Photography Year 1975 [antikvár]

Introduction It was the year for color in photography. During 1974, 389 dazzling color prints stole the art show at Photokina, the biennial fair held in Cologne, Germany, and color equipment filled Pho-fokina's feohnological exhibits as well as supply shops around fhe world. The increased emphasis on color was noticeable in the favor it found among photography's newly important pafrons, the large international corpo-rafions. The work of some of the world's leading photographers found a major market in 1974 in enhancing the image of big business: documenting annual reports, filling pages of corporate publications, decorating the offices and lobbies of corporate headquarters. And much of this enhancement depended on color. Color also seemed more important to promising young photographers. For the first time in PHOTOGRAPHY YEAR's annual showcase of new talent, two of the year's winners were chosen for their mastery of color. The intensified interest in color owes much to new equipment that gives superb results with relatively simple procedures. In 1974, four manufacturers brought out comparatively inexpensive color enlargers of such simplicity and reliability that successful color printing became firmly established in the home. But improved color enlarging was only part of the news in a year marked by numerous technological developments. IVlost significant was the impact on lens design of the computer, which has shortened the time needed to com- pute the form of a lens. A number of radical lens types came on the market in 1974. And multiple layers of microscopic coatings that virtually eliminate flare seemed to become the standard for high-quality lenses. Countering this bright news, however, was one technological fact that became disturbingly clear in 1974: silver, the essential ingredient in all modern photographic processes, is a problem metal. It is swiftly rising in cost, and the chemicals needed to process silver-based materials harm the environment. It remains to be seen if the technology that can produce ever more automatic cameras and can revolutionize the home darkroom can find a way out of the silver crisis—and help photography survive.