Technological (Dis)Advantages

Recently I have noticed a change in the process for submitting to art competition/opportunities. More often then not, instead of sending slides, artists send digital images. I can see the convenience in going digital. And these days any smart artist maintains a relatively up-to-date portfolio of digital images, especially if they have a website, in addition to slides.

Because slides have been the standard format for documenting art for so long I always have more then one slide of all of my best images. So, putting together a slide sheet is a piece of cake for me. But as digital has become more common as a way to submit images it's also pretty easy to copy files to a disk and mail that off instead of a sheet of slides. And, you don't have worry about not getting your slides back.

Still, I have to admit I am not all that keen on this change. Especially now that I am starting to see on-line submissions becoming more common. This is where I get really uncomfortable and my "old school" ways start to show. I just feel more in control when I have a physical package that I put together and mail. I can check everything 5 millions times, make sure it looks perfect and be sure I haven't forgotten anything.

Granted, on-line submissions save on mailing costs. And there's almost no time between when you send your submission and when it is received. But I just hate that feeling after I hit "submit" and off it goes into cyberspace. "Oh god! What if I made a mistake?! Mislabeled something, made a typo?! Yikes! Undo, Undo, Undo!"

Yeah, yeah, I know. That same thing could happened with my "snail mail" package, too. But it's so much harder to read on-line all the stuff you type in those little boxes, trying to make sure there are no errors. You want to look good, professional. One false slip of the finger on that submit button and there it goes. Too late to make any changes now.

In recent months I have completed two on-line submissions for art competitions and, quite frankly, it was a pain in the ass. It felt like it took me forever and after I was all done I didn't feel very good about the process or what I submitted.

I really prefer to submit slides versus digital images, whether on-line or on a disk. My slides always look better then my digital images. Professional slide film captures the color and light so much better, not to mention more accurately. With slides I don't have to spend time making corrections or manipulating file sizes. I just grab the slide and pop it in the mail.

Part of the problem is probably the quality of my digital camera. It's a fairly decent Kodak, but the tungsten light setting just doesn't quite give me the same look and feel that I get when I shoot with tungsten slide film. And how about the fact that I can correct and manipulate the image? Doesn't that call into question its integrity? With a slide you know that what you see is what you get. That is what the art looks like in real life. Period.

Now, maybe I am feeling this way because I was not accepted for either of those two recent on-line submissions I sent out. Would the end result have been the same if I had sent slides in the mail? Most likely, yes. But the submission process still really sucked.

Oh well. In the end I will go with the times because I have no choice. Maybe I'll get a new digital camera someday. But it will be a long time before I give up my slide archiving. Those things, stored properly, slides can last almost forever. Can we say the same about digital technology?

Silver Lining of the Day:

Deadlines help get work done.

I worked really hard making bottle cap bar a couple of weeks ago so that I could submit an image of it and a couple of other bottle cap sculptures to a Trash to Treasures art competition. Unfortunately, I wasn't a finalist. Rejection. It comes with the job. But man it still sucks. At least I got the bar completed. That's progress.