[Leica] OT: Kodak shuts Canadian plant

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Thanks very much...That's precisely what I've been trying to convince
her for a while. But, like many on this list, she really LOVES silver,
and given that she prints for the likes of Susan Maiselas, one can
assume she's pretty good at what she does. I'm sure that sooner or later
she'll make the switch - if she sticks with printing long term.

B. D. 

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
mcintyre@ca.inter.net
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 11:10 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: RE: [Leica] OT: Kodak shuts Canadian plant


BD

I work in the commercial printing industy. 25 years ago, it was all
paste up from galleys, rubylith 
overlays, art boards, stripped in PMT halftones. Film was shot on a
graphic arts camera, and plates 
were made photographically from the stripped film. 

Then imagesetters started to make inroads, and wide format film (40"),
hi-resolution, punch registering, 
accurate screens came in. The guys who used to run the cameras and do
the manual film assembly 
took courses in imposition software, quark, photoshop etc. They took
their industry trade skills, like 
how a press signature works, how books are assembled, how ink behaves on
a press, and reapplied 
them by learning new tools. 

Now virtually everything we print uses direct-to-plate technology. The
same guys (and
gals) who used 
to run the image setters now run the plate setters. 

Your daughter's appreciation of tonal range, image quality, esthetics
and so forth are her advantage. 
Whether she knows how to balance a print using Selectol soft and normal
Selectol is only an application 
of that knowledge. She should find a mac, photoshop, some books and see
what's there. A good print 
still requires someone who recognizes the difference, and knows when to
adjust the exposure 
(traditional) or a histogram (digital). When the print industry was
changing over, there were a lot of 
challenges and technical problems. But the tide continued, and the
underlying pressure to make it work 
eventually did make it work. 


> The end is neigh. The other evening my daughter was saying she's 
> panicked that she'll be out of a job in a couple months. She's a black

> and white printer for a small place in Concord, MA that does 
> exhibition and book printing for all sorts of big name people, and 
> prints for the NY Times for the collection prints it sells. They've 
> always used Ilford paper and can no longer get it, and she says 
> they're having trouble getting Agfa because people are buying it up in

> a panic. She's concerned that when they have to tell clients that 
> certain papers aren't available, the reaction may be 'to hell with it,

> why stick with silver any more.'
> 
> I know that what I'm hearing is a 26-year-old's over-reaction, but it 
> is telling.

> mcintyre@ca.inter.net
> Subject: [Leica] OT: Kodak shuts Canadian plant
> 
> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041209.wkodak1209
> /BNStory/Business/


_______________________________________________
Leica Users Group.
See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information