Why I love digital...

[Tronhard]

I got into photography back in the early 1980's. Before I had a decent camera I spent months digesting the contents of photography books by people like John Hedgcoe - what I liked was that each photo had the reason for photography, its context and technical settings. Eventually I left the country to go and work on my big overseas experience and got my cameras and lenses duty free on the way out. At the time I was an engineer and got a job on a dam site in Australia. During the interview I mentioned that I was a keen photography and somehow found myself employed as an engineer and technical site photographer!!! On arriving at the site one of the first things they showed me was my darkroom... I had never processed a photo myself before, and in the pre-web era I could not just leap onto YouTube to research. Luckily I had my reference books and I furiously studied processing techniques and destroyed more than a few prints before I got the basics down. During the next year I photographed all sorts of things around the site for my employer and myself and developed my skills in field and darkroom. On one occasion the local newspaper took one of my photos of a gang of workmen and published it. It did not go down well on the site as several of those in the photo were arrested for various reasons!

When I had earned enough I went touring Australia for over eight months, going around and through the middle of the continent, taking about 3 rolls of 36 transparencies per day. I did the same in New Zealand and amassed a huge collection of slides. From that I pared them down to about 400 transparencies of salable value and had them accepted by a commercial company.

I moved to Victoria and not long after I arrived I had my car stolen from my building's parking garage. All of my work was in boxes in the trunk and when I found my car, I discovered the thieves had burned all my photos at the side of the road. I was absolutely devastated, apart from the loss of commercial quality work, I lost the memories of almost a year of travelling. I must admit I walked away from photography for a while, and then I discovered digital photography.

I love that I can see the photos as I take them. This was a real issue when I was in the outback as I had to take photos in some tricky light and I would not see the result for perhaps weeks later when it was too late. The answer of course was to take variations, but with limited spaces I could not carry tons of film, and in the heat of the desert it could go off fairly quickly. All of that was solved by the digital medium - I could see the results immediately, take lots of images without cost and back them up. And I didn't care about the temperature!

I found my photographic mojo again and have never looked back. I sold my film cameras and lenses - although now I slightly regret that as I would have loved to have some of them as memorabilia, and they have a solidness that modern gear does not have. In those days I used Canon A1's and Nikon F3's, with Tamron Adaptall SP lenses that I could switch between bodies. Of course these days with electronic control and motor driven lenses that is not really on the cards, so I had to make a choice to go with one manufacturer.

One thing that did get a lot more complicated was the control of the image, both on camera and afterwards. Taking transparencies, I controlled the 3 basics: ISO for a roll of film, aperture and speed. I provided the image to the image bank and they did what they wanted with it under their very sophisticated conditions. These days one has more control but there is a lot more to consider on top of those: white balance, ISO per photo, colour profiles. Also one can do amazing things with the digital darkroom.

On output side the results of my labour had been expressed through slide shows and printed photos, but one had to make an occasion out of looking at them. These days, for no cost, I can run my favourite photos as a screen show or desktop background on my computer and I don't print costly framed images any longer - I have bought quality slim-line LED TV screens (32in and up) that look like picture frames, and for no cost I can change my photos or run a show on my walls. Also the backlighting makes the photos look great.

There will inevitably be those who prefer the medium of film, and as I have said there are new challenges, but for me the evolution of digital has been a great leap forward.

[Mike Buckley]

Very interesting narrative!

[dragon76]

I got into photography back in the early 1980's. Before I had a decent camera I spent months digesting the contents of photography books by people like John Hedgcoe - what I liked was that each photo had the reason for photography, its context and technical settings. Eventually I left the country to go and work on my big overseas experience and got my cameras and lenses duty free on the way out. At the time I was an engineer and got a job on a dam site in Australia. During the interview I mentioned that I was a keen photography and somehow found myself employed as an engineer and technical site photographer!!! On arriving at the site one of the first things they showed me was my darkroom... I had never processed a photo myself before, and in the pre-web era I could not just leap onto YouTube to research. Luckily I had my reference books and I furiously studied processing techniques and destroyed more than a few prints before I got the basics down. During the next year I photographed all sorts of things around the site for my employer and myself and developed my skills in field and darkroom. On one occasion the local newspaper took one of my photos of a gang of workmen and published it. It did not go down well on the site as several of those in the photo were arrested for various reasons!

