Robert Burley: Photography's End of Analog (interview)

[jammcat]

Here's a TVO interview of Robert Burley (http://robertburley.com/ ) on his book "The Disappearance of Darkness". He's a professor at Toronto's Ryerson University and has been chronicling the demise of film production and the plants in which they are produced.

Should be the latest podcast at the time of posting:

http://ww3.tvo.org/podcasts

Latest Episode (audio):
Robert Burley: Photography's End of Analog
Released: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 21:00:00 EST

An interesting listen, and a wonderful, if wistful book. I'm excited to see the exhibit!

 

[xayraa33]

I listened to the podcast.

I kind of suspect that film will always be available for a price.

If it is gone completely then I will get into collodion wet plate photography and making contact albumen prints from home-made albumen paper.

The biggest hassle is getting 100 proof grain alcohol here in Ontario.

 

[Nokton48]

Me too. I would love to make wet plates, that is something I saw in the Time-Life Library of Photography when I was about 15. Step by Step instructions.

I have planty of 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 modern holders which could be converted to hold glass and metal plates.

Meanwhile there is film available.

 

[Photo_Smith]

I listened up to the 'buggy whip' analogy and then realised I've heard a better analysis of the demise of film in the average pub chat.

The book is an interesting chart of the slow demise of film as the defacto medium for image capture and as such concentrates on factory destruction and dereliction, but ignores the new modern downsized factories.

I think he's a little unkind to Ilford and their modern plant, his images don't show the investment and forward planning there; seem to concentrate on any scruffy areas of the plant that could be found.

For me that ruins it along with the 'end of analogue' meme which should really be about a transition to a niche rather than a last word or definitive ending.

There's a better, bigger story behind his images– not one that will be shown because it's not bite sizes enough for modern attention spans.

 

[btgc]

then analog or film in particular? so called analogue photographic processes which include most exotic materials and techniques are niche long ago, film is just most common of them so it's just starting to become niche.

 

[jarski]

thanks for sharing. interesting to listen.

 

[slidesandthecity]

Sometimes I wonder how similiar these almost daily "Film is dead/will soon die "-threads are to the conversations painters had in the first years (or probably decades) after photography was invented ...

Maybe you could also compare "acrylics vs oils" to "digital vs analog"?
Acrylics are cheaper and more convinient than oils, don't look too different from oil (that sounds familiar, doesn't it?) and still there are dozens of companies offering oil colour ...

 

[btgc]

Painting with either variety is about of same mess, diff hides in nuances and price. Photography is different - digital photography offers instant feedback (besides polaroid), seems cheaper to most people even if they pay more for digital gear and can be done without single trip to film developing and printing facility. If oil colors would dry six months before canvas could be moved without destroying picture and acrilic would do same in a day, then I would wonder if oil colors would still be used. I realize both colors probably already have different drying time but I'm exaggregating this to the limit when painters would be too tempted.