Ralph Gibson: Why would you ditch film in your 76th year?

... or just go online

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The cartridges have the crucial oils leached at the time of sealing. Taxi38 has the only sensible solution. We started with a stove top Bialetti when we got married over twenty years ago and we could never do anything less for a cup of coffee. My Monochrom is right next to my espresso coffee as I write......
 
Last week there was a post about Alex Webb shooting in Korea. I think he was using two Leica M9 cameras. I thought how much more convenient for him to use digital considering how he works a scene.

I can't imagine all the rolls of film a guy like him would go through on an assignment.
 
I don`t have over ten thousand posts, but still like to add this:
Gibson going over to M Monochrom tells me just these things:
1) leica has gained one important PR win, the "hero" accepts the Digital leica.
2) Gibson is fed up of staying in the dark, leaves the printing to lab that PRODUCES ANALOG PRINTS from M Monochrom files... That was one of the main things when leica introduced M Monochrom, have a contract with the lab in London for M Monochrom shooters
3)He is fed up with TRI-X, undertstands it will not be available soon
4) When having workshopss, only a handful of attendants are using film so why not do it in Digital
5) With a signature M Monochrom, he earns a nice money, without doing anything more that giving his signature for reproduction and engraving on "his" M Monochrom bodies.
 
Nice, I am considering a lever machine...how do you like it?

... built like a m2, chrome on brass held together with proper bolts and screws ... makes a good brew once one gets the hang of it ... much more predictable than the electric Gaggia it replaced

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Yes, it does look revolting.

The detour here into coffee making is symptomatic of what seems to be a modern disease – part game of one-upmanship, part desire to accumulate as much 'stuff' as possible. It seems to go hand in hand with a desire to have the last word. I'm not sure if the internet started this or if it has just made it worse (by an order of magnitude).
 
I'm going to one up you and say one-upmanship was around long before modernity or the internet!

But more seriously the thread has been pretty disappointing. When the conversation finally turned to talking about what medium can do what, it turned into a shallow DR debate without much by way of plausible evidence or valuable anecdote.

As someone who hasn't had a huge amount of experience in film or digital printing, I like to tune when people talk about digital versus film techniques (or digital vs digital, film vs film) so I can learn something. Unfortunately I've barely read any useful articles or forum threads on the topic that aren't soaked in vitriol, ideological essentialism, and brittle egos. Not to say that everyone here doesn't know their stuff, or is a raving nut, but in this kind of context I doubt anything useful will come up.

I just think it's incredible how fanatical responses to the subject are, it makes me wonder if photography by nature is ideological.
 
I just think it's incredible how fanatical responses to the subject are, it makes me wonder if photography by nature is ideological.

Entirely valid criticism, in my opinion. However, I think you might wish to reflect on what a forum is, in order to get more from it. The ethos in all fora, in my experience, is more like a club bar than anything else I can think of.

However, I find that reading all posts (including this one) with a reasonably open mind, I sometimes pick up useful information that is lurking among the dross.

;)
 
I was at the presentation of the new camera in Lisse (the Netherlands) and briefly spoke with Ralph.

He said he is now more productive then ever and still has a lot of work ahead. I can imagine at his age that he is thinking about efficiency. Makes sense to try the digital Leica from that point of view. I believe on his first day out with the camera he shot the cover photo of his new book Mono so that must have been a nice start.

And apparently he believes he can produce images to his liking with this 'new' technology.
 
...
And apparently he believes he can produce images to his liking with this 'new' technology.

That is the only point of concern to an artist .
When you have an idea of what your image should look like and you are able to produce what you imagined, then the tool is right.

If you don't have any idea you end up with some boring stuff nobody cares about, no matter which tool you used, film or digital sensor does not really matter all that much.

And yes, I also grind my coffee beans fresh for each shot of espresso:D.
 
Hmm. You seem to think that people must justify their opinions, which they do not. The word "opinion" is the clue here. :angel:

You have it wrong.

I did not ask for "justification" but for explanation.

I am interested to know why people hold the opinions that they do.

I hope to learn from their answers.
 
I was at the presentation of the new camera in Lisse (the Netherlands) and briefly spoke with Ralph.

He said he is now more productive then ever and still has a lot of work ahead. I can imagine at his age that he is thinking about efficiency. Makes sense to try the digital Leica from that point of view. I believe on his first day out with the camera he shot the cover photo of his new book Mono so that must have been a nice start.

And apparently he believes he can produce images to his liking with this 'new' technology.
Roel, interesting. After 21 pages of this thread, we can look at this as the post that gives the essence of the situation: Gibson used to say (I heard him) that he liked shooting film (photons hitting the emulsion and all) and that he hadn't seen any digital work that was good, that was "real art." Then, he tried the M-Monochrom...end of story.

—Mitch/Chiang Mai
Looking for Baudelaire [WIP]
 
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