Re: digital and analogue photography -the essay
David, Catherine, Let me add one thing that digital has really mucked up...MOVIES!!! I can see every nose hair, freckle, pore, blackhead, liver spot, makeup streak to finite detail in movies. The harshness of the lighting as well. I looonnnnggg for the creamy vanilla of film that Robert Altman was able to capture. I'm sure Richard Knoppow knows what I mean...I am also sure they will figure this out soon if they haven't already, but in indie films and such, it isn't there yet. But I would be dead without digital for tricolor gum. How could I possibly have made a body of work with over 60 tricolors in the span of a month if not for digital negatives? You know, I hesitate to say this, but...what I look for is this: has student work gotten better since the digital revolution? I taught predigital (2000-2003 when we had the color machine still running) before I went to grad school. When I came back from grad school in 2005 to teach again, there were pluses and minuses. The students producing good work continued to do so. The students who didn't much care continued to not much care. But it was easier to slack and pump out an assignment in half a day. In their behalf, students are working full time jobs, playing full time, and going to school full time to keep financial aid, so something has got to give. So I find myself thinking that here we are in a world that is sooo much faster to produce good work and the work is not better commensurate with the speed that digital has afforded. I also see more alienation with each student in front of a computer, staring at a screen. Gone are the days of darkroom dynamics where all students worked together, chatted, played music, used the same chemistry....except in my classes I teach (alt and experimental photo). Both those have a gang lab basis. I have seen a general connection to photography wane a bit. And a general interest. To work your ass off in the darkroom requires a lot of commitment, as does alt. We've even had a couple students sneak in digital BW for an entire final project in our beginning BW lab classes--as if we couldn't tell the dif! Son of a gun.... Obviously they failed. Chris __________________ Christina Z. Anderson/CZAphotography.com __________________ ----- Original Message ----- From: david drake To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 9:26 AM Subject: Re: digital and analogue photography -the essay Catherine, I enjoyed your essay greatly and, yes, the subject is important; I would love to read more on this very topic. Have you noticed how many digital converts are almost 'devout' in there fervor towards this digital revolution. Any response which may appear to be critical of digital 'progress' results in a defensive remark. I have noticed this response quite often and find it quite interesting. Its almost as if the 'convert' has to keep convincing themselves of digital progress' validity. But don't get me wrong, digital definitely has it's place; but like any new technology, one needs to weigh it's pluses and minuses for any given situation. It's sorta fascinating how a new technology infiltrates a culture without any sort of decision making process: do we need this new technology, how will it change society and what are it's drawbacks. Of course, that's the job of the consumer. Most however are led blindly by the pied piper of 'progress'. david
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