F#@%ing Fakes

[michael9793]

I was just at Banes and Noble looking through their magazine area and low and behold a new photo magazine from the UK. well like most I thought it would be great, but I started to look at the cyanotypes and platinum prints and there we were how to make cyanotypes and Pl/Pt prints on photoshop, brush strokes and all.
I guess this is the type of world we live in. People will work harder to make a Damn fake than try to make a original which is going to be so much more vibrant than anything these jerks could ever make. So what happens, you have a show and some photo geek (as in computer geek), ask, oh how did you get photoshop to do those prints like that. my answer, well I walk away before I throw them out of the gallery. Lets just make photography cheap and crappie and we will be right back where we were with the Art world 50 years ago. and if you are to young to remember. get Edward Weston's day books and Ansel Adam's book on his letters he wrote.
Sorry I just had to vent to those that are still real.
regards
Michael Andersen

 

[yeknom02]

"Get Edward Weston's day books and Ansel Adam's book on his letters he wrote."
I am unfamiliar with these books. Do they rip into would-be Photoshop users of the day?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

The advantage is that the geek can take mouse in hand and click file|print and walk away while the printer churns out 100 "Genuine Hand-Made Vintage Giclée Prints".

 

[jeffreyg]

Those books were written before PCs. Digital prints especially in a for sale (gallery) situation should be labeled as such. As for that matter any gallery worth its salt should disclose any print medium. Personally I print pt/pd, silver gelatin and digital and see each as a different medium. I represent each as to the actual medium.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[jp4669]

I forget what it's called, but the photoshop plugin that "emulates" different black and white film grains is the one that burns me up. It's amazing to me that someone would pay money for this. It's also amazing to me that people pay $20-$100+ for rice cookers, because the idea of dumping rice into hot water is too much for them to grasp. Photoshop has become the new rice cooker.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I bet I could pay some some online company to print me out some genuine looking digital daguerrotypes. Now that would be sweet. ;p

 

[removed account4]

i have a copy of test magazine, the polaroid magazine from the 1990s ...
and in it there are specific instructions on how to fake your polaroid and
case it to look like an ambrotype. the ones they have in the magazine look
pretty convincing. i don't really see much of a difference.

i have a rice cooker and used it for years when i didn't have a full kitchen.
it comes in handy when you have a 1 burner stove and need to cook a few things at once.

what i am peeved about is people who need to make coffee with coffee filters, and electric grinders.
what a waste of paper or gold ( if they have a gold filter )

they can just as easily make coffee in an ibriki using a HAND CRANK grinder
or cowboy coffee if they are too busy to grind extra fine.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

It's not going away. I think the best we can do is continue to work on our art work, walk respectfully among our digital peers, and hope for some respect in return.

Personally I don't really care how anybody gets to their end results. A good picture is a good picture regardless of how it was printed.
And a good cup of coffee is a good cup of coffee no matter how the coffee was ground.

- Thomas

 

[TSSPro]

Tis the world that we live in. I saw a college student try and pass off her portfolio of images as 4x5 type 55 transfers and prints to the SC chapter of PPA during a student Crit. The think that gave her away was not only the identical frame edges, but also that not all the images were 4x5" or even the same aspect ratio. Some ppl think that it makes them more unique because they have that aesthetic. What makes it even more unique. If they actually used the process or the tools that they try and emulate digitally.
(I know, more of the same sentiment...)

 

[Vaughn]

There is a situation of coming up with creative names for one's process without taking into consideration the history of photography. Some folks using carbon pigments in their inkjet printers have used "Carbon Print" as an alternative to inkjet and glicee (excuse my French)...which just gets confusing when there is already a process called Carbon (Pigment) Printing that is about 150 years old. And a bit awkward for us traditional carbon printers as we are quite outnumbered. But actually, it seems that the situation is getting better..

I don't drink coffee. Don't like the flavor, and sounds like too much work...at least compared to the ease of teas.

