Just suppose...........

[venchka]

In light of the Walmart photo thread and the Pet Peeve thread....

Suppose Sally Mann walked into her local Walmart. Handed the person in the photo department a flash drive and asked for prints of all the files. For the purpose of this discussion, the files are photos of her children from one of her books.

In case you don't know, Sally Mann is a photographer who has benefited from numerous grants & fellowships. A.K.A. Ca$h to further her "art."

Back to Walmart. Sally's prints are on the screen. The clerk is on the phone. _____________________________________________

Fill in the blank.

http://www.artnet.com/artist/11072/sally-mann.html

Makes you wonder, huh??????????????

[johnastovall]

Not going to happen since she shoots 8x10 wet plate.

[venchka]

She scanned the photos in her book. Or she downloaded the JPEGs on the web site in the link.

Expalin how her 8x10 plates were enlarged to something like 50x60 for exibition.

Explain how she got public funding for work?

Look at it this way:

I scan the photos in her book. I take the files to Walmart and ask for poster size enlargements.

Before I can fill out the order, I'm headed for the slammer.

[tropicpine]

You can always forward the link to law enforcement and see what happens next.

[venchka]

Y'all are totally missing the point.

Sorry I wasted your time.

[KJ Smith]

No, Who was it that had the Goverment funded show in Boston that stirred everyone up.

I thought it was Maplethorp. I could not find any of the offending photos on his site.

Here is another winner.

[Murph]

No waste, I consider a lot of what she shoots as tasteless borderline child porn. But then again, I have never been a fan of Sally Manns work. I can see the Walmart drone calling the cops for child porn. Jock Sturgis and that Hamilton guy are IMO child pornographers pure and simple as well. But since there is no "thrusting" I guess you can call it art and there are fools who will pay for it. And before John S gets all het up about this, I just helped put a child pornographer in federal prison for 40 years, and since I spend my days dealing with sex crimes, I call it like I see it.

Originally Posted by venchka

Y'all are totally missing the point.

Sorry I wasted your time.

[zebulus]

Originally Posted by Murph

I just helped put a child pornographer in federal prison for 40 years

Excellent! Thank you for your good work Murph, you are a credit to society for sure.

[venchka]

Thanks Murph. Times do change. The pendulum does swing. Somewhere there is a happy middle ground. Sally Mann and the Walmart fiasco in Arizona are at opposite extremes.

I guess I'll stick to rust, peeling paint, old cars, weathered wood & weeds. Emtpy small town streets on a hot Saturday afternoon.

[iCe]

+1 for Murph...

Back to the topic-

Someone pays for that stuff? I passed on all of the little girl shots. I'm too unrefined I guess.

Were her Civil War shots taken during the Civil War? The dates for each image were confusing. If not then I need to rethink how I shoot film and what I do with the LF negative when it's finally exposed. Apparently underexposure and dropping the negative in a mud puddle are both highly regarded techniques She also seems to like to use a vignetting action on super high obscura mode.

[venchka]

LOL! I think wet plate will do that all by itself. Sally must be one of those "brooding and deep" people. Using the wrong lens for the format will give you that wonky, obscura mode.

Also, from what I've seen, the folks working with wet plate hardware during the Civil War and after were much better at pouring their plates.

One link to some quality work.....

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/civil-w...hotography.htm

Matt Magruder of Austin does some wet plate work ...

http://www.matthewmagruder.com/index...ate-collodion/

Old funky squirrely lenses are an acquired habit.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=42963

Treat your big negatives with respect. They will return the favor.

Glad I got off of Sally and on a pleasant topic.

[zebulus]

Im sorry but thats one format Ive never used, and dont want to use. One day I may try my hand at large format, but wet plate? Never.

Personally im extremely happy with my Medium format camera.

[johnastovall]

Never say never. We grow, we change, we learn, why cut off possibilities?

[Murph]

I'd like to do some wet plate photography with modern lenses, as well as Carbon printing.

[venchka]

Same here Murph. Carbon for sure. As soon as I can get my hands on a half way decent inkjet printer to make the enlarged negatives. Or pay somebody I know who owns an Epson 4880 to make them for me.

Zeb,

With the death of Polaroid, wet plate is all we have left for near instant photos larger than 4x5. If you ever have a chance to watch someone work with wet plate, you might change your mind. It's really cool. A whole plate or 8x10 wet plate camera makes amazing photos.