Well said Katherine, and thank you for taking the time to write and helping me to think more clearly about this.
It should go without saying that a meaningful image is an essential pre-requisite to a meaningful print. But a meaningful print is so much more than just an image. A print is also a physical thing which has a specific size, texture, and colour. Often these physical attributes can only be achieved by using a specific process. So the process and the print are inextricably linked in my mind.
If I used a different process then I expect I'd make different images, because I believe that the physicality of the print (which is influenced by the process) effects how a viewer reacts to the image. For example, many people who've seen my Pt/Pd prints have said that they feel "gentle". (And then they go into raptures when they notice the three dimensional effect of Pt/Pd.) I don't believe that silver, or gum, or inkjet, or any other printing process would communicate the same feeling in the same way (OK, maybe in the hands of a different printer they could, but then they wouldn't be my prints, they'd be someone else's prints). So for me, image and process are also linked.
It's often said that “most people” only care about the image itself, and that this proves that the process is irrelevant. Well, to be frank, I don't care what “most people” think. I care about creating photographs that are meaningful to me and which connect emotionally to other people. I use a specific process which, when coupled with a meaningful image, achieves the first part of that goal. And so long as there are sufficient people who appreciate what I create then I’ve achieved the second part of that goal too.
To paraphrase and extend what I said on another thread, a perfect print without a meaningful image is an empty vessel. But an image which lacks the appropriate physical medium has no soul. |