last night we went down to hey hot shot print exchange. this is something i’ve always been interested in doing. i remember some online photo groups i’ve belonged to where some members exchanged prints amongst themselves. i always thought this was a pretty neat way of learning what’s out there. i even tried doing this when i was on musecube but nobody seemed interested i doing it except one fellow nik walking bear, but oddly when i left the cube he wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation any more. oh well
to me my photography doesn’t exist unless i have a print in hand. what else is there? we can see pixels on the screen but once the power goes out what’s left? not much. but a print is something solid, while the image just sits on the paper well maybe more in the nooks and crannies of the paper, i like texture on my paper but i print on matt papers, a personal preference. it’s the print that exist as the art form, that might explain my thin negatives.
hey i shoot digital now so don’t have to worry about that. i do miss the feel of wet film in my hands as i am a very tactile person and always loved handling film. but it’s so time consuming developing boring agitating looking at the clock etc. oh did i mention the smell of the fixer?
well i digress from the subject at hand. the print
now the people running the swap weren’t very organized, first set back, lost microphone, so communication with the crowd began with cupped hands moving later to a megaphone which wasn’t much of an improvement but at least they could be heard over the crowd noise. there wasn’t much of a plan, maybe they were overwhelmed by the number of people attending, the print i picked up was labeled 81 and my number was 67.
one of the things i learned touring theater show was how to make the venue i was in then work the best it could be for the show we were performing. it had to work, the producer wasn’t going to give back the money and the artist was there wanting to be paid after the show, so my job was to make the venue work for the production. i learned soon enough ‘no show no check.’ simple enough.
but some people seem to get lost in the details which this seemed to be the case. they put out the first selection of images and the whole heard swooped down like Harpies on the photos. both mary’s and my images were gone right away but i didn’t see who took them, i always like to see who likes my work.
i got to the front in time to see a small black and white print of the world trade center taken from the williamsburg waterfront and looking down the line at the only one other print struck my eye of a hood ornament but i can back the the simplicity of this print. it’s by a photographer Geralyn Shukwit whom i’ve looked at her web site and it works for me. while she and i do way different stuff that doesn’t mean i don’t like what others do. it really keeps me interested in the craft and art of photography.
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