More Food for toughts [Fwd: Arnold Gassan reported to have died]

Hi everybody,

Here is more food for thoughts about the debate over digital printing.
The late Arnorld Gossen has used the digital medium in his late years
quite extensively, as witenessed in his web site at
http://www.agdigitalprints.com/

As for me, I am quite indifferent about the issue altough I use the
computer a lot as a tool to previsualize what I can expect to get in the
darkroom. I've moved recently to Lith printing in the darkroom on fiber
paper, but if for some reason the digital medium proves more convenient
to achieve my goal from a viual standpoint, I'll move there with no
hesitation...

Cheers, -:))

Guy

attached mail follows:

I'm forwarding this from the Photo History group...

> List:
>
> According to Jerry Robinson, Arnold Gassan has died. While I have written
> to Laird, his wife, seeking confirmation, I will risk writing in the belief
> that this sad news is true.
>
>
> Many on this list will have known Arnold. He wore many hats. He was an
> exceptionally gifted pedagogue. His _A Handbook For Contemporary
> Photography_ remains a model of lucidity and practical usability. His
> classroom activities are by now legendary. He carried these skills over into
> his later practice as a psychiatric counselor, obtaining further credentials
> late in his life. His compassion and pithy grit went hand in hand. Arnold
> had walked the difficult walks before he deigned to offer advice to others.
>
> In recent years Arnold had been most unwell, afflicted with a very painful
> cancer which had invaded his bones. For all of that, he had only recently
> remodeled his workroom at the time of his reported death, and was full of
> projects.
>
> Despite his constant pain, Arnold was still very much alive and open to new
> things. We exchanged books and ideas frequently. He was still making
> prints. Still photographing. Still going to his self-imposed work
> counseling others.
>
> Arnold had a gritty knowledge of life, informed with passion and compassion.
> He was a compassionate fellow, in the tough love school I should opine. He
> had no time for grandiosity. He had what American author Edward Dahlberg
> descried as "the rustic potato line".
>
> I am saddened to see that no post concerning Arnold and his many services to
> photography, to pedagogy, and to people has appeared now on PhotoHst. I
> myself feel saddened, lonely, and yes, bereft -- without Arnold.
>
> This would be an appropriate time for Listmembers to take the measure of the
> stature of Arnold Gassan, man and colleague.
>
> --"Quarterplate"
Received on Thu Jun 28 15:01:11 2001