic_jones.shtml
While I've always been an advocate of professional photographers knowing their craft, I must agree with Jones that, composition and decisive moment are THE crucial factors in a good photograph. Everything else is stuff that the technicians (or camera) can work out, but without composition and decisive moment in your repertoire, you'll turn out perfectly exposed crap.
"There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." -Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)
If you judge the quality of an image with a loupe in hand or by looking at the price tag, you've missed the point of photography as I see it. 
Then again, I'm just a wedding photographer...what do I know about art?
:)

Be well,
Michael Eric Berube
GoodPhotos.com

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