----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Some thoughts for the day ahead..... "On Aug 7, Andrea Segall wrote: -Also, I'm curious about why Sandak slides went out of business. Does it have anything to do with the new technologies making slides less desirable?" There have been many expressions of like Andrea's as well as more along the lines of and so I have been following this thread with more than the usual (?)prurient interest during the past few weeks. Sandak's departure from the visual resources scene has not been the only vendor/photographer in the last two years; perhaps in Sandak's corporate owners it was a case of not making enough of the "big bucks", but in others I think it might also be just sheer frustration! Frustration because of lack of interest, of support from the academic community; perhaps the answer really does lie closer to home than many would care to admit. I am sure that there are individuals like ourselves with a keen interest in Art History & Architecture that, coupled with a knowledge of photography, go out seeking to record, to document the places & objects that excite their curiosity. If this interest is combined with knowledge of the periods & styles that lead to providing others in the art world with good quality images, and furthermore is directly linked to course content, then it is a natural progression to seek to become a "provider". Of course such individuals want to be paid for services, otherwise from whence would come reimbursement of the expenses of travel, labour & materials? If the so-called services of being a slide/image provider are not of value, the subjects in Paris, Rome or Athens are no longer being taught, then the images won't be purchased, by anyone..... If the lecturer or the art historian groups were somehow able to be polled, would they prefer a vibrant Kodachrome or a scanned page from Gardner or Jansen et al, I wonder what the results might be? In closing I would like to give an indication of the sort of decision problems we, personally, are faced with:- Earlier this Summer we announced that we would be photographing in SICILY and in SPAIN -(especially CORDOBA, GRANADA, MERIDA & SEVILLE) - we asked that those interested to advise HAA of their interest. And the response? Just ONE slide curator has contacted us! Do we go or not? Thanks everyone for your time Alec- HARTILL ART ASSOCIATES Prospect Place, R.R. #6 ST.MARYS Ontario CANADA N4X 1C8 TEL: 1.519.229.8752 FAX: 1.519.229.8596 http://www3.sympatico.ca/hartills.art -- HARTILL ART ASSOCIATES Prospect Place, R.R. #6 ST.MARYS Ontario CANADA N4X 1C8 TEL: 1.519.229.8752 FAX: 1.519.229.8596 http://www3.sympatico.ca/hartills.art