When I had earned enough I went touring Australia for over eight months, going around and through the middle of the continent, taking about 3 rolls of 36 transparencies per day. I did the same in New Zealand and amassed a huge collection of slides. From that I pared them down to about 400 transparencies of salable value and had them accepted by a commercial company.

I moved to Victoria and not long after I arrived I had my car stolen from my building's parking garage. All of my work was in boxes in the trunk and when I found my car, I discovered the thieves had burned all my photos at the side of the road. I was absolutely devastated, apart from the loss of commercial quality work, I lost the memories of almost a year of travelling. I must admit I walked away from photography for a while, and then I discovered digital photography.

What an interesting photography journey. I'm a believer of the philosophy: enjoying the journey not just the destination. It'd be great if other CIC members could share theirs as well.

[IzzieK]

What an interesting photography journey. I'm a believer of the philosophy: enjoying the journey not just the destination. It'd be great if other CIC members could share theirs as well.

What about sharing yours, Dean...perhaps others will follow...just a thought...

[tao2]

Any camera will do for yer journey...then...do what Edward Abbey said...

"One final paragraph of advice: ... It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here.
So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.
Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."

[bnnrcn]

Very interesting story Trev It is good to hear from an old film shooter that he likes digital as some film shooters are very conservative about digital photography and post processing .

[James G]

Trev, for me the big change has been the democratisation of photography. I started in the 60's and the cost was a constant limiting factor. Now anyone with a good eye is able to capture the images/moments that matter to them, (putting aside selfies), for free, and distribute them for free to as wide or as narrow an audience instantly.
I loved film and darkroom, but to be honest, the move to digital has been the photographic equivalent of changing from candlelight to electric lighting to illuminate dark corners! (and I do love candle light!)

And Boab.... I'm not too bothered about outliving the bastards... I'm having a much better time than they are, they just don't know it

And ... Binnur, Trev is not an 'old' film shooter.... that's me!

[Tronhard]

It's interesting though, like vinyl records, film is making a bit of a comeback among enthusiasts, and then there are the new types of polaroids out there... I agree about the democratization of photography to a degree. When I was a kid the box brownie and later the Instamatic cameras allowed your average person to take snaps. However the relatively cost free nature of digital, plus the ability to publish to a wider audience or transmit it across the globe has been a game changer. It is probably the development of the World Wide Web that has really put a rocket under digital photography. As someone said, the printing press democratized the ability to learn from books, but control over publishing was still in the hands of a select few until the web allowed anyone to publish. That is a double-edged sword... it has allowed many disenfranchised people to express themselves and revealed a lot of talent. But it has also produced a lot of rubbish. Don't get me started on selfies either.

I am excited by the future, particularly the changes that new materials like Graphene will bring to capture images and display them...

[Mike Buckley]

I am excited by the future

Exactly. It just keeps getting better and better.

[IzzieK]

Exactly. It just keeps getting better and better.

Yeah...and I feel older and older not being able to keep up with it because of the cost factor of....after the camera body, then the lenses, then the tripod, then the flash, the wireless remote, ....then....etc..etc..thinking of such, I am beginning to believe I need to find a job...again.

[dje]

Yeah...and I feel older and older not being able to keep up with it because of the cost factor of....after the camera body, then the lenses, then the tripod, then the flash, the wireless remote, ....then....etc..etc..thinking of such, I am beginning to believe I need to find a job...again.

Izzie you may just be what I call an OCPF (Obsessive Compulsive Photography Freak). I'm not one of course.

Trev just for old times sake I dug out my old film SLR a while ago, bought a roll of film and took that camera and my DSLR out for a comparison shoot. That experience (no instant review or histograms with film) and the results after processing convinced me I'm on the right track with digital and should have no guilt whatsoever about deserting the film buffs.

Dave

[Mike Buckley]

the cost factor of....after the camera body, then the lenses, then the tripod, then the flash, the wireless remote, ....then....etc..etc..thinking of such, I am beginning to believe I need to find a job...again.

It was all of that during the film days plus the cost of the film and the developing, whether you paid for the developing or you bought the materials to develop the film yourself and risk the health hazards.

