TiMo It’s quite short and not particularly in-depth (typical of SpOn), but it’s still an enjoyable read: Interview with Manfred Hamm
SilberPixel Today this, tomorrow that! This interview annoyed me to no end, even though I largely share Mr Hamm’s personal views. What annoys me, however, is this sort of sloppy writing. In this interview, according to Mr Hamm and without comment from Mr Schmund(t) [spelled one way one moment, another the next...] digital photography is so vastly inferior to analogue that he wants to give up photography altogether. On 18 May 2009 (Spiegel, ‘Die schwärzeste Kunst’), the same author wrote with the same photographer about the digital route to offset printing: “I simply cannot achieve this quality in the darkroom, try as I might” and “Hamm places a darkroom print on baryta paper next to the same motif in a calendar, printed by Kirchner. Anyone looking only at the silver print finds it flawless. Yet next to the Kirchner print, it appears milky and muddy.” It’s careless not to refer to one’s own words from three years ago, but even stranger when a photograph can only be captured on film yet only output digitally. Many roads lead to Rome, which for me personally is the best thing about photography of any kind. However, I increasingly lose the desire to read when it’s polemically cobbled-together stuff designed to hype up a book or an exhibition. Ole
AchimBauer Hello everyone, I’ve not only read the interview, but also a few pages of comments. That does raise the question: are we analogue types really just die-hards with no reason to exist? Well, I hope we’re just ahead of our time. When I was a child, we used to go on trips to the nuclear power station, where we’d stand on the visitors’ terrace and marvel at the progress that was going to solve all our problems. Digital watches were all the rage, and today, anyone with money buys a mechanical one from a manufacturer. Slow food fairs are all the rage today, whereas not long ago ready meals were the be-all and end-all. Let’s see when the enemies of analogue switch sides to be trendy? Regards, Achim
Tandemfahren Blimey... as you’d expect, the stupidity of the article is actually topped by the stupidity of the comments – which is quite a feat in itself! I’m always struck by the quasi-religious tone of these discussions and the nasty schadenfreude they always seem to descend into; it’s very similar to the hyena-like behaviour with which Windows and Mac users ‘discuss’ things with one another. Is there something like that between Plaubel and Sinar users too? Thanks SilberPixel for pointing out Hamm’s ‘old’ statements, very enlightening. (and welcome to the Fotolaborforum, by the way) Kirchner’s printing technique, however, is said to be something special when it comes to the positive side. It’s not comparable to conventional techniques. I’ve never seen it, but apparently it’s said to rival the brilliance of a slide (BIG EXCLAMATION MARK). I don’t even want to know how much it costs... But it’s got nothing to do with the photography side of things. Edith says: I’ve had a look at a few more comments on the article (not all of them), OK, I admit there are definitely some that make sense to me!
