What would you do ?

[aldevo]

They managed to do some great photography in the 19th century before the commercial manufacture of film and paper. There's no reason we can't do it in the 21st century.

Dunno about that, David.

Silver prices are one good reason. I don't relish the prospect of buying quantities of silver in dollars any time soon. I'm inclined to think it's going to get worse.

In the future, I rather think the stuff is going to go directly out of the ground and into country X's central bank before any emulsion maker ever gets a chance to lay hands on it.

 

[Sportera]

I must admit I have sinned.

A looming deadline left me no time to print an image for a locall Hotel. I had captured the image on film and did not have the time make a print, so I scanned my 4x5 neg and had the image outputed at the Darkroom here in New Orleans.

The result was a fantastic 16x20 print that to the average person IS a real photograph.......

However,I would have prefered it to have been a fiber print. The Inkjet or Giclee prints lack something to me that is in a hand made silver print. It lacks a certain depth, and for that reason I will continue to make prints for as long as I am able.

I think what we have to realize is that times and technologies change, Im not at all saying we SHOULD change but our ways and methods must adapt. I also believe in the old saying: "Where theres a will theres a way" I believe this to be true of us.

I don't think any of us who love photography could just walk away from it, because our usual materials are no longer available. We would just move on to something else, be it wet plates , Tintypes, whatever.

A recent show that I participated in changed my mind on all of this. The show included 85 photographs for 85 different photographers. All methods were represented. There was Traditional Silver, C prints, Giclee, Carbon, Platinum, you name it. What I learned is that despite the media and methods used, high quality art was possible in any of the medium.

Of course being a black and white printer myself I had more respect for the fine prints that were put up and that were crafted by hand by the artist. But the others were no less stunning to the eye.

My point is that if we love photography, and most of us here do, we will find a way to continue.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[r-s]

Dunno about that, David.

Silver prices are one good reason. I don't relish the prospect of buying quantities of silver in dollars any time soon. I'm inclined to think it's going to get worse.

In the future, I rather think the stuff is going to go directly out of the ground and into country X's central bank before any emulsion maker ever gets a chance to lay hands on it.

The cost of silver is actually a very small part of the cost of film. There is perhaps a quarter's worth of silver in a typical roll of film. (I remember when silver peaked at over $50 a troy ounce, at which time there was less than fifty cents worth of silver in the highest silver content film on the market.)

 

[r-s]

PS: as to national treasuries purchasing silver, the way things work these days, if they do buy it, it'll be to mint into coins to sell. Governments aren't really big on precious metals (for "backing currencies") ever since currencies learned to float. It's far more "flexible" to be able to print money on demand. Modern currency is a debt instrument, rather than a token representing physical value (i.e., metal)

I would not worry about the availability of silver.

 

[Mark Layne]

I have such a back log of negatives that I could spend the rest of my life just printing.

My situation exactly- 45 years worth
Mark