 

[Project Vedos]

Nice thread !!

I've got some fake ambrotypes here:
http://193.166.40.90/?p=1490

- Jalo

 

[sly]

I gave a talk at local photo club a couple of years ago about cyanotypes. Some joker in the club emailed me his "digital cyanotypes" the next day, and another member has produced "platinum" prints with fake brush strokes. They don't even get how insulting it is to those of us who put in the time and effort to learn these processes. It like chain restaurants claiming to serve "homemade" soup or bread.

 

[dwross]

Although I agree in principle with Thomas -- "A good picture is a good picture regardless of how it was printed." -- Jeffrey is absolutely right about 'full disclosure' and Vaughn has hit on a real problem for us: name overlap. I make my own silver gelatin emulsion. Try explaining that to people! I either get something like, 'my dad did that, too.' (meaning, of course, commercial paper in a darkroom) or they think I mean a Liquid Light-type product.

I think most of us resist boring people to tears talking about our process, and galleries think that tasteful minimalism requires...?? no detailed process info? We should be respectful, certainly, but I think it's ok to fight back a little against what I've come to see as pretty much old-fashioned dishonesty.

 

[dwross]

Nice thread !!

I've got some fake ambrotypes here:
http://193.166.40.90/?p=1490

- Jalo

Hi Jalo! I didn't know you were an APUG'er.

Everyone else, I had the delight to see Jalo's work at APIS in Santa Fe last summer. Absolutely stunning!

 

[Project Vedos]

Hi Jalo! I didn't know you were an APUG'er.

Everyone else, I had the delight to see Jalo's work at APIS in Santa Fe last summer. Absolutely stunning!

Hi Denise! Thanks for your kind words...
Mainly lurking here ...

- Jalo

 

[Barry S]

One one hand, it's infuriating to see (mostly) awful imitations of beautiful processes, but it also shows that people value the aesthetic of the processes--which is good. Sometimes in life, the imitations lead a path to the real thing.

 

[Hexavalent]

A friend of mine is enrolled at a "school of photography". They DO actually get their hands wet in the darkroom for a few days. Ater that, there are workshops in using Photoshop etc., to emulate silver-gelatin, cyano etc., etc., He thinks I'm a bit nutso to be using film, making carbon-transfers, gum-dichromates etc., but every time I show him a print he says "wow, you actually made that?"

 

[fotch]

A friend of mine is enrolled at a "school of photography". They DO actually get their hands wet in the darkroom for a few days. Ater that, there are workshops in using Photoshop etc., to emulate silver-gelatin, cyano etc., etc., He thinks I'm a bit nutso to be using film, making carbon-transfers, gum-dichromates etc., but every time I show him a print he says "wow, you actually made that?"

That may mean, your really worked hard to do what can be done in PS or it can mean, that is way better than the PS work. Which do you think?

 

[sun of sand]

bigger fakes to fry if you ask me

 

[JohnMilleker]

I will only take you seriously if you mail me your rant on parchment, written with quill and ink and delivered by pony express. Darn internets.. Faking letter writing..

That said, everything is a fake of something else. Some fakes are great enough that they become originals on their own. I do agree with you regarding faking processed in Photoshop. If you want a Cyanotype, make one.

My big pet peeve nowadays is 'professionals' taking portraits with a phone camera and saying it's as good as a dSLR. Give me a break!

 

[Sirius Glass]

bigger fakes to fry if you ask me

Consider yourself asked!

 

[juan]

If this upsets you, wait until you see "content aware" in CS5.
juan

 

[Hexavalent]

That may mean, your really worked hard to do what can be done in PS or it can mean, that is way better than the PS work. Which do you think?

A bit of both no doubt

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Ink jet cyanotype is like an artificial flavor. It could give you an idea of what it's like, but it isn't the real thing.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Ink jet cyanotype is like an artificial flavor. It could give you an idea of what it's like, but it isn't the real thing.

Like watching sex but not having it!