B&W Master Print

Lucien's Fence, 1997
4x5 Wista View Camera, 150mm Zeiss Protar, Tri-X
The B&W Master Print
Simply applying a technical trick like some magic wand that one can wave over paper and ink will not, in itself, produce a masterpiece. If we look at the history of  black-and-white photography and the great pictures it has given us, it is the honesty of presence through the articulation of the black-and-white scale that gives credence to black-and-white masterpieces. Luminosity creates our world as photographers, and it is this understanding and portrayal of light that ultimately produces presence.The authentic portrayal of presence produces a masterpiece.
Art historian Kenneth Clark, in his small book,What is a Masterpiece, calls a masterpiece the “creation of an individual artist’s authentic genius.”  A masterpiece is first of all a creation. It is a picture that is not borrowed or stolen, and though it is perhaps derivative in nature, it is made out of the stuff of the universe, unique ...