Hi, Asher,
Firstly, let me say what a wondrous series this is. The different contributors all see, through different prisms, the complex organizational and intellectual structure thorough which every work of art is attained, finally illuminating the "role of the artist". We must consider, for example, how Rembrandt's pigments were made, and who built his easels, and even who fixed the furniture in his home while he was painting. (I'm sure art historians "know" all this; I merely used it as a metaphor.)
Now to your discussion of "what constitutes photography". I share your urging that "we" not accept some narrow view.
Taken to a limit, the vision of "drawing the image of the scene with light" might apply only to modes in which the finished image comes right out of the camera, on the originally exposed medium (as in postcard cameras - even B/W Polaroid photography wouldn't count, owing to the N/P transfer that takes place in the "packet"). This extremely narrow view is breached even by the making of silver halide prints with an
enlarger, for God's sake.
Then, moving toward another end of the continuum, we must recall that, when using a "laser" printer to render an image, "drawing with light" in fact goes on inside (albeit not directly onto the deliverable medium). One of the most comforting aspects of some of my earlier LaserJet printers was the comforting whine of the mirror drum as it "spun up" in preparation for its contributing to the "drawing". (The newer models are so silent I am denied the
frisson this always used to bring, or perhaps my
frisseur is merely getting jaded.)
[Whew, it isn't. I just tested it with Brahms' "Variations on a Theme by Haydn".]
Naturally, as always, the thread eventually gets into the "why do you think I think he thought she thought I meant" mode. I think it is a creature of
salon.
Then there's always the matter of
epistemic closure, which I read is now being invoked as a disputed mechanism of modern partisan political "thought". How wonderful that our species is able to think about thinking - even to think about thinking about thinking.
Well, on to breakfast, and then off to meet with Carla's publicist. And yes, she "wrote" her book - and I'm sure "writing" with light is involved in its production.
Press on, all.
Best regards,
Doug