nameabledays: The Banggaan Letters

These should have been private conversations, insofar as they were exchanged between people who did not expect an audience. The exchanges were what consisted a “thread” of discussions in an e-group (a remnant of the older Net “culture” of the email, when blogging was unheard of), with the understanding that whatever transpired was only between and among the members and not for the public to witness or consume. The egroup referred to is Banggaan (of which I am a member, and which I mention in this blog from time to time), composed of a variety Filipno artists, photographers, musicians, writers, both living in the country or abroad, mainly the United States and Austrialia. (Banggaan in Filipino is collision or encounter—and for the egroup, the collision and encounter of ideas, either in writing, verse, or in digital images put up in the Net subject to the artistic and digital modification and interaction of members, all in lighthearted banter.)

I will break that rule of exclusiveness and confidentiality and reproduce here the exchange with little or no corrections. That’s because I would like to share this interesting thread with my readers. But I will change the names of the participants, except mine and Ben's (he started the thread "for everyone's" consumption at Multiply), to protect their privacy, since this blog is not of their own making. Their names, however, are thinly disguised for those who know them. I will preserve the freewheeling kantiaw or banter, that spices up the otherwise “serious” subject (or at least important to us—blog readers and Banggann members alike who share these things), apart from the fact that it makes interesting reading. That goes without saying that my own “larger” part of the thread were virtual monologues, for which I apologize (I had the time to write and react more extensively, the discussion was stimulating), but which is also what I’d like to share with my readers.

Opening Post, Link Directed to the writer’s Multiply

photographs from film
Apr 27, '08 4:33 AM
for everyone

Digital has so bastardized the quality of photography so much I cannot begin to say how much poorer the new students of photography today are compared to what previous apprentices and photographers had to go through to truly appreciate the technical aspects of the craft such as exposure, being able to read light values, sensing differences in tone and hue, reading and exposing for highlight and shadow, color balance—all the things that film and the truly technical process of photography makes you learn because if you do not know what that is, all you end up with are lousy worthless pictures in the trash can one can neither explain or defend.

but now because of digital's relative ease and what it does not reveal right off, and what most assume as a 'good enough' standard in that most digicams can take a nice picture in available bright light—pictures are now more of an outright lie and are not always the visual truth.

now there are legions of wannabe photographers or graphic artists with horribly vomiting ambition who are more interested in masturbating with awful pictures to begin with on photoshop, thinking that they can turn a failed, unpassable image into 'experiments' or (god forbid) 'art'.

and having done so and getting too caught up in the 'tech and software talk' of today's equipment and programs that they totally miss the point of being either an artist or a photographer.

In short without reference or foundation, we are back to that former but same basic instamatic 'rot' of casual throwaway photography where nothing is preserved or created out of one's eye, mind and heart.

today's pictures just take on the appearances of one big senseless family album awaiting its turn to be burned and forgotten in an incinerator or at the nearest dump.

—Ben

these images are from film exposures taken with the Fuji 645 Wide Professional medium format camera, exposed on Fujifilm Reala color negative film and then scanned at 4000 dpi archival high-resolution quality on the Nikon 9000 ED Film scanner. consequently the images have been resized to lower resolution for web viewing. (Ben's note. Refers to some pictures he published in his blog, two of which are reproduced here, above and below)

[All subsequent posts and exchanges in Banggaan egroup]

Post No.2: Yours Truly Joins the Fray

Hihihihi! Mabuti na lang naging writer na lang ako! Hihihihi!

Ben, magkano nga ba sa inyong YKL shop ang FinePix S8100 fd at FinePix S100 fs? They're the best choices among the present models, I think. Sa Columbia, it's P18k+ and P29k+ respectively. I am canvassing and trying to decide whether I'll continue to be a serious pretender or just a pretender period, and stick to my keyboard. Hehe. I keep scouring the camera brand sites, from the Canons and the Nikons to Panasonics and the Sonys, but I keep coming back to Fujifilm. For my own purposes (and purchasing capacity), parang yung S8100 ang puwede na, pero pag talagang seryoso na ako sa aking new hobby (which is also becoming a new craft and trade), baka yung S100 and kailangan ko, to shoot well without having to fiddle and fumble with lenses, etc. What you think? Which would serve my purposes and at the same time be worth it, without burning a hole in my pocket?

Your comments really got the goat of the Digitalists at Pinoy Photogs Forum, who apparently miss the point. It's not that you have to give up one for the other, it's knowing how to use (competently, not blindly and unawares) both analog and digital and know where you're coming from. It's not, as you say, thinking that photography was invented by Casio or Epson. Of course technology progresses. Among our writers, at almost 80 years old, NVM Gonzales was one of the first to use a laptop to write his great novels, and he was always looking out for the latest IBM Think Pad then (too bad NVM died before discovering the superior world of Mac). Butch Dalisay was the first hereabouts to get his hands on the MacBook Air, but as we all know, he is also a crazy fountain pen collector. And no one's talking about the novels and stories they wrote or continue to write. Sure, the best camel hairs helped painters mix and create colors for their masterpieces, but the Mona Lisa is great not because da Vinci used a special wood in the frame...

