Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/01/29

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Silver gelatin and other abused words
From: Gaifana@aol.com
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 16:04:20 EST

Gelatin silver is a nice new way to market something that contains ever more 
of the former and ever less of the latter. This is not the most abused word 
in the English language (sorry, the American language). All of the following 
have taken on perverse modern meanings.

Luxury - usually used to refer to something that is pretty run-of-the mill 
comfortwise but more expensive. Example: an Acura is not a luxury car. 
There's not really much that separates its appointments from its sister 
Hondas. It is a sporty car. A fun car. But not luxury. Maybe it and the BMW 
3xx are luxury *items,* but they are not particularly aristocratic. Aston 
Martin, Jaguar, Rolls - those are definitely luxury cars.

Custom - almost always means that it is mass-produced. Especially applies to 
sedans, houses, van conversions. 

Quality - basically means that it is of the minimum build not to fall apart.

Estates - who are we kidding? In England it means apartment; here is means 
cardboard subdivision. But people seem to think it means big solid house in 
the countryside. That is a chateau or a mansion.

Classic - not classic because it is longstanding due to some inherent 
superiority, just that it is primitive. Especially applies to cars, but there 
is some Leica (hence, on-topic) application when we speak of M6s. I owned an 
M6 "classic" once. I liked the M3 better (and don't start a new flame war - 
it's just an example).

Image - look, it's a photograph. I have a stack of Apertures from the 60s and 
nowhere does the word image appear with the bulloney-factor it does in the 
1990s. Use photograph, print, scene, picture, but image (> Latin imago, 
- -inis, f.) can mean any number of things, from depiction in text to painting 
to sculpture. Not at all specific enough. 

Limited edition = limited to as many copies as we can sell. The tooling will 
be destroyed because we can't sell anymore and it's too expensive to store. 
Very closely connected to the Franklin Mint. Note that some limited edition 
Leicas, like the LHSA M6, seem to be on shelves for a long time. Also that 
abominable King of Thailand (?) model.

Just a cheerful thought or two while I warm up from picture taking in sunny 
10 degree Michigan!

In a message dated 1/28/00 11:39:07 PM, mrabiner@concentric.net writes:

<< Mike Durling wrote:
> 
> The term that museum curators use that really drives me nuts, and I work for
> a museum, is "object".  It's what they call anything they collect.  "This
> object, from the mid 17th century exhibits qualities of ..."  You get the
> drift.  Part of this culture we live in where you don't call anything what
> it is.  Like "chocalate flavored confection" or "spread" instead of
> margarine.
> 
> Mike D
> 
> <snip>
> >Galleries and museums typically use variants of formal names to describe
> >the technique used to make the print. "Platinum" is usually used to
> >denote any print made on platinum, platinum/palladium, or even pure
> >palladium emulsion. "Silver gelatin" is simply a fancy name for any
> >ordinary black-and-white paper.
><Snip> 

While most informative calling a picture on the wall a Silver gelatin print
doesn't I feel do us any good.
"Oh you mean it's a photograph?" It's all downhill from there. "It's a blowup"
And although there's always room for Jello ...
Silver gelatin does not sound as good as Raspberry Jello.
Marshmallows or no marshmallows that's what I want to know?
Is that a class thing?
People should know what's in the emulsion and what that emulsion is coated on
and so on but as Mike D. and Mike J. are saying if I may paraphrase:
pretentiousness is to be avoided at all costs. Close?
Let' em guess that's what I say! Let em eat palladium with no marshmallows! 
Mark Rabiner
and platinum sprinkles!
</XMP>

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From: Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>
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Subject: Re: [Leica] Silver gelatin and crayon resist
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