Reading Comprehension

PT139 · S3 · P2 · Q8 A Return to Tintypes

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When Jayne Hinds Bidaut saw her first tintype, she was so struck by its rich creamy tones that she could hardly believe this photographic process had been abandoned.

Topic

A current trend of people resurrecting old-fashioned photographic techniques.

Framework

Highlight Noteworthy / Explain Something Puzzling

Main Point

Since our author is spotlighting this current trend of re-discovering old, janky, idiosyncratic photographic methods, what does she think is most distinctive / impactful / interesting about it?

Her voice enters the most in the last two paragraphs, where she seems to be trying to explain the appeal of these techniques to the people engaging in them.

Those paragraphs sound like an answer to the puzzling question of,

The main point should be a distillation of "current trend + motivation for trend", like:

There is a recent trend of photographers' rediscovering old photographic techniques, because they love the unpredictability / imperfection / intimacy / mystery that they get out of using these techniques.

Summary

P1 - Teaser Example 1 (Bidaut, tintype)

In realtime, we probably assume we're reading a passage about Bidaut or about tintype. It's only when we get to paragraph 3 that we realize the trend being discussed is broader than just Bidaut and Estabrook and broader than just tintype.

P2 - Teaser Example 2 (Estabrook, tintype)

This rinky-dink 4-line paragraph is very unusual in LSAT RC, so we would proceed curiously, like,

If we asked ourselves the $1 million question, , we'd come up with stuff like tintype, photography.

P3 - Introduction of Central Topic

Here we figure out that the 1st two paragraphs were just examples of this broader trend that's happening within photography. We would probably use a framework of Highlight Noteworthy (since it feels like a descriptive article about some topic the author finds compelling), or Illustrate General Claim (because we realize now that paragraphs 1 and 2 were just examples of a broader thing).

P4 - Background on Central Topic

This paragraph's first couple sentences telegraph that we will be informed about why these old techniques that are trending are appealing / why they disappeared in the first place. Turns out the two answers are intertwined. The reason they disappeared is because they produce a lot of irregular, blemished results, and that's precisely what these photographers enjoy about them.

P5 - Artistic Analysis

Here the author gets more explicit about the artistic statement practitioners are able to make by using these old techniques, as well as the artistic experience they get to have in making their art.

In the context of the third paragraph, the function of the phrase "on the verge of a filmless, digital revolution" (first sentence of the third paragraph) is to

Correct
highlight the circumstances that make
Why this is right
Wow, it actually used the word "ironic"! I promise, I didn't peek. We can justify the idea that this phrase conveys irony (irony = the opposite of what's expected) because one would expect that on the verge of a digital revolution, photography would move forward by embracing and experimenting with these NEW digital photographic techniques. Instead, there's this groundswell of interest in janky old technology. Huh. That's not what we'd expect. Hence, it's ironic.
Skill tested: Local Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
91% picked this
indicate that most photographers are
Too Strong
Too Strong: most Out of Scope: advanced We can't really quantity what proportion of photographers are into this new trend of rediscovering old technology. According to this answer, it's more than 50% of them. We also don't have support for the idea that they're wary of advanced techniques. (Is a filmless digital camera an advanced technique?) If anything this seems opposite. Using a digital camera is the easiest that photography has ever been. A lot of them have auto focus and auto exposure and such. The old techniques that many photographers are rediscovering are super complicated and involved. We might not call them "advanced", but it would be hard to say that the photographers who are brave enough to try resurrecting these absurd procedures are intimidated by a complicated technique. Finally, when we think about how this choice answers the question, does the phrase "on the verge of a filmless, digital revolution" indicate anything about most photographers' willingness to use advanced photo techniques?
2% picked this
reveal the author's skeptical views
Out of Scope: skeptical view
The author seems pretty enchanted with this movement. He understands the appeal of these old techniques to the people rediscovering them. He does tell us, his audience, about why these techniques became obsolete, but his final takeaway is, "old methods offer the possibility of recovering an intimacy with photographic communication that mass media have all but overwhelmed" So overall, the author seems sympathetic to this trend.
2% picked this
suggest that most photographers who
Too Strong
Too Strong: most Out of Scope: see little merit We can't really quantity what proportion of photographers are into the new digital technology. According to this answer, it's less than 50% of them. This answer is saying that more than 50% of photographic artists "see little merit in the new digital technology". That's just too strong, given that we have no sentence anywhere suggesting that a majority of modern photographers have such a negative view about the new technology. We know that there is this trend of rediscovering old stuff, but a photographer could easily nerd out on tintypes while still acknowledging that there's some merit in the new technology.
3% picked this
imply that the groundswell of
Too Strong: probably a fad
The author may believe this, since he does point out that all these techniques became obsolete and because digital photography is the growing revolution. But we don't have any textual support for the pessimism that the "antiquarian avant-gardists" who comprise this groundswell of interest will probably lose interest once this fad passes. The groundswell of interest consists of photographers who specifically are attracted to the weird, idiosyncratic results of these old techniques, as well as the hands-on intimacy of creating the photos. Do we have any reason to think that artists whose aesthetic involves uncertainty, novelty, mystery, illusion will give up on those aesthetic impulses?
2% picked this

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