9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Louisiana channel - David Hocney: Photoshop is boring) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [David Hockney] The invention of photography 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was the invention of chemicals 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in a way, chemical photography is now ended. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It lasted - what? - 160 years. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, nobody thought chemical photography would end. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Nobody predicts that, do they? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It ended - it certainly has ended now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Kodak stopped making fixative about eight years ago, I think. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the fixative was the invention. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Daguerre did it his way 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in England Fox Talbot, who was playing with cameras, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and meaning, seeing these images - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and remember, they sold them in color: you always see them in color; 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they were surprised that the photograph was black and white 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when they first came out - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but, he said to Sir John Herschel: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "How can I -- how can we fix this image?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They could get it on paper, using silver 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but it didn't last long. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And in fact, sir John Herschel said: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Oh well, if you want to fix it, you need this, this and this" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and wrote out the formula for fixative 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that was still being manufactured till eight years ago. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So now, we've now moved out of that period. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I will point out, I - in 1989, I was invited by Adobe, in Silicon Valley, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the launch of Photoshop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And they invited a few people for various reasons. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I tink I was invited because they'd seen the photo collage I'd done 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of - of Pearblossom Highway. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so they invited me and I went up with my assistant, Richard. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I took my dogs as well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They said - I saw it - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the two things they don't like in Silicon Valley: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 smokers and dogs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I said "Well, you got to lump it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm here and you'll have to do it." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But they were showing as well - we tried things [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And when we were driving back to LA, I said 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Wow, that was all about drawing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it's the end of chemical photography." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because you can't do this with chemical photography. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It has to be digital for the Photoshop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I was a bit early, but nevertheless, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I could see that's what was coming. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The one-hour Photomat place was going to disappear 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - that's what I had been using, things like that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And it has implications that I began to see. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They've got bigger, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they're still there now, they're getting bigger. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In a way, I mean to say, useful thing, Photoshop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I think it has made a lot of magazines look very similar, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 rather boring. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It polishes photography, they put the highlights in, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 take them blemishes away, I mean that sort of thing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 love it in Hollywood, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they all touch up things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I mean, it's also causing a kind of stale look 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - to me, anyway, to me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that's why, if you need, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even fashion magazines, thirty years ago, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would have quite a lot of drawings in them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so you got a different thing as you looked through pages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But not many people draw now, so it's all photography 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I think, getting more and more boring because of it, I think. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, I was - we were just in the Picasso show here, you know. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was looking at that owl, that marvelous owl 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and to Dave, I pointed out, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some people just stuff a real owl and put it in a case. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Not that interesting. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I was explaining to my young friend 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 why Picasso's is so marvelous. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It isn't an owl, it's a human being looking at an owl. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's an account of a human being looking at an owl. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So that's what thrills us. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There is more owlness there than in the stuffed owl. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you find a way to solve something - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was talking about the Spring, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm working on that now in England - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and how would you depict the arrival of Spring? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The arrival of Spring is too slow for a movie to catch it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It moves too - it moves, but it moves too slowly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for the movie camera. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And it's also not that easy to photograph 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because the very first signs of it is so subtle 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the camera doesn't see them that well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But if the human eye sees it, you can exaggerate a little 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the first little green shoots coming up, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you emphasize the green. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The cameras can't - they're not that good on color, really, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, they don't see the subtle colors at all, actually. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's OK, you know, on a beach, color photography 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but with greens, it's not that good, really, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even today it's not. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even, I mean, when we use nine cameras, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and therefore we could use different exposures on each one, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we didn't get a bigger range of greens. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know that, I mean I know about, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know about technical things, about film and things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But it's a - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 peop-- you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not much is written often about these technical problems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they're technical problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can overcome them but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you're not taught about them much, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some people forget that there are problems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that they have to be sorted out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've been dealing with the Winter in East Yorkshire. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a climate, just like this really, just over the water. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a very similar climate, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very similar horticulture and agriculture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, the Spring is just beginning here, isn't it? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's just beginning there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And - but of course, you don't get Spring in Southern California, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not big anyway - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I found there was more color in the Winter, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that the road, this little road, is darkest of all 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the height of Summer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because all the leaves of - come over it, it's like a tunnel 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it's darker in it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I mean, you get in light coming in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that's its darkest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's at its lightest in the winter if it snows, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because you get reflection from the ground. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we filmed it with nine cameras, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm drawing it all the time as well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My local doctor we're friendly with, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because she is a pai-- an amateur painter, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and she comes to the studio 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'm showing her the pictures. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then we showed her the films. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And she said: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "God, I've never looked at this little street!" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And she said, next time she came, she said: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "You inspired us, David. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We drove down and took a long walk, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a darned long walk [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 after watching your films and those things." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I said: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Well, it's a lovely, it's a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 - I'll tell you what's very nice about there: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's a very, rather isolated bit of England. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's very isolated partly because there's a wide river, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Humber, to the South 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and there are not many people there, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not many people live there, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's agricultural, great one agricultural land [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so they don't build on it much. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Not many people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we can - we painted in it, filmed in it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 nobody's - nobody there to stop you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In L.A.! Oh, if you got out a camera in a car, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you'd have had to get permits, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you'd have to get police riding to protect you, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 install lines [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Hollywood cops and things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But in East Yorkshire, we come, nobody bothers us, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We're hanging on jeeps, you know. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, actually, once JP and I, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we were going out painting with our canvasses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you never see anybody out there, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and suddenly, aboard a Toyota truck [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 four policemen jump out and we got a ticket: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we hadn't put our seat belts on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And OK, we were just not going far [check], 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we were going to get out our canvas. [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so we got the tickets. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of the policemen is looking out of the window to me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and saying "You got to have the seatbelt, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 death is lurking everywhere." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, I'm looking out of the window and I mean, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean at leaves coming on the trees, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the spring is coming out, and I say: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Well, you know, life is lurking everywhere as well!" [laughs] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Anyway, we got the tickets, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we might put them in the exhibition, actually. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we were going to paint, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 set up six canvasses. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, if they saw us with these cameras, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we'd have been taken out to jail, probably, I mean 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because we were hanging on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we're not going very f-- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, we were going, you know, 10 miles an hour. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They'd leave it alone, probably, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but it was amusing that we got the ticket for the seatbelts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I did tell them that I was not particularly into bondage, me: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm not, actually. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I f-- I don't like the seatbelts. [laughs] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A lot of people are into bondage .... [check] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it's OK: good fun, sometimes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Louisiana channel) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Supported by Nordea Funden) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (louisiana.dk/channel) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (©LOUISIANA)