Is technology killing the basis of photography?

Is technology killing the basis of photography?

A few days ago, i was searching for an old image that i had taken a few years ago. Unable to locate the image through my many boxes of old transparency films. I knew it was hidden somewhere...so

where was it?

All along as i was looking for that slide, i came across so many of my favorite past images. I
spent the whole night browsing through hundreds and hundreds of slide films. The heat of the
light box, the tired eyes..even the smell of film brought a sense of nostalgia in me.

Then a thought occurred to me...
Is technology killing the basis of photography?

We can all agree that "film" has become a thing of the past.
We no longer use it.
Its no longer selling.
The majority of people nowadays are using digital cameras.

For us photographers, we now think in "pixels" and "resolution".
We use words such as "sensors" and "memory cards".

I`m pretty sure that some of you have already asked themselves the question
:"Where is my old film camera?:"

My question is...
:"When is the last time you`ve used a film camera?:"

Keep in mind that i`m not against digital photography.
I truly love this new technology and totally embrace it.


So coming back to my story of when i was looking at my old slides,
I really miss the aspect of film, the sense of not knowing how your pictures would come out. The grueling and impatient wait for the films to get back from the photo lab.
And when you finally got to see them for the first time, you were thrilled with excitement.
Thrilled with "ohhhh`s and ahhhh`s" and sometimes disappointed because some of them were either too blurry, dark or overexposed etc...


Then, we gathered all of the favorite ones and away they went in a portfolio or photo album.
Simple as that!
And then we were off to shot the next roll and so on...

We never trowed out the prints we did not want.
The "delete" button was not there yet.
We kept the prints or the slides we wanted, and stored the rest of them rejects
safely somewhere.
We kept them (just in case), and the more i think about it, we kept them
because of their meaning and importance.
Those rejected prints or slides were part of a series.
Therefore, they had value and were also treasured.
Whether your a professional photographer, an amateur, the average person, we can somewhat
all relate to this.


Pro digital equipment cost at least twice as much as film gear, and
the digital work flow is very time consuming.
On the other hand, its very convenient, fast and reliable.
The main advantage is the instant sharing of images made via internet, e-mail etc...
Its a great tool and we all love it.
Its instantaneous... click click Click...shoot shoot..upload
and Voila, the whole world gets to see them in a matter of seconds.

However, there is a few downfalls to all of this amazing technology.
Those downfalls are basically how we work and how we evaluate digital photography.
There is a few little things that we should all be aware off.
Like..well first of all, can you believe that those precious images are stored inside
a memory card?
Sounds a bit sci-fi doesn't it??
We are so used to it that we don`t even think about stuff like that anymore.
Maybe we should?

Digital makes us shot pictures like crazy (because we can).
Everybody can, we all do.
The simplicity of going click click click...whoooo hooo were on a roll!!

But wait...

You mentioned something about a downfall?
What could it be?

You guessed it!
Now let me introduced to you a very good friend
of mine going by the name of "Delete".
That`s right, his name is delete and he will guide you where you need to go :)

This is where we need to draw the line and step up.
I`m not saying that deleting your images are bad, but to the contrary.
It`s a matter of how and why to delete.
Deleting an image on the fly is easy. Let`s face it, We all do it, to the point where it becomes second nature.
We also do it for the simple fact that some elements in the photo did not work out.
But guess what? Maybe it did work out...

Then, once those images are uploaded to a pc, we have the task of sorting through all of those
hundred and hundreds of images. Afterward, we sort them out, delete the bads, keep the goods,
separating them in folders and so on.
Sounds like fun doesn't it?
But we all do it, right?

In addition we then format all of the memory cards and presto!
They are ready for more!

In the process of doing all of this work,
We become our own photo editors.
I noticed that people in general have become
more selective when it comes down to selecting their own photos.
Why?
Because there is so many to choose from.
The more storage on the card, the more pictures we take.
Image after images, all piled up.
From all sorts of angles, lighting or expression.
Were always on the look out for the "killer" shot.

My philosophy behind digital is that i treat it as
if it was film. I sometimes purposely shot only 36 images or so (just like film).
When you limit the amount of frames and set it to a reasonable minimum, you
are into what i call "film mode".
The minute you limit yourself to only a few shots,
that's when everything falls into place and you take control of your images.

The bottom line is do we really need 150 images of the same subject?
When we know were only going to choose maybe about 20 out of them?
And ending up with only 1 favorite...

Your approach changes as a result of not being able to "click click click" like crazy.
And the beauty of this is that we are actually beginning to see again.
Taking our time to craft a photo rather than shooting like crazy missing the perfect moment.
Again, by minimizing the numbers of images, we become meticulous, critical and attentive to our
surroundings when photographing.
It makes sense because we are restricting and forcing at the same time.

If we treat digital photography like it was film, then we are treating our eyes to what it used to
be.

By all means, this new technology of image making is fascinating.
Its ever growing and constantly evolving and i`m certainly taking advantage of it.

In retrospect, a photo today will still be a photo tomorrow.
But will the photos of tomorrow look like the photos from today?

Which leads me again to this question,
Is technology killing the basis of photography?