As far as his inkjet prints go, I have a Paula Chamlee poster that's just as nice and it only cost $35. I think clicking a mouse should bring down the price. $900 bucks for an inkjet is out of my range. For 450 you could have gotten a Pt/Pd print from Tillman Crane and his book in a special slipcase edition.
Years ago I attended a home gallery show and 'talk' by John Paul Caponigro at his house in Cushing, Maine. I bought a color inkjet 'poster' hot off the printer for $15 which he was gracious enough to sign in either ink or pencil. I think the only distinction between what I was able to purchase and the framed work that he was showing and was also for sale was size and the quality of the paper he used. It was the first time I realized that inkjets really are posters and should cost about as much and not much more than a typical one of them.
The quality of Butcher's 'giclees' should not be underestimated. The enormous negatives from which the really high quality scans are made transcend anything a digicam could do for sure. It's just that I think they could be yet so much more if they had the depth to the print that could have been obtained traditionally on fiber paper. As I said above, it was very disappointing .
And now to the matter of finding out who else at a show is a 'pugger. I heard the identical story that photobum just related while I was leaning against a rail at the show. Which leads me to wonder if I was there when he was and we had no way of identifying each other. Obviously, there are certain occasions when wearing a big honkin APUG tee shirt isn't the way to dress. Anyone want to make and sell a badge, lapel pin, armband (kidding) or whatever that would address this?
Jovo, I was there the 29th for the opening at around 4:30. I had been talking to Ray Yaros who is an Apug'er at heart. He's a very fine printer who had been scheduled to teach a L/F darkroom class this past summer. It was cut as not enough people signed up. I was going to assist in a L/F class that ran but had so few students I was not needed. Jimmy Clark the school director told me about the photoshop SNAFU. They were interested in having him so I think he had to explain a lot.
Since the falls had no real water I drove down to the end of the road.(Kuhn Rd.?) There's a old fame house and some barns on park property that you can walk all around. That's my fall back location for shooting. I was the geezer with the 8x10.
Jovo, I was there the 29th for the opening at around 4:30. I had been talking to Ray Yaros who is an Apug'er at heart. He's a very fine printer who had been scheduled to teach a L/F darkroom class this past summer. It was cut as not enough people signed up. I was going to assist in a L/F class that ran but had so few students I was not needed. Jimmy Clark the school director told me about the photoshop SNAFU. They were interested in having him so I think he had to explain a lot.
Since the falls had no real water I drove down to the end of the road.(Kuhn Rd.?) There's a old fame house and some barns on park property that you can walk all around. That's my fall back location for shooting. I was the geezer with the 8x10.
Well darn, then. I was there at that time. Sorry to have 'missed' you. I would've really enjoyed talkin 'bout the show with someone with a common interest. My wife would have been with me 'cept she had to attend an art auction that included her work (which went for the second highest prices in that auction.....gloat...brag...etc.). We gotta get a not-so-secret identifier.
BTW....I have to acknowledge from time to time that my avatar is a photogrpaph that's a bit more than 30 years old.
2-3 years ago I took a one-day lecture/workshop with Clyde Butcher which included his demo'ing how he uses Photoshop. It was a very rudimentary skill level. Maybe his PS skills have greatly improved since then, but can't imagine a PS DVD by him. His darkroom at Venice is much larger than his Big Cypress setup, and its very impressive to see how he can make such large prints. The gallery at Big Cypress forces you to get up close to the big prints which, as another has said, is how he wishes his prints to be viewed. Some complain about his overblown highlights, and one can see the loss of detail on the large prints especially when he has used tri-x vs t-max100. But I think his importance is in showing the beauty of the "swamps" of Florida - after-all Florida drained of its water is just another suburbia.
Actually he feels that you should stand only a couple of feet away from his large prints. His reasoning is that when you stand that close you feel like you're there.
I know, but it was still disconcerting. I had two other LF photographer friends with me and they felt the same way. Actually, in most of the prints the highlights were all blown out and did not work when viewing closeup..EC
He showed in Wausau, Wi a couple years ago but the room was so narrow that you could not get farther away than about 4 feet from the prints. It was all wide angle work about 50x60" and it made one dizzy to look at it. His prints need a big room...EC
I thought that show was outstanding and inspirational. I had to go shoot some film the next day.
On walking into the gallery, I saw a display of very nice color panorama photos. I can't remember the photographer, but very well done inkjet prints. Then you see "the real thing" Cyde Butcher enormous ULF B&W fiber prints. Unbelievable. Walking back through the color inkjet prints, I thought they looked like third world postage stamps by comparison.
I can understand the attraction of digital output for prints of that size, billboards really. But it is disappointing. I would like to see some side-by-side as I imagine I would prefer the traditional prints.
Linear Mode
