I had this said to me today. I told the guy that would exempt many of the best photographers out there. He tried giving the analogy that back in the film days, if you didn't develop your own film you weren't a real photographer. Frankly I think the guy was off his chain, but either way. It made a good debate.
That said, what this person fails to understand is that the mechanism for creating an image has changed. What had to be done with film (dark room, developing, exposing photographic paper, dodging and burning) is now done with software and computers. Once you create the image, transferring it to a medium of some sort is almost an after-thought, because no real work has to go into that final step.
Not that I don't like prints; I love them, and think that good quality images should be tangible and put on display. But this person belies his (or her) arrogance by making such an ignorant and uninformed claim.
I understand what the guy is trying to say, I just disagree with his terms. I would say if you do it all, you are a more complete photographer or artist. There are many "real photographers" out there that don't do their own printing. Most of these famous photographers don't even do their own image processing. Most people consider Peter Lik to be a real photographer but he doesn't do his own printing and I doubt he does his own re-touching. He would supervise and tell them what he is looking for but I doubt he does it himself. Many of the famous wedding and portrait photographers don't retouch their own work either. They have "people" for that. Real photographers don't need to do all that but if you do there is a certain pride you can take from doing it all. I like when someone asks me "who printed that for you" and I get to say, "I did". There is skill involved in printing just like there is in making the image. The choice of paper for the type of image you are printing is critical to the final product. You will not get that if you just send it out to be printed. I know you can request a certain type of paper, but sometimes even the brand is important to making the final image look right. This is just me and my opinion on the matter. I don't consider anyone that doesn't do that any less of a photographer, it's just what I require of me. I like having control from start to finish.
I don't think it was ever that common for people to develop their own color film, B&W maybe. Working photographers with a studio etc. might have done their own developing but there's never been much in the way of a home color darkroom set up. There seems to be a good bit of vintage darkroom equipment more for doing your own B&W film and prints.
I've always gotten color film developed and prints, and now get it scanned onto CDs too; when I was using a B&W darkroom at a local university I'd get the film developed and then do prints in the darkroom - it just depends on what you're doing, there are a number of options.
I've been printing my own digital prints but that wouldn't probably be practical for someone who has clients and needs to provide a larger number of photos. Like Randy said, there's satisfaction in printing your own photos; I feel a sense of accomplishment to print, mat, and frame one of mine and send it off to a gallery, but that isn't necessarily the best option for every purpose.
Wonder if this guy does his own prints? or has done his own darkroom work? or even knows anything about developing and printing B&W and color film.
Vahrenkamp wrote: ... He tried giving the analogy that back in the film days, if you didn't develop your own film you weren't a real photographer. ...
Back in those film days, I knew some very successful commercial photographers whose post work was all done by commercial labs. Their time was better spent shooting and taking care of business. To label them "not real photographers" is just plain stupid.
Well I have to agree with what several have said so far on this regarding printing. Now I used to develop all of my film myself most of the time. This included color, but printing it except for contact sheets was rarer. I guess that defines me a a photography rube. As said most pros never developed nor printed their own work, and I never blamed them. When you start to burn, scrape, and dodge negatives, your time to actually make money goes by the wayside. Even those iconic Hollywood photos you see were not developed, processed, and printed by the photographer. The studios had people who solely did that, under instruction of course.
Now with the newer processes printing is much easier, but just because you do not print your work, does not make you any less of a photographer. Face it the majority of photos are electronically shared now, and most people wiew them on a screen. I print some of mine when the mood strikes me for something new on the wall, or I am giving a photo to someone as a gift. Otherwise they are stored for some later use. Almost everyone post processes, or if you are like me tries to pre-process in the camera. So that in fact meets the criteria of developing an image, who cares if it is ever printed. But it means that we are photographers in his terms.
When the last candle has been blown out
and the last glass of champagne has been drunk
All that you are left with are the memories and the images-David Cooke.
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from face-palm to nitwit.
