Over the years I've shot mostly on film. Lots and lots and lots of rolls of film. I loved the art and the skill of being able to take a metal clunker from the 60s or 50s and make a well composed negative. I loved being able to take that film, go into a completely dark room and chemically transform those dreamed images into something tangible. Now, the digital age has come and reduced the art of film photography to nothing more than an antiquated technique for the "less advanced". It seems the film photographers who were the norm a decade and a half ago have now become a severe minority. History seems to repeat itself...
Way back, during the birth of Photography, skilled artists used glass plates and silver to burn an image. It was considered a unique and coveted skill. Then the advancement of mass-produced consumer cameras arrived and everyone was able to take photos, thus making the Photographer a mere option rather than a necessity. Now anyone with a digital point & shoot and basic Photoshop skills can create an image comparable to a skilled photographer. It's more or less insulting to someone who has poured so much into every press of that shutter and every drop of that developer.
I guess that is the social commentary for today's generations. Quick, fast results. No one wants to waste time doing something perceived as a "chore" when they can download, edit and publish something in an hour or less. The birth of fiber optic cables, lightning fast computers and the "customer is always right" mentality gives consumers the idea that everything is IMMEDIATE and THEIR WAY OR ELSE. Anyone who works in customer service knows this harsh fact.
Technology is a marvel and crutch at the same time. Remember how helpless you felt the last time the power went out? Or when the internet was down? Technology is certainly taken for granted, and like the monkeysphere most things are out-of-sight, out-of-mind.
Anyways, I've now purchased a digital camera (Olympus E-P1) that, at least, doesn't remind me of a plastic brick. It's all metal, just like my film-burning babies and it's modified to carry the lenses from 40 or so years ago. I'm excited by the new adventure, but I still have like 50 or so rolls of film I need to burn through. Maybe once I move to a city that doesn't suck as hard as Las Vegas does, I will be able to use it all up.
Until then, I guess we'll see what I can find.
