CORONAVOGRAPHY update: new pictures posted today. More to come. Still waiting on a number of indicted participants to respond.
IT SEEMS TO BE SOMEWHAT OF AN ASIDE, re: the current life-during-wartime situation, to be ruminating on the medium of photography and its apparatus things but I can't help myself. So, here are some of my current thoughts....
.... in my picture making, striving for maximized photographic "realism" has never been a goal. Although, by the strict definition of realism-the quality or fact of representing a person, thing, or situation accurately or in a way that is true to life-it has always been my operative M.O.
However, what I mean by photographic "realmism" is that that partcular picture making fetish defined by maximized resolution / sharpness, ultra color fidelity (most often accompanied by a little help from the SATURATION slider) and other considerations driven by the quest for technical "perfection". A picture making pursuit which, to my eye and sensibilities, results in pictures that express "hyper"-realism. Or, to borrow the Tyrell Corporation motto, pictures which are "More Real Than Real".
It is quite possible that my dislike of maximized realism stems from the fact that, picture making wise, I was raised on a steady diet of film-even more specifically, color negative film. A film which was less sharp than transparency film and produced much more subtle color than transparency film. A film which yielded up gentle-on-the-eye, "soft"-yet detailed-prints which exhibited a "liquid"-like color and tonal quality.
The epitome of the soft / liquid print made from a color negative was a print made from an 8x10 color negative. Unfortunately, very few have viewed such prints and I believe that includes most "serious" amateur picture makers. In addition to my prints made from 8x10 color negatives, I have been fortunate to view those of many fine art picture makers - Shore and Meyerowitz, to name just a few.
And, FYI, I can still spot a print made from a color negative from a mile away. Those prints "sing" while the others just "shout".
The next entry will deal with why "soft" and "liquid" fits the way I "see".