This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 22, 2012 - How is a Bud Light similar to a digital photograph? Neither requires the time or care that results in a truly unique experience, according to Artists’ Guild curator Russ Rosener.
The Guild’s “Silver in the Digital Age,” one of its four exhibits opening Friday, celebrates the silver gelatin print. On display is the work of eight artists, including Janna Añonuevo Langholz, Emily Boedecker and Mark Fisher as well as Rosener.
At a time when photographers are snapping and deleting hundreds of photos in a single shoot, the Guild is showcasing the hands-on methods of analog photography. The works represent a wide range of silver gelatin processes. They include techniques used in the 19th century before film was readily available, as well as a 150-year-old method that produces a cyanotype, or blueprint.
Rosener talked with the Beacon about “Silver” and the trend that inspired it.
St. Louis Beacon: How did you come up with the idea for this exhibit?
Russ Rosener: I wanted to let the St. Louis artistic and photography community know that the traditional darkroom with running water and safe lights is not dead and, in fact, is experiencing a resurgence.
A lot of young people, especially, are discovering analog photography and the pleasure of making something with your own hands. One of the things I like about the show is that at least half the people in it are under the age of 30.
Would you talk more about why these artists, who grew up with digital, are turning to analog?
Rosener: In the old days, when you had to print photographs out, they were sort of a precious thing you had to carry with you and hold in your hand. Now, photos have kind of become this thing that floats on a screen and you never really see them. And they disappear. They’re almost like visual sneezes in a way -- they’re very fleeting.
They grew up just seeing something, and pulling out their camera phones and taking a picture of it. But when you’ve only got 36 shots on a roll, instead of blasting away on a memory card, you have to be a little more selective. People have to think about what they’re going to photograph.
For whom will this exhibit have appeal?
Rosener: I think anybody who’s interested in photography. When I was picking the images, I didn’t just pick them because they were shot on film or made in a dark room. I picked images that were top-notch, expressive and artistic, that told a story in some way.
In your own work, how often do you use film?
Rosener: Fifty to 60 percent of what I shoot is film. But I also shoot digital for commercial work -- it’s easier and quicker. We're not Luddites; pretty much everybody in the show also uses digital photography for their more work-a-day thing.
So is analog photography like the new gimmick?
Rosener: I’ll draw an analogy to microbreweries. Most people like inexpensive beers made by big companies. But about 20 years ago, there was a resurgence of people who started to open up craft breweries, because, in small batches, you can make things that are unique and different; you can experiment more.
I think the people who are returning to film photography and darkroom work are very much like those people in microbreweries who got started 20 or 25 years ago. Now they’re huge. They’re crafting something that’s not mass-produced and they’re doing it with their own hands -- and heart.
Silver gelatin prints are now selling for more than pigmented ink [digital] prints. It’s like nobody thought the micro brewers would challenge Anheuser-Busch. But now, I know people at Anheuser-Busch who say, “Well, we have to make things that are more like micro beers because they're really eating into our market share.”
