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Mark, one could argue it takes a lot more skill to make a good sketch than it does to make a good photograph.

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Chris

Yes; I must thank you that you would initiate that. As I am sure that you know, there has been much discussion as to what sketch artists are doing with the artistic process starting entirely from scratch on a blank sheet of paper as compared to what a photographer is doing with a camera and mechanized technology in a computer. Also as mentioned before and in the Astronomy Sketch Book, the artist is learning something from intense observation to sketch and record in this process that is not present to the minds eyes in the same way with the photographic methods.

There was an interesting lecture here at the world famous Reed College in Portland Oregon a couple weeks ago with a famous abstract artist speaking. He mentioned that with all the digital photography today, it is putting a bright light back onto an appreciation for artists again. That is all he said about that. I wanted to question him about that in the large lecture hall as the audience asked questions, and I was the first but I commended his works and asked about something else instead.

This is not to say that although we have seen many photographs over the years of the Horsehead and surrounding region in Orion, and with all these in the web, it would be hard to find a photographers signature style that imparts a personal appearance to each and every photo; conversely every hand-sketch artist literally has his painstaking personal style in the brushstrokes or in this case, the chalk-marks on the paper that go down once and cannot really be erased or reworked much without showing the errors. Even the best artists will make an occasional error that cannot be denied or hidden. As an artist is in the spotlight of telling the truth and there is no faking this and no computer to refigure it by deleting a file into an instant automatic fix.

Even a Photoshop artwork may look like several other computer artists may have produced it as it may lack the fine and unique signature style of the chalk or paint brush strokes that develop over many thousands of hours of practiced skill and personal effort that cannot be duplicated by another; unless they try to copy it. (Hence, the adage, life imitates art.) Yet again this is not to denigrate the painstaking effort of the astro-photographer; I know, although I have never done any high end digital tracking with a camera attached to a telescope; as mine were all done with a 35mm old world wet film based process starting with the camera on a tripod and the standard lens only taking a single unique negative only- nothing mixed or double-exposed in the dark room, shooting into the sky with some foreground added features photo flashed.

I realize that you must have imparted many strained efforts to process and stack the photo images and use your photographic and computer expertise to achieve this beautiful photographic image and I commend you for your great efforts in this fine art photographic image.

As you saw many here in the contest polls comments mentioned that they thought that the photography was astounding this month but that they had to give the nod to the artist. I am not sure what to make of this as I had said that it was not my best effort this month; I guess that many of them are not familiar with the technical astro-sketch process. It says something, I think, of how our civilization views the old world artistic process as totally hand made effort and skill over the image from a technologically advanced machine employed product and that it is not conducive to comparing the two in a contest. This is, I am sure, why many have commented that they would like to see a separate sketch art and astro-photography monthly contest.

Personally, I have always been driven to imitate photography by producing a photo-realistic sketch or painting that will fool the world into thinking that it is a camera produced photograph! (;

Thanks again,

Mark

Edited by markseibold (11/19/08 08:46 PM)

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