[Tronhard]

It is tempting to think that we need to keep up with the myriad of technology upgrades, and I admit to being wowed by the latest gadgets like anyone else. However I am confident that we will all agree that better gear, in itself, does not make us better photographers. When I was deciding to get in to digital I could not combine brands as I had done in the film era, so I had to make a choice of one brand and I did so because of lens quality. When we buy lenses they tend to change little over the years, whereas bodies seem to be upgraded with new models almost annually! Bodies and other electronic-centric devices have a short shelf life if you want to keep upgrading to the newest.

When I had to get my equipment valued for insurance I was sobered by how much I had invested in technology. I swore not to buy a new piece of kit unless I could demonstrate how it would improve my abilities as a photographer. I can say that my spending has slowed down dramatically and further that I have come to learn to use what I have to a much better extent.

[Mike Buckley]

It is tempting to think that we need to keep up with the myriad of technology upgrades

My primary image-editing software was released 7 years ago and was entirely discontinued last year; there will never be an update or upgrade to it. I still see no reason to make a change. As another example, the widely regarded Google/Nik Silver Efex Pro hasn't been upgraded in years.

I had to make a choice of one brand

I chose Nikon for two reasons. The first camera model fit my needs and my good friend that dragged me into the digital realm knew the Nikon system. I ignored his insistence that I also evaluate Canon before making a final decision. His knowledge of the Nikon system bailed me out within minutes several times in critical situations. My reasoning was the best I have ever used short of the reasoning I used when deciding to marry my wife of 32 years.

When I had to get my equipment valued for insurance I was sobered by how much I had invested in technology.

To paraphrase of my favorite, humorous automated signature displayed at the bottom of posts in a photography forum: "When I die, I hope my wife doesn't sell my photography equipment for the price I told her I paid for it."

[billtils]

When I cast my mind back to my first serious foray into photography (B&W with my AE-1 which I still have) and compare that experience to today's digital one, the two things that jump out are contradictory! I like digital for its flexibility (not just in editing but also for library management), but I was a better photographer with film because there was little or no flexibility - you had to be disciplined and put the hours into composing and shooting, not into editing.

[bnnrcn]

Ah excuse my English please ! I meant Trev was used to shoot with film in the past, I didn't mean he is at an old age.

Sorry about the mistake Trev. English is not my first language and sometimes I'm not careful enough

And ... Binnur, Trev is not an 'old' film shooter.... that's me!

[Tronhard]

Binnur - absolutely no offense taken!! I am getting on a bit and that's how life works. I have often read your comments and find them well composed, and inevitably gracious and constructive.

I have to have to agree with Bill. Because I learned photography using film, I take fewer images than many of those who grew up in the digital era - my shutter counts are still very low! Furthermore, as I took most of my shots using transparencies and had little post-production control, I am inclined to do as little as possible in the digital darkroom: trying,as Bill said, to set the shot up with the camera rather than fix it later... What I call "Naked Photography".

[billtils]

Trev, I now have to confess at blushing at least a little at your kind words.

Unfortunately, and for reasons that have nothing to do with photography, I'm a bit of a computer dabbler. This has inevitably led me down the dark and slippery slope of tweaking more than I should. My biggest vice is probably Inpainting/Cloning which I justify as removing distractions that could not be dealt with by moving myself and camera to a different vantage point. My self-help therapy has been to become more involved with wildlife as a genre, where the rules of the game (or at least locally to me) prohibit adding or removing anything to or from the image as shot.

[Tronhard]

Well, I suspect we share quite a bit then... I have worked in IT for 30 years as a trainer, engineer and management coach. I must admit I am slowing down a bit now, although I have not got to the stage of giving up completely. Still, as far as the digital darkroom goes, I only recently got Lightroom and Photoshop and I am still very much a novice.

I am not sure if I will change my photos much, even when I get more skilled with the software. I consider that we work in a range from the purely documentary (this is how it was) to the artistically abstract (this is what it inspired me to make it). I am still very close to the former. The nice thing about the art is there is room for everyone along that spectrum!

[James G]

Binnur, sorry, your English is better than my humour! I was poking fun at myself.. since I think I am a little older than Trev.