In the era of the Digital Darkroom, "Purists" are crying the blues that images don't reflect "reality" anymore and that the masters of photography, such as Ansel Adams would be rolling in their graves.
Touring many of Italy's art galleries simply confirms once again to me, that throughout history there is a certain (large) percentage of folks that are passionate about the status quo and the idea of change either paralyses or scares them into the same old, same old. Personally, I believe (know) that the artistic and technical craft that we call "Photography" is undergoing an inside-out transformation no less revolutionary than the Renaissance was to art and science in the 15th century. Secret of all personal growth and change is to ignore the negativity of the nay-sayers and push ahead with the challenge of mastering new tools and techniques to fuel creative, imaginative imagery.

BTW, I am convinced that Ansel would have embraced the digital darkroom. Imagine creating amazing images in mere minutes instead of hours in the confines of a toxic chemical darkroom that is slow, expensive, unpredictable and probably dangerous. Unlike many photographers I know, I enjoy being behind my computer monitor almost as much as being out there with my camera. Biggest problems is that limitation of only 24 hours in the day!

Enjoy, interested in your comments.