Is it a sin to crop a contact print?..

c6h6o3 · Aug 30, 2005

I only have one mounted print which I cropped, and I remember being disappointed in myself when I did it because I realized that it was a failure of vision. I should have seen it on the groundglass.

However, both Michael and Paula have seen it and advised me to keep it in my body of work. I'm very pleased with the end result.

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 30, 2005

Think of Art Sinsabaugh's panos--shot on 12x20, but conceived as panoramics, so they might be something like 3.5x19.5".

Dave Wooten · Aug 30, 2005

thats the beauty of large format.....you can just point and shoot.....there is bound to be a good composition in there somewhere

felipemorgan · Aug 30, 2005

Walker Evans is said to have cropped his 8x10 negatives with a pair of scissors when he wanted to force magazine art directors to more closely follow his vision. The same source (Walker Evans at Work, ISBN 0500273049) said that sometimes his use of the scissors was a bit sloppy, corners failing to meet at 90 degrees from time to time.

--Philip.

c6h6o3 · Aug 30, 2005

Dave Wooten said:
thats the beauty of large format.....you can just point and shoot.....there is bound to be a good composition in there somewhere

anathema...the antithesis of the photographic impulse

Is it a sin to crop a contact print?..

c6h6o3

David A. Goldfarb

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Dave Wooten

felipemorgan

c6h6o3

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