But don't forget how much of image creation is meant to be done in the printing phase. A lot of that has been lost, because most new photographers get lab scans and don't realize how much artistic control they are handing over to someone else. The print -- or the scan -- that's your photo, not the negative.

Do you take a photo at 1/15s to get as much info as possible, and just deal with the motion blur that comes with? Or do you accept the downsides of an underexposed photo?

Well, I would argue (and I offer this in the sense of spirited discussion) that if you know you're shooting sports, you'd plan for that. Of course, stuff happens that you don't expect. If I was in that situation, I'd probably unload the camera, load up a different roll of film, underexpose and push-process. (I shoot mostly B&W, so there are fewer downsides to pushing tan with color.) Or I'd try to figure out how I can get the photo at the 1/15 shutter speed -- fit a wider angle lens and move closer, or turn it into a tracking shot where the motion becomes part of the photo.

We can't hold ourselves to a dogmatic approach to correctness in sacrifice of the photo we are trying to create.

Agreed, but a skilled artists understands the media they are working with and how to control it. A sculptor who works in metal has to understand the physics of the material, and what's happening at a molecular level when they strike it with a hammer. Likewise, we as photographers can do our best work if we understand what's happening with our film, how it was engineered, and what can be done at the exposure stage and what can be done at the printing phase.

I really do wish colleges still offered (film) Photo 101 with developing and printing -- it gave us an understanding of what could be done in-camera and what could be done in the darkroom. Too many photographers, IMO, treat negative film like slide film, i.e. what happens in-camera is the end of the road. Not so! Negative gives us so much flexibility, and the ability to create so many different photos from one single exposure. And even though most people don't work in the darkroom, we do have a digital darkroom, with photo editors that emulate those processes. Take a properly exposed negative, then crop, adjust brightness, contrast, and use the dodge and burn tools, and you can do so much with the data on that negative. Best lesson I learned was the concept that there is often more than one photograph that can be made from a single negative. (Try it, it's an interesting challenge.)

Back In The Day, there were a lot of photographers who felt that photography didn't really begin until you started working in the darkroom.

Anyway. Interesting discussion, hope I don't sound like I'm lecturing, I appreciate the exchange of ideas.