There's a lot to complain about these days. Crappy job market, high gas prices, taxes, global warming, politicians, the existence of Justin Bieber, etc. etc.
But I just thought I'd say a little "Thank You" to the tens of thousands of engineers, executives, factory workers, photographers, etc. who made Digital Photography possible.
Have you looked at most of the snapshots your parents took during the 1970s and 80s? They look like crap. I bet Annie Liebowitz' holiday pictures from that era look like crap.
Then compare those pictures to what you can you do today with the sort of camera thats included with your iPhone. Or a sub $100 compact camera. With a $1000 DSLR you could remake Gone With the Wind in high-definition or 3D (provided you had the costume budget.)
The reasons to love digital photography are numerous. But lets just say that with the sort of autofocus and automatic exposure controls most digital cameras have these days, its hard to take a bad picture. And with a little skill, creativity, and knowledge, (plus reading the manual) its becoming a lot easier to take a great picture.
I have no pretensions to photographic artistry. And - perhaps counter-intuitively - I hope that film photography never goes away. But thats increasingly going to remain the province of the creative pros.
For the rest of us, Digital's advantages are too numerous to mention. But I love the freedom digital gives us to experiment. The idea that "hey, this isn't costing me anything to shoot or develop, lets snap away and see how it turns out!" is tremendously liberating.
Maybe some curmudgeon or Grouch will show up and tell me why digital photography is awful. But it would take a lot to convince me.
But I just thought I'd say a little "Thank You" to the tens of thousands of engineers, executives, factory workers, photographers, etc. who made Digital Photography possible.
Have you looked at most of the snapshots your parents took during the 1970s and 80s? They look like crap. I bet Annie Liebowitz' holiday pictures from that era look like crap.
Then compare those pictures to what you can you do today with the sort of camera thats included with your iPhone. Or a sub $100 compact camera. With a $1000 DSLR you could remake Gone With the Wind in high-definition or 3D (provided you had the costume budget.)
The reasons to love digital photography are numerous. But lets just say that with the sort of autofocus and automatic exposure controls most digital cameras have these days, its hard to take a bad picture. And with a little skill, creativity, and knowledge, (plus reading the manual) its becoming a lot easier to take a great picture.
I have no pretensions to photographic artistry. And - perhaps counter-intuitively - I hope that film photography never goes away. But thats increasingly going to remain the province of the creative pros.
For the rest of us, Digital's advantages are too numerous to mention. But I love the freedom digital gives us to experiment. The idea that "hey, this isn't costing me anything to shoot or develop, lets snap away and see how it turns out!" is tremendously liberating.
Maybe some curmudgeon or Grouch will show up and tell me why digital photography is awful. But it would take a lot to convince me.