The Digital Revolution: Photoshop as an Art Form
© Gene Nocon
It wasn’t too long ago when a photographer relied on the experience and expertise of a professional photo lab. Photographers simply did not have the resources and time to process and print their own work. In doing so, they relied on the equipment, the skills, and the techniques of the lab to produce their prints. It was a rare case where a photograph did not benefit from the "dodging/burning" and other techniques by lab personnel. To be sure, photographers knew that their photographs, not just the print, were really "made" in the darkroom.
With digital photography, and dare we say “Photoshop,” the professional photo labs are no more. But a few in the lab industry have embraced this new technology and now provide the expertise in digital that were provided in the traditional darkroom. Photoshop, in its simplest form, is a tool and nothing more. But it is a tool that breathes new life into photography. It creates avenues for artistic expression never before thought possible.
In this workshop, Gene Nocon, with nearly 40 years experience in the lab industry, will present all these wonderful capabilities that Photoshop has to offer, from the perspective of the darkroom. His method is based on techniques used in the darkroom simple enough for even the novice to use. And with this in mind the workshop will include techniques, among many others, to produce an art form made possible by Photoshop: Fauxtography – the art of turning a photograph into a painting.
Students will have access to Cuyamaca College’s (www.cuyamaca.edu) state-of-the-art digital darkroom. On Thursday evening, students will be required to enroll as a Cuyamaca College student and pay required course registration fees of $35.
Gene Nocon’s (www.genenocom.com) experience includes 15 years in London printing for Europe's top photographers: Sir Cecil Beaton, Norman Parkinson, Barry Lategan, Jean Loup Sieff, Linda McCartney, Terence Donovan amongst them. An advisory board member for Freestyle Photographic Supplies, Gene has won the title of ILFORD printer of the Year. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS), founded the RPS Distinction Panel for Photographic Printers, and served as its first Chairman. He is also the inventor of the NOCON Photographic Timer and the author of the books Photographic Printing and Nocon on Photography. Now the Art Director for a sports-wear company, he is actively engaged in using Fauxtographs for print and media advertising.
