Throwing out the baby …
June 20th, 2011
I am amused by the persistence of ‘Digital’ in the titles of photographic publications. With the notable exception of professionally orientated magazines and longstanding publications such as Amateur Photographer, we continue to see magazines targeting digital photographers in their titles. Why, given that the vast majority of photographers now use digital cameras? Indeed to anyone taking up photography who was born after 1990 then the world is digital.
Wouldn’t we be much better simply returning to the phrase ‘photography’, which can embrace all ways in which images may be recorded onto light sensitive media? Perhaps then conventional film-based photography would get the recognition it deserves.
Don’t get me wrong – I would be a hypocrite if I decried the digital revolution given the time and money I’ve invested in going digital myself. However I’m not going to betray the excellent teacher I had in film-based photography.
My favourite combination of film and camera – Kodachrome 25 and an ancient Minolta XM – taught me more about photography than any of my modern Canon EOS-1 series cameras. Exposure bracketing was expensive with film, not to mention time consuming, so as an enthusiastic but cash-strapped student I was forced to acquire a keen eye for exposure myself which benefits me to this day. Given the crazily cheap prices fetched by film cameras today – mint Canon EOS-1V for £250 anyone? – student photographers would do well to try the same.
