The end of "Photography" as we know it?

[Jerevan]

Interesting thread...

On a slightly offtopic sidenote, I came to think about Tim Burtons latest movie, Corpse Bride which was made using stop motion animation and utilizing Canon digital still cameras (highend stuff at the time, 1D II) for the whole production. That's a very small niche, but it shows you can do some pretty awesome stuff with a still camera. 🙂

 

[Jamie123]

It's great.

I would love to have one built-in to a cap on my head that takes perfect frames of EVERYTHING I ever see.

My whole life. Database and spool it all.

They've already experimented with this concept.

Rewind to any important event, study it, print it out, remember.


That hot girlfriend in bed, when you met your wife, an accident, u-name-it.

GREAT idea, wish we had the technology ready.

Save entire life-reels of the dead.

that's basically the idea behind the film "the final cut" (with robin williams).

 

[varjag]

The advent of photography didn't make everyone a great painter.

I fail to see how video will make everyone a great photographer. You still gotta know where to point the camera. You *still* gotta know what "decisive moment" looks like to find one at the editing board. And if you know all that, you'd be just as fine with a still camera.

 

[sepiareverb]

Trouble is that most people don't care what the image looks like- the camera in their phone is plenty good for the masses. Just as I started up Safari tonight my Yahoo page came up with a Lead 'photo' that was actually a 'video grab'.

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070611/480/e27a2404eb124d9eb73e51b7b125fcae

As a side note: Picture editors are already getting sick of the amount of digital stills photogs turn in, asking for them to edit first. A far cry from the days of the Graflex- when you had 2 sheets for the whole night!

 

[ruben]

Photography as an art depends upon the mind of the artist, not the instrument, and cannot be killed by an instrument.

Photography as an instrument, lost its edge over the other mass comunicaton devices long time ago.

Take a cola, sit on our sofa, have a rest.

Cheers,
Ruben

 

[peterc]

Then "photography" will be reduced to sitting behind an editing workstation and *choosing* which video frame

Some P&S digicams already have the ability to shoot full resolution (5-6MB) stills while in movie mode. All you do is push the shutter release when you see something you want as a still while doing video and the frame is saved in whatever resolution you have the camera set for for still photos.

Peter

 

[michaelging]

I work for the 9th largest Daily newpsper in the country, all the staff photographers are being trained in shooting video cameras. I heard from my photoeditor that the Dallas Morning News Photographers only carry video camera's now and they get both still and motion video from the same camera. Since all most of the photographers I know took buyouts from the DMN last year , I can not say this is true on a first hand basis.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Nope, not going to change the way I photograph one bit.

I'm looking into a digital video camera for when the baby's born that has a hard drive, but I'm still going to have someone there with one of my cameras (I'm looking at getting an Olympus Stylus Epic for Adam to have at the hospital to replace the camera he has with the crappy lens). I'd like to be able to post videos of my baby online as well as photographs and the easiest way to do that will be digital, but there will be someone there with a film camera and decent color film to capture my baby's first moments. I'll be too busy resting. 😀

 

[Rafael]

I'm looking into a digital video camera for when the baby's born that has a hard drive

Sorry Stephanie, but that is one of the best examples of a misplaced modifier that I have ever read!!! 😀

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Hah, that really is funny.

But you all know what I mean. 😛

 

[Chaser]

The Dallas Morning News is truly only video and they make stills for print from videos.

I work for the 9th largest Daily newpsper in the country, all the staff photographers are being trained in shooting video cameras. I heard from my photoeditor that the Dallas Morning News Photographers only carry video camera's now and they get both still and motion video from the same camera. Since all most of the photographers I know took buyouts from the DMN last year , I can not say this is true on a first hand basis.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I have something in mind for the first thing the baby sees.

I sew and embroider occasionally (very, lately) and I plan to make a nice, soft doll for the baby. Kinda like a rag doll, but without the hair that can be pulled off and the button eyes. I want the first toy for my baby to be something that I made and not just something I bought.

As to the video, some people in my family, and also my friends, read my blog occasionally. I have some family quite far away, and it helps them keep in touch with me. Putting the video up in one place is a good way to let everyone see it easily. It'll be password protected, though.

 

[Joe Mondello]

It's great.

I would love to have one built-in to a cap on my head that takes perfect frames of EVERYTHING I ever see.

My whole life. Database and spool it all.

They've already experimented with this concept.

Rewind to any important event, study it, print it out, remember.


That hot girlfriend in bed, when you met your wife, an accident, u-name-it.

GREAT idea, wish we had the technology ready.

Save entire life-reels of the dead.

If you haven't seen it, rent "Final Cut" with Robin Williams as a guy who edits lifelong memories into a "reel" for their funeral. The whole life recording in the film is accomplished by inserting a recording chip into the brain shortly after birth.

 

[Jocko]

It's great.

I would love to have one built-in to a cap on my head that takes perfect frames of ...
That hot girlfriend in bed.

A gentleman usually removes his hat. And socks.

