(Louisiana channel - David Hocney: Photoshop is boring)

[David Hockney] The invention of photography was the invention of chemicals

and in a way, chemical photography is now ended.

It lasted - what? - 160 years.

Now, nobody thought chemical photography would end.

Nobody predicts that, do they?

It ended - it certainly has ended now.

Kodak stopped making fixative about eight years ago, I think.

And the fixative was the invention.

Daguerre did it his way

and in England Fox Talbot, who was playing with cameras,

and meaning, seeing these images -

and remember, they sold them in color: you always see them in color;

they were surprised that the photograph was black and white when they first came out -

but, he said to Sir John Hershaw:

"How can I -- how can we fix this image?"

They could get it on paper, using silver

but it didn't last long.

And in fact, sir John Hershaw said:

"Oh well, if you want to fix it, you need this, this and this"

and wrote out the formula for fixative

that was still being manufactured till eight years ago. (1:34)