tangible images
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- betelgeuse0
I personally love the fact that just anyone can pick up a camera and take photos. The most important photo is the one you take yourself.
- epigraph0
I agree dibec 100%, it's a pretty well accepted fact. What is the mindset of the average person going to be in 5 years? How are they going to want to view and appreciate the skilled images you have created for them?
- bigtrick0
@dibec:
i'm with betelgeuse here. it's great that more people get to take pictures! and, more people are discovering their own visual talents as photographers now - a natural side effect of having more people with cameras.
the proportion of crap pictures to good pictures is higher now, but the overall number of good pictures being created is much higher too, i think.
and finally, i don't begrudge people their instagram and whatnot. i'm happy that they get to make something that they like, even if it's via filters (:
- bjladams0
^ it also pushes real photographers to refine themselves so that they stick out above the grade.
- betelgeuse0
Growing up there were several occasions where my entire family would get all dressed up and have a professional portrait session done.
All of them look dated and extremely cheesy.
They don't even come close to anything that my dad would do with his cheap point and shoot. I'm very lucky to have had a "snap happy" family. I have countless of the cuff shots of my family that I wouldn't trade for all the studio shots money could buy.
- what do you do with all the photos?epigraph
- I have digital and analogue copies of them.betelgeuse
- dibec0
I am not against people taking photos. I totally support that. Please do not get me wrong.
I think I can relate it to it best to graphic design pre-computers. It took a lot of time to create something without a computer, it was painful, well thought out, etc. Film photography was no different. You had to know what you were doing. With technology it has made it effortless, hence diminishing the value of certain styles and techniques.
- bigtrick0
slight tangent:
"It would be years past before I finally got my hands on DIGITAL, it would be 2003 when i decided to save some money to buy my very first digital which would be the Canon 300D, a standard zoom - EF-S 18 - 55 mm, another EF 75-300, and a Sandisk Ultra II 512MB, that time, it cost an arm and a half of a leg :). After work in the afternoon, I went to Glenview Park District in Glenview, Illinois and explored the new science of White Balance, ISO settings and the likes.
Downtown Chicago was a favorite location too."
- scarabin0
good photography isn't being threatened.
no matter how many photos are taken all over the world, there will always be the cream of the crop, and by looking at the numbers alone you can be sure that some of it will be genuinely moving photography forward in terms of thinking, execution, style, etc.
access to cheap equipment (camera, apps, whatever) will also inspire amateurs and help them take what might normally be mere dabbling to another level. another good thing.
also, the internet makes sharing photos easy and finding good ones even easier. we're not going to be inundated with crap, we'll just be better at sorting through it
- vaxorcist0
1. the learning curve for dedicated learners is shorter. I learned lots when I worked in a lab in the 90's and had unlimited access to free film processing, most people didn't have that luxury. I learned lighting and such before digital, but teaching somebody how to light is easier now than with stacks of polaroids or film processing + notes.
2. Some low-hanging-fruit will dissapear for professional photographers, but those who can do amazing work in difficult circumstances will always do well, if they can market themselves and make sure people know they're better and different than the horde of DSLR owners..
There's an old joke... if you buy a cello, you own a cello, if you buy a camera, you're a photographer. But.. I might add... If you can photograph large chrome objects well, you're a product photographer, not just a guy with a camera (GWC) ... same can be said of other things...
The dirty secret of fashion/lifestyle photographers is that model casting matters quite a bit...