Cheers, Ian 🙂

 

[shadowfox]

Shadow,

I would ask yourself a couple of questions....... First, do you make your living as a sports photographer? If not, than why use that as your example? and secondly, why are you worried about this at all? Who knows what will happen in two or even ten years? You have the luxury of spare time on your hands to worry about this type of subject, that's not a negative thing mind you, but for me at least I'm more concerned about what fuel prices or taxes will be in two or ten years. Maybe that comes with age or family I don't know and this certainly isn't a knock on those that aren't married or have kids. This is strictly my experience.

The bottom line of my response is this.... try to live more in the moment, be grateful that you have the opportunity to use the equipment now, don't borrow trouble before it's even trouble. My suggestion would be, that if you have this much time on your hands go out and take more pictures.

Scott

Scott,

- Sports photography as an example, why?

Why not? they represent the majority of photographers who are making enough money to get the CanonNikon D2X 1D Mark whatever jumbo mega expensivo gears. It's no different than if I had chosen Wedding photography, same problem there, video vs photography.

As to what does it have to do with me? they *influence* where the photography industry in heading, which *will* impact what would be available to me as a photographer. *that's why.

All of the features that the P&S digital shooters have in common has been derived from professional gears of old, who funded the companies to further their research (and profit line).

- Why worry about this?

As you can see, this is the *magnitude* of my "worry":
a couple of bantering posts with buddies in an Internet forum 😀

Does that sound like what you'd do if you're *really* worried?
To me, it's not a *real* worry... it's more ... hmm, I wonder ...

I believe that's the whole point of a forum, no? expressing your hmm's... ?

- try to live more in the moment

I collect vintage cameras, I enjoy shooting film, and I like to take still-life pictures of cameras, how much "live in the moment" can I get? 😛

One "I wonder" post shouldn't make me a doomsayer OR -nayer, yes?

Will

 

[giellaleafapmu]

Movie cameras have existed for decades and good movies still require a lot of work. The fact that a machine can get many frames does not guarantee that many of them will be good.

Fast motor drive for still photography also existed for years and the same as before apply, just blasting a 13 fps camera does not imply you will get a nice picture.

Some kind of photography could at least in theory be affected by this but this are just a few cases: sports, animals, maybe journalism. Many other kinds of photography are more affected by other issues, say lightning for example. In many cases there is not even a "decisive moment" to catch... Studio works, products, industrial, food...they all can be done (and are often still done) with very slow cameras, view cameras or the digital version of them. Other might have a sort of "decisive moment" but it is a rather slowish one (take the light in a landscape, it changes quite fast but it is still slow enough that, again, many famous landscape photographers would use view cameras well after fast cameras were introduced).

When you look at a picture do you like it more if you know it was taken with a specific camera rather than another one? For me whatever technology comes out is welcome because it gives you one more way of doing things...

GLF

 

[shadowfox]

I work for the 9th largest Daily newpsper in the country, all the staff photographers are being trained in shooting video cameras. I heard from my photoeditor that the Dallas Morning News Photographers only carry video camera's now and they get both still and motion video from the same camera. Since all most of the photographers I know took buyouts from the DMN last year , I can not say this is true on a first hand basis.

This gave me the chills...

It makes digital vs film ehm... "discussions" rather pointless... 😀

 

[Bosk]

Certainly it's bound to have an impact on sports and wildlife photography, but I think street photography, portrait, landscape, architectural and documentary genres are all "safe".

A 10-frame-per-second digital behemoth may be capable of capturing a decisive moment, but it needs to be pointed in the right direction to begin with.

IMO the most important aspect of photography isn't clicking the shutter at the appropriate time but rather the ability to 'see' the image in one's minds eye before pressing the button.


Honestly though I think such cameras breed worse photographers not better ones. Why bother training yourself to capture decisive moments by being patient and attentive when you can be lazy and "spray and pray" with your 10 FPS beast and let the camera do the work for you?

 

[amateriat]

Trouble is that most people don't care what the image looks like- the camera in their phone is plenty good for the masses. Just as I started up Safari tonight my Yahoo page came up with a Lead 'photo' that was actually a 'video grab'.

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070611/480/e27a2404eb124d9eb73e51b7b125fcae

As a side note: Picture editors are already getting sick of the amount of digital stills photogs turn in, asking for them to edit first. A far cry from the days of the Graflex- when you had 2 sheets for the whole night!

And, if you think back to the more momentous news items of the past decade and a half, you'll find that a lot of newspapers, in lieu of a "real" PJ at the scene, have happily printed a grubby frame-grab from CNN et al., sometimes blowing it up big on the page. In some instances, it actually doesn't matter much. What bothers me more is the ongoing banality of juat about all the printed PJ work I've seen. As one photographer put it about six years ago, it's just about filling space on paper now, nothing else. The really interesting photography lurks elswhere...almost anywhere else, methinks.


- Barrett

 

[DavidH]

BTW, how are they called - androids, cyborgs, or just plain and simple journalists? 😀

Cyborgs.
I did a show last year on the current state of Cybernetics - fascinating subject. Hopefully by the time it becomes a reality for the rest of us...digital 'implant' cameras will have cured the dynamic range issue...otherwise all we'll see are blown highlights...

😉