Попадаются все время ссылки, которые сюда идут более органично.
Кроме того, есть какой-то шарм в сочетании вещей приземленных (практических) и примеров работ заметных авторов в классических техниках.
Вот, кстати говоря, еще одна регулярная статья:
PLATINUM PRINTS
What is the platinum print, and why does it look that way?
(The following article was published in the inaugural volume of 21st: The Journal of Contemporary Photography, October 1998)
When we go beyond the eye, to the hand
By John Stevenson
The only art born in the 20th century, the only art bred from science: photography is the ultimate commodity. Modern cameras are idiot-proof; anyone can create a photograph, and machines will reproduce them without end. Four billion images are printed every day on Kodak papers alone–with permanence far less than one lifetime. And now silver printing papers and films are extincting one by one, displaced by digital commercial technology.
In fact, any more: what is a photograph? Is it the $15,000 Ansel Adams "Moonrise, Hernandez" print framed on your wall, or the "Moonrise" on your computer screen? Well, what if you discovered that Bill Gates recently acquired the copyrights to that image?
Nevertheless it seems that photography has managed both to open and close this century with high spots of acclaim. We have the April 1998 New York Times headline announcing the auction news that "Sales Set Records at Four Houses." These events are very pleasing, and a vindication for those who make fine photographs and collect them and transact them and explain them.
The last great peak of public excitement (though it was more aesthetic than mercantile) occurred circa 1903-1916.
In between there was a period…almost two lifetimes long…in which the most expensive photographs sold for $100 and the rest of them were free.
Today, many photographs are not free. Mainstream prices are in the thousands of dollars, the more choice images are at the tens of thousands. The icons are a quarter of a million or more.
For ordinary people, the acquisition of a fine photograph is not a trivial decision. The field is formidable and complex. Among the arts, photography is in a state of confusion. There is no clear aesthetic. No single source of wisdom and imprimatur. No place to learn. Yet we are faced with thousands and thousands of images to choose among, and more are on the way. The choices are chaotic and overwhelming. And the perceptions of "intrinsic value" for most photographs are very uncertain and unclear. Today, and from now on: where does one turn?
…
Why They Look So Beautiful
http://www.johnstevenson-gallery.com/how.html
How They Are Made
http://www.johnstevenson-gallery.com/how_made.html
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Natasha--image size 23"x19", platinum-palladium print with watercolor. Edition of 20 with 3 artist's proofs.
Joan Myers
None of my friends would pose for me. That was my first lesson. "My body is not beautiful," said one. Another delayed a shooting session repeatedly until she "got in shape."
Where are the images of older women? Who defines what is beautiful? Is "beautiful" part of the definition of who a woman is? We all age daily. The body but records the passing of time. What does aging have to do with being a woman? -- Joan Myers
Back and Hair--image size 23"x19", platinum-palladium print with watercolor. Edition of 20 with 3 artist's proofs.
Prints from "Women of a Certain Age" were shot with a medium format camera. The negatives were then enlarged and contact printed in the platinum-palladium process. Myers mixes up her platinum-palladium emulsion, brushes it on drawing paper, dries it, exposes it and then develops. When the print is dry she adds a light watercolor wash.
The tactile feel of the drawing paper and the brownish-black of the image suit the warm sensuality of the images.
http://www.joanmyers.com/Wom5.htm