Figure 1 – Mark Twain by Underwood and Underwood, 1907, from the US Library of Congress via the Wikimediacommons and in the public domain.

Last night I was watching a rerun of Ken Burns’ documentary on the life of Mark Twain.  Long-term readers will know that I love Mark Twain and will take any opportunity to post a picture of him.  Hence Figure 1. This is a wonderful, Vermeer side lit image from 1907 by Underwood and Underwood, who were once the premier distributors of stereographic photographs in the world.

As I was watching this documentary, I kept pointing out to my wife all of the classic historic photographs that Burns was using.  I must be rather annoying.  Still, it is profound to watch Twain evolve before us from daguerreotype to albumin print – as technology itself evolved.  Twain was certainly an adapter of technology.  People in Twain’s “Gilded Age,” saw the promise of technology – and that’s what I really want to talk about today.  He/they would have really loved our digital cameras and world, for sure.

There is no surer way to achieve true fuddy-duddidom than to be a Miniver Cheevy (Yes, I’ve spoken about this before) and deny, fear, and loathe new technology. I have friends who tell me that they cannot deal with these new-fangled computer gadgets and that these young whipper-snappers, with their noses in their cell phones, are going to be the ruination of the world.  Really?  You mean like the bicycle, the motor car, the radio, the telephone, the television?  Give me a break! That, friends, is a fuddy-duddyism, and I am an anti fuddy-duddialist.  Adapt, people! Truly, adopt and adapt, or perish.

Does perish seem a strong word?  Well, it’s not, and that’s because I can pretty much guarantee that you are going to eventually perish like a techno-dinosaur.  The world belongs to the young, for the time being at least.  So their technology is ultimately the world’s technology.  By virtue of their longevity (compared to you), they are right!

I have a particular disaffection for people that deny digital photograph.  Be a proponent of silver gelatin if you want, but don’t give me this story about how vastly inferior digital images are.  They are not.

I love digital.  But years ago I also fell in love with the  brilliant subtlety of platinum-palladium printing. Never done it myself.  Would love to try it.  The same is true of the daguerreotype.  In fact, I have progressed so far that I can now type that word without relying on spell check to keep me literate.  What a pain it would be to have to revert to looking it up in a dictionary, especially since it is one of those words were you might not know where to begin.  And on my recent trip to the MFA I have become totally enamoured of bromoil printing.  That I really want to try.  The painterly effects are amazing and spectacular for all the reasons that, and here’s the real point, I love photography.

Photography is the point.  I can see the virtue of all forms, except possibly wet silver collodion, which just strikes me as a major pain in the ass.  Actually I’m just being cute.  There’s a special beauty in collodion as well.  Here we are talking about photographic art.  Digital photography has done a spectacular job of making the art of great print making widely available.  Don’t be a fuddy-duddy, learn, love embrace all manner of technology.  It is the future!  As far as your photography is concerned, finding your ideal medium is like a singer finding his or her voice.  And remember that your voice matures with time, but never ceases to delight.