Are we completely missing the boat with digital technology?

Sparrow said:
That was my early experience too, Proust's madeleine cake dipped in tea was the sound of a manual lawnmower and smell of cut-grass for me ... the old manual lawnmowers are so much better than these new-fangled digital things.
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Yup! Now, my mission should I choose to accept it will be to combine all these feelings and experiences into a photographic project! Oh, and to throw in some social commentary to leaven the nostalgia! LOL

PS: the working title is "Coumarin" - I'll let you Google as to why...!
 
Bob,
We're not missing the boat... we're floating down the river to who-knows-where and often don't see the changes happening to each of us along the way! :) I'll preface the following by saying I'm a 65-yr. old that's been enjoying photography for about 40 of those years. Lots of film-based photography experience colors my view of the current state of this lovely art.

I recently had a little glimpse of how new digital technologies are going to greatly change the way I pursue photography. One day about a month ago, and without much thought, I pointed my computer screensaver app at a folder of photos on my hard drive I'm collecting that have to do with my neighborhood. I didn't think anything of this until a few days later when I walked into my office and saw the screensaver 'slide show' of those images. The screeensaver app applies a lot of 'Ken Burns' style zooming and transitioning of the images. I was fascinated by what I was seeing. The computer was applying random crops and sequencing that blew me away! All of a sudden the idea of making one print for wall display seemed, well, boring! This is definitely going to lead me in some new directions. I'm still looking forward to making a selling some prints, and maybe some Blurb-style books. But the digital presentation world is opening up many more spectacular ways of looking at our still images!! :)

And the changes yet to come in my lifetime? Unimaginable!! :)
 
The art of photography is in the seeing at the moment of inception. If it was not well seen to begin with, nothing that can be done to it later will make it art.
 
I can't tell you how much more I enjoy looking at prints on a gallery or museum wall than I do watching a slideshow or video. In the first instance I am in control of my experience, in the latter I'm at the mery of the show creator and all I can do is choose to watch or walk out. No chance of spending more or less time with individual images or going back to review an image when I feel like.
 
Not an amateur of "multimedia" myself. What is multimedia anyway? If you think about it, then everything is mulitmedia. Even a print hanging on a wall isn't alone. It makes a difference where it hangs and how it hangs.

But I'm surprised there a more people like me that don't like video. For me it is the difference between having a story told or reading a story. Far more exciting to read a story.
 
I don't know, all this technical wizardry doesn't really interest me, I have seen it well done but rarely, most of the time it's a distraction from the actual photography.
Being in the technology domain myself (professionally) I chose simple cameras and a simple process because I don't feel like fiddling with technological gizmos all the time, I do enough of that at work
 
RichC said:
Yup! Now, my mission should I choose to accept it will be to combine all these feelings and experiences into a photographic project! Oh, and to throw in some social commentary to leaven the nostalgia! LOL

PS: the working title is "Coumarin" - I'll let you Google as to why...!
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I remember joss sticks called Cut Grass, and yes I had to consult the oracle. I have a project called A Peculiar Practice about local cricket that I've been doing for years now, nostalgia is a moveable feast I think, tricky to pin down
 
Bob Michaels said:
Thanks for the link.

Actually the largest or 42" digital frame at $1,899 is still substantially less than what I pay for the the materials (doing all the work myself) to mat and frame a 30 photo exhibit.
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True, but do you really want only one LCD in the gallery (space) room? ;) I was thinking you'd need to go the multiple route.
 
I 'communicate' visually for a living and am not interested in communicating with my photography. I enjoy the process and exploring aesthetics. I share the images with friends and on some networks, but I don't consider that I have an audience. For most of us to think we do is a conceit in my opinion.




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This Magnum in Motion series of Alex Webb's "Crossings" is an example of the new technology I was referring to. I have seen the actual photos in exhibit, own the book, but still think this is the best presentation.

I think the only thing better would be sitting down, one on one, with Alex Webb while he was handing you prints one at a time and telling you about them and why he made them.
 
Nice, thought-provoking post Bob.

I understand what you're saying and agree with most of it.

Jan
 
Bobfrance said:
I 'communicate' visually for a living and am not interested in communicating with my photography. I enjoy the process and exploring aesthetics. I share the images with friends and on some networks, but I don't consider that I have an audience. For most of us to think we do is a conceit in my opinion.




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... that and a misunderstanding of the word amateur brought about about by the world we live in.
 
When I was standing in the midst of protesters in TahrirSquare (Cairo), I felt the energy from the people, and I had to switch to video from still images on my EPL-1. At such moments, a video captures the sound and the motion, which a still imae cannot do. Being able to do both with one camera was an advantage.
 
jsrockit said:
True, but do you really want only one LCD in the gallery (space) room? ;) I was thinking you'd need to go the multiple route.
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I am not suggesting this is the way everyone should do all photo exhibits all the time, just that we need to recognize it has it's place.

I am doing an exhibit with just one LCD. It is in the local history museum where there is not sufficient space to adequately display prints. But they want me to tell the story in the photos and that is the best way. Plus, it does give the opportunity to play supporting music that I recorded on location where I was making the photos. See an early draft here.

I have another upcoming exhibit in a real gallery of a different series. There will be 35 framed prints. I am discussing with the curator about including a digital frame with another 50 or so images accompanied by a 2-3 minute commentary from me about the subject, Cuban people in their native environment. My agenda is not primarily to show the extra photos, but to create the opportunity for me to deliver my message in words in addition to what the prints convey. Viewers will have the choice to stop and listen to me while they see more photos or walk on by.
 
BobYIL said:
Bob, I hope you know, these are film Leica shots.. Alex just recently switched to digital because of the requirement of prompt transmission. All his book pictures are film Leica shots.
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Sorry if I led you to believe this discussion had anything to do with cameras.
 
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