Anyways, digital or no, I am and have always been a sucker for The Image, composed or caught accidentally, the light and/or shadow, manipulated in a studio or just streaming from a window, or the detail standing out in such vividness or vanishing softly into shadow, the textures, everything that makes The Image a single moment liberated from the chaos and violence of time and the everyday, the world or the cosmos recomposed in one single frame.

But your piece reminded me na mayroon nga pala akong pambihira nang magamit na entry model na Nikon F60, na pagsilip ko pa lang ay namamangha na ako sa flesh tones. Magamit nga uli.

Mabuhay ang photography!

Marne

Post No. 3: A Reminder from Minnie

Marne, gamitin mo na ulit yan.

Minnie

Post No. 4: “Vehement”

Marne,  

Maybe it's because at some point in our development either as artists, writers or photographers, we were fortunate enough to have encountered getting our feathers and asses kicked by true teachers, mentors or influences.  Yun lang naman, di ba? And having always been thoughtful and mindful enough never to have forgotten what they gave or passed on to you in the tradition which enabled or empowered your own awareness of what you love to do.  

A lot of these people who are in what I like to call 'digital incubation' have their growing up to do. Unfortunately for them, one of my points has been that digital has so scattered the perception that something such as photography can be reduced down to a 'purchased' gadget that's worth nothing more than a computer, a cellphone or an mp3 player.  
I beg to disagree. And vehemently.  

My own mentor, Dick Baldovino, always had an absolute intolerance for what he saw as 'laziness' or cheap rationalizing in the preparation and pursuit of 'the picture' and in the instruments one chooses for achieving that image.  

And it always boiled down to who would tell you what worked, and what didn't. He always used to tell me, 'huwag kang matigas ulo. pag aralan mo yan'. In the unique and different scenario and situation that was photography then here in the Philippines, he knew what he was talking about. And I knew he meant that just because I had a camera, I was already a 'photographer'. Far from it, as he would remind me.  

Today is no different. Marami pa ring ganon. But since I've thrown in my two cents to point it out, it's perfectly alright that not everybody will agree with me.  

It's not my purpose to convince them either, but to just shine a spotlight on this annoying, irritating vacuousness.  

The S100 is really your best bet, my partner at the Digital Q, Angie de Silva has ran extensive field tests with the digicam last week with Sonny Yabao in Banaue, where the weather and lighting conditions was  decidedly not 'casio' 'sony' or 'epson' friendly. Yabao shot with his Canon 40D SLR, Angie used the S100 as they walked nearly side by side documenting the same scenes with both cameras. Biro mong Canon na ito ha, and the differences of the images and the printed out picture files was evident. Iba ang tono ng Fuji digicam sa fleshtones and the separation, smooth gradation of colors. Although the Canon held its own inasmuch as its trademark strength, there were obvious, glaring instances where the 40D could not keep up with the picture quality of the new Fuji digicam. Highlights and shadows both were especially and prominently natural-looking on the S100fs, and the sharpness of the new Fujinon 28-400mm lens combined with the film simulation settings  on the camera were the deal breakers.  

Hands down. It's the Fuji Finepix S100FS as the no-brainer choice. But if you've got an additional thousand or four thousand two hundred  dollars and willing to carry an additional eight to fifteen pounds of camera weight, hey go for the ultimate which is the Nikon D3 or the  D300, lenses not yet included. This single hand-holdable, easier and more compact all in one S100 in my view will give even THOSE cameras a run for the money in picture quality.  

Huwag ka lang mapadpad sa Iraq. ;-)  

kagabi nagkita kami kagabi sa Conspiracy uli nila Edd, Heber and surprise -- si Jim Paredes na kararating lang galing Australia mismo as he'll be here for a month or so, along with Butch Dalisay and his wife June Poticar who happened to be Edd's 'kababata' in their first quarter storm days noon. Funny you mentioned Butch and the great NVM Gonzales. E yun, nakita mo sana si Jim at si Butch kagabi, both sporting and talking shop with their iPhones, hahaha. Jim mentioned the digital photo firestorm I apparently started which he read. And I told Butch there's a newly-introduced, more powerfully-configured 24-inch, improved video graphic memory and screen resolution iMac just announced by Apple yesterday. Mukhang eto na ang magiging pag iipunan ko na desktop before the end of this year. By June or July, that should already be available here. O ano game Marne? Ikaw ang iMac buddy ko dito. ;-)  

It was another great night of music, wished you had been there.  
Ben