Jason Russell on wed 22 feb 06
I just wanted to know how potters, or artists in general felt about the subject of slides. When I
was in college in the 90's, we shot slides of our work, plain and simple. It was familiar, but more
specifically, it was the only option for most of our budgets (and even that wasn't very cheap!).
These days, I can't remember the last time I had film developed. The sheer simplicity of the digital
camera makes photographing my work and sending it off for someone to view as easy as a few
mouse clicks. Now, I understand a few things here. I understand that we all don't photograph our
own work. I understand that the opening of files in different formats and mixing up cd's at jurys
can be a problem. I understand that computers and digital cameras aren't cheap, although if
you're reading this you probably have one of those things. The thing is, us artists are so busy and
have enough to worry about just making our work, is it too much to ask the jurying side to get a
little more savy with the digital era? I could go on and on about my arguments for using cd's
instead of slides, but I wanted to know your thoughts on the subject.
Jason Russell
Portland, OR
Barb Lund on wed 22 feb 06
This potter here is a dinosaur. I don't yet have a digital camera- couldn't
take jury quality slides even if I did. I like slide juries... I run a
couple of them here. Partly it is social, as in the committee of whatever
event gets together and partly because all the jurors are together in one
place seeing the same images under the same circumstances at the same time.
I feel a bit unhappy about jurors sitting at home viewing pictures on the
computers. there is no opportunity to ask questions relating to technique
etc. Also the Zaplication sort of places are expensive and add more
expense to the already expensive show application process. I have a lot of
my stuff on CD now but I still prefer the slide process for applications
myself. Actually, I have yet to apply to any show that only takes on line
applications. so I may be closing myself out of the market eventually.
We'll see
Barb from Bloomington
Barb Lund
brl at bluemarble dot net
812 339 8476
Dave Finkelnburg on wed 22 feb 06
Jason,
Last summer I had the opportunity to watch slides of his work presented by Vermont potter Todd Wahlstrom. The presentation was impressive work but even more impressive because it showed his work from his teenage years on. Todd's not that old, but his potting life has spanned the slide-digital divide by a decade each way.
Certainly, Todd or anyone else could digitize their slide portfolio, or make slides of their digital pics, but I think what you are seeing is the familiar tug-of-war between old and new ways of doing something. I think juries are understandably reluctant to dump slides and risk losing long-time, quality artists who are not willing to throw away what they've learned to do--shoot slides. I think the half-life of digital photography knowledge really is going to be long, but I can't criticize doubters about that. After all, I once owned an 8-track tape player! I also worry about the storage life of magnetic media, but maybe I just don't know enough about that subject.
You've asked an interesting question.
Good potting!
Dave Finkelnburg
Jason Russell wrote:
I just wanted to know how potters, or artists in general felt about the subject of slides.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Autos. Looking for a sweet ride? Get pricing, reviews, & more on new and used cars.
Susan Speck on wed 22 feb 06
Slides...love 'em, hate 'em...neccessary evil.
I have tried taking my own slide photos, but I don't see well enough or have a good place or equipment to shoot the photos, so I have them shot by someone else. I DO always have a CD made when processing the slides, so that I have a digital format, too. I think it is a great idea to have both types of images. I did have some problems on the digital end when my PC crashed and I lost my photo editor. I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements and was able to resize the images and have since been able to use Zapplication.
there's my two bits,
Susan S.
